Patrick Cantlay voted PGA Tour player of the year, over No. 1 Jon Rahm

[m3bimmer2000]

On 9/14/2021 at 9:37 AM, ShowMe said:

I would have gone with Rahm.  He won a major and would have won the Memorial (the 6th major?) if he didn't have to drop out.

I'm not sure why people keep saying this. You have no idea if he would have won that tournament. He likely would have, but we will never know. People have blown larger leads. We can play the "what if" game all day long. The reality is, Rahm did not with the Memorial, Cantlay did.

[Yuck]

I assume it was a fairly close vote.  Case could be made on either.  Both had outstanding seasons.

[ShowMe]

3 hours ago, m3bimmer2000 said:

I'm not sure why people keep saying this. You have no idea if he would have won that tournament. He likely would have, but we will never know. People have blown larger leads. We can play the "what if" game all day long. The reality is, Rahm did not with the Memorial, Cantlay did.

 

Sure and I would have won the lottery if I had played it that day.  Same odds as Rahm losing the tournament with that big of a lead.

[stinger_gc]

In retrospect it came down to who won the Memorial. If Rahm did wd and won he'd be POY, if Morikawa beats Cantlay in a playoff he's POY.

[tacklingdummy]

10 hours ago, imakaveli said:

Cantlay would trade his season with Rahm's in a heartbeat imho. Not the other way around though.

 

Four wins and 22.5 million for Cantlay VS  one major win, 10 year exemption, #1, and 7.5 million is a tough trade. Trading the extra 15 million for a 10 year exemption and #1 status is not an easy choice.  

Edited September 15, 2021 by tacklingdummy

[Shilgy]

20 minutes ago, tacklingdummy said:

 

Four wins and 22.5 million for Cantlay VS  one major win, 10 year exemption, #1, and 7.5 million is a tough trade. Trading the extra 15 million for a 10 year exemption and #1 status is not an easy choice.  

And to be clear the ten exemption is into the US Open.  Both the FedEx Cup winner and US Open winner get five year exemptions on tour plus Cantlay gets extra years for the multiple wins.

[tacklingdummy]

5 hours ago, Shilgy said:

And to be clear the ten exemption is into the US Open.  Both the FedEx Cup winner and US Open winner get five year exemptions on tour plus Cantlay gets extra years for the multiple wins.

 

Oops. You are right. 5 years for US Open. I did not know 5 years for FedEx Cup. In that case, I'm taking the Cantlay's year with 22.5 million and running. Rahm can have his year of 7.5 million and #1 status. Who cares about #1 status when you have an extra 15 million in your pocket. 😂🤣😂

[iBanesto]

11 hours ago, Shilgy said:

I’m so confused now…..every day on wrx I read how all that matters are wins……just wins……now you tell us Rahm is better than Cantlay because of top tens?  If you are referring just to major winners mattering than it’s Morikawa not Rahm.

 

 

Whos a guy to believe?😂

 

The OWGR says Rahm is the better player by a country mile at the moment.

 

 

[iBanesto]

Point gains in 2021:

 

• Rahm - 340.59
• Cantlay - 242.87

[Shilgy]

18 minutes ago, iBanesto said:

 

The OWGR says Rahm is the better player by a country mile at the moment.

 

 

Perhaps that proves the players that actually vote on this award value wins above high finishes. That and it’s a one year award and the rankings are a rolling two year system.

[Shilgy]

4 minutes ago, iBanesto said:

Point gains in 2021:

 

• Rahm - 340.59
• Cantlay - 242.87

So essentially a dead heat if they recognize Cantlay as the tour championship winner. Which he was rewarded for.  
 

Perhaps if he would have known wrx would roast him for not really winning he would have won the straight stroke play portion. 
 

But he did not need to to win the $$.

[iBanesto]

1 minute ago, Shilgy said:

Perhaps that proves the players that actually vote on this award value wins above high finishes. That and it’s a one year award and the rankings are a rolling two year system.

 

I thought the discussion/debate (albeit I didn't bother to read it all) was who was the better player.

 

The Player of Year thing, I couldn't care less 😂

 

Funnily we all know pro golfers have short memories, they all probably forgot Rahm won the US Open.

