The American carded a ultimate day two-under 69 at Wilmington Nation Membership to complete 14-under and edge compatriot Scott Stallings by a stroke.
The triumph secured the 30-year-old a $2.7 million share of the $15 million event prize purse and stamps his ticket because the No. 2 seed for the Tour Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Membership on Thursday.
Beginning two pictures behind No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Cantlay will look to defend a second successive title following his wire-to-wire victory within the season-ending occasion final September.
“I am in a very great spot,” Cantlay instructed reporters.
“It will be a bit totally different kind of a problem this yr, clearly, being two behind Scottie. He is performed lots of nice golf this yr, so I anticipate the identical. But it surely’s a golf course I actually like, and I am trying ahead to the problem.”
With the main duo tied heading into the closing two holes, an exhilarating climax noticed Cantlay’s booming tee drive narrowly skip over a bunker and settle 63 yards from the outlet.
“I believed hitting it on that line, it will for positive be in a bunker,” Cantlay stated.
“Perhaps top-of-the-line breaks I’ve gotten coming down the stretch, and whenever you get a break like that, that you must pay it off, and luckily I did.”
An outstanding strategy left the world No. 3 with a brief putt for birdie, and — as Stallings parred — Cantlay made no mistake to nudge forward.
Having narrowly dodged the sand on the penultimate gap, destiny caught up with Cantlay when his ultimate tee shot dropped right into a bunker over 150 yards from the pin. However the 30-year-old responded with what he dubbed as certainly one of his greatest pictures all week, slicing his exit shot onto the inexperienced.
Although a 48-foot birdie putt got here up simply brief to disclaim the American a fairytale end, Cantlay tapped house for par to retain the crown he received at Caves Valley in Maryland final yr.
The win marks Cantlay’s second of the PGA Tour season following victory on the Zurich Traditional in April. It could properly have been extra had it not been for a trio of runner-up finishes on the WM Phoenix Open, RBC Heritage and the Rocket Mortgage Traditional, but Cantlay shouldn’t be hung up on near-misses.
“The factor I all the time remind myself of after I end second or I am shut is Jack Nicklaus had extra seconds in majors than he had wins,” he stated.
“That stat will shock you contemplating he has essentially the most majors ever. Nobody would ever say he could not shut or nobody would say that he wilted beneath stress, and but he had extra second locations than anyone else.
“You may’t all the time management what different individuals round you do or the place you get the correct bounce or the flawed bounce. However placing your self in competition time after time after time, the bounces are going to go your means and you will get your justifiable share of wins,” he added.
Scheffler and Xander Schauffele led the chasing pack to complete 11-under, however it was a catastrophic ultimate spherical for world No. 8 Collin Morikawa.
Having shot 65 on Saturday, the two-time main winner had appeared set for a powerful end however noticed his hopes of a late cost dented by back-to-back bogeys on the third and fourth gap.
A birdie on the fifth noticed the 25-year-old bounce to joint-sixth place, however catastrophe struck on the par-four eleventh gap when he four-putted for a double bogey.
But the nightmare was solely simply starting, as Morikawa subsequently despatched two pictures into the water guarding the inexperienced on the twelfth gap. A sequence of missed putts compounded the American’s woes, as he lastly holed out for a 10-stroke quintuple bogey, the best rating he has ever holed on the PGA Tour.
Morikawa closed with six straight pars to card an eight-over 79, ending tied for forty fourth. Regardless of his ultimate spherical woes, the 2021 Open champion nonetheless certified for Thursday’s Tour Championship, the place he’ll begin because the Twentieth-ranked seed of the 30-player area.