[KBong]

I know it's a bit off topic....just watched Cantlay in a GC program today.
Patrick has returned well to the PGA tour from past physical and mental challenges.

 

Unfortunately, it must be so difficult to deal with a lingering mental scar that his best friend (Chris Roth) was dying in his arms in a hit & run accident ....24 is far too young to pass away.

RIP.

[buckeyevalley]

Random question.  IF Rahm wins Memorial and Cantlay finishes second. Rahm would have gained 500 Fed Ex points and Cantlay would have lost a couple hundred.  Would that at all have effected the starting scores at the Tour Championship?  

[buckeyevalley]

I did the math. With a Memorial win, Rahm would have gained 500 points and would have been third overall in FedEx points and would have started one shot better than he did. Cantlay would have still been at top of the list to start the Tour Championship.  Assuming everything would have gone the same way, we would have had a playoff for the $15M prize.  

[Dave230]

This is one major reason the new Fed Ex system is terrible. Cantlay ends up winning a tournament and then wins another essentially handicapped tournament on top. Two for the price of one, there’s never been an equivalent in golf of someone starting with shots in the bag and then the win counting the same as a tournament with everyone starting on zero. It strikes at the heart of competitive fairness to count that as an extra win.

[khalespace]

26 minutes ago, Dave230 said:

This is one major reason the new Fed Ex system is terrible. Cantlay ends up winning a tournament and then wins another essentially handicapped tournament on top. Two for the price of one, there’s never been an equivalent in golf of someone starting with shots in the bag and then the win counting the same as a tournament with everyone starting on zero. It strikes at the heart of competitive fairness to count that as an extra win.

You forgot that Cantlay beat Rahm by 9 strokes to win the BMW Championship. That is the format and Cantlay played well enough to win.

[Yuck]

2022 Season.  Who wins more?

[bobfoster]

Truthfully, subjective beauty pageants don't mean a lot to me. Not really sure they even mean that much to the players. (If you asked Tiger what he was most proud of in his career, I'm pretty sure "I won POTY a record 11 times!" wouldn't exactly be at the top of the list.)

 

POTY has always seemed like such a random decision. Five nominees, with no clear criteria, and everyone voting weighing multiple variables differently depending upon their personal predilections.

 

And only the winner is announced - we don't know how much he won by, who came in second, or any details at all. Did Cantlay win by a lot, or by one vote? Did DeChambeau and Morikawa (both of whom probably got at least a few votes) split the Rahm vote and let Cantlay squeak in? We have no clue. 

 

What gives me a slight giggle is the fact that this WRX thread - weighing the variables - probably precisely mimics the conversations the players themselves had about who to vote for.

Edited September 17, 2021 by bobfoster

[eric6624]

I am so tired of hearing “ Rahm would have won at memorial “ 

that was not a guaranteed win. Plenty of people have lost a six shot lead on the final day . The most memorable one was Norman at Augusta in 86. 
 

I do agree Rahm was better all the way around except for wins but 

everyone should stop giving him a win that he didn’t win. You have to finish the tournament to win. 
 

here’s a few other that couldn’t hold the lead

STROKE LEAD	PLAYER	TOURNAMENT	FINAL ROUND SCORE
6	Dustin Johnson	2018 World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions	77
6	Spencer Levin	2012 Waste Management Phoenix Open	75
6	Sergio Garcia	2005 Wachovia Championship	72
6	Greg Norman	1996 Masters Tournament	78
6	Hal Sutton	1983 Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic	77
6	Gay Brewer	1969 Danny Thomas-Diplomat Classic	73
6	Bobby Cruickshank	1928 Florida Open	80

 

 

[tacklingdummy]

14 minutes ago, eric6624 said:

I am so tired of hearing “ Rahm would have won at memorial “ 

that was not a guaranteed win. Plenty of people have lost a six shot lead on the final day . The most memorable one was Norman at Augusta in 86. 
 

I do agree Rahm was better all the way around except for wins but 

everyone should stop giving him a win that he didn’t win. You have to finish the tournament to win. 
 

here’s a few other that couldn’t hold the lead

STROKE LEAD	PLAYER	TOURNAMENT	FINAL ROUND SCORE
6	Dustin Johnson	2018 World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions	77
6	Spencer Levin	2012 Waste Management Phoenix Open	75
6	Sergio Garcia	2005 Wachovia Championship	72
6	Greg Norman	1996 Masters Tournament	78
6	Hal Sutton	1983 Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic	77
6	Gay Brewer	1969 Danny Thomas-Diplomat Classic	73
6	Bobby Cruickshank	1928 Florida Open	80

 

 

 

Those are only a few instances where players blew big leads. There are more times where players had big leads and won the tournament rather than blew big leads. Not saying Rahm is not vulnerable to losing a big lead, but the odds were in definitely in favor of Rahm closing out the tournament. Rahm has shown to play well under pressure and be a good closer.  

[eric6624]

2 minutes ago, tacklingdummy said:

 

Those are only a few instances where players blew big leads. There are more times where players had big leads and won the tournament rather than blew big leads. Not saying Rahm is not vulnerable to losing a big lead, but the odds were in definitely in favor of Rahm closing out the tournament. Rahm has shown to play well under pressure and be a good closer.  

I do agree he was playing great and more than likely he would not have lost but … it wasn’t a guarantee.

I was actually shocked when I turned on golf channel and he did it win POY 

 

[grm24]

2 hours ago, eric6624 said:

I am so tired of hearing “ Rahm would have won at memorial “ 

that was not a guaranteed win. Plenty of people have lost a six shot lead on the final day . The most memorable one was Norman at Augusta in 86. 
 

I do agree Rahm was better all the way around except for wins but 

everyone should stop giving him a win that he didn’t win. You have to finish the tournament to win. 
 

here’s a few other that couldn’t hold the lead

STROKE LEAD	PLAYER	TOURNAMENT	FINAL ROUND SCORE
6	Dustin Johnson	2018 World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions	77
6	Spencer Levin	2012 Waste Management Phoenix Open	75
6	Sergio Garcia	2005 Wachovia Championship	72
6	Greg Norman	1996 Masters Tournament	78
6	Hal Sutton	1983 Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic	77
6	Gay Brewer	1969 Danny Thomas-Diplomat Classic	73
6	Bobby Cruickshank	1928 Florida Open	80

 

 

My favorite blown lead was Martin Kaymer in Abu Dhabi in 2015. Led by 6 shots after the third round. Led the field by 10 shots after 5 holes of the final round in an event he had won 3 times previous. Ended up losing the event by 2 shots and in third place. Over 13 holes he lost 12 shots. And yes I understand it took a great round by the winner and Kaymer coughing up a skein of yarn hairball for this to happen. 

 

https://golf.com/news/martin-kaymer-blows-10-shot-lead-as-gary-stal-wins-abu-dhabi-championship/

 

Regardless of the players involved, the level of the event and what professional tour it took place on that's an astonishing collapse. It's there as one of the worst lost leads of all time in professional golf. Possibly worse than Arnie losing a 7 shot lead with 9 holes to play at the US Open in 1966.

 

JVV at Carnoustie in 1999 rates up there as the worst one hole collapse of all time as well. Always overlooked in the JVV collapse was that Paul Lawrie shot the shared low round of the week in the final round at Carnoustie (67) that had him in position in case the leader imploded.

 

While I think Rahm would of easily won the Memorial this year it's possible that he might have played bad or indifferent in the final round and somebody else got hot to make it interesting. 

[grm24]

2 hours ago, eric6624 said:

I do agree he was playing great and more than likely he would not have lost but … it wasn’t a guarantee.

I was actually shocked when I turned on golf channel and he did it win POY 

 

Rahm won the PGA of America Player of the Year which is based on a points system. Patrick Cantlay won the PGA Tour Player of the Year which was voted on by PGA Tour members that played in at least 15 event in the 2020/21 season. Same issue took place last year.

 

https://apnews.com/article/sports-bryson-dechambeau-patrick-cantlay-jon-rahm-kevin-na-241cb66e8e420de66757d9c9383c6054

Edited September 18, 2021 by grm24

[grm24]

13 hours ago, buckeyevalley said:

Random question.  IF Rahm wins Memorial and Cantlay finishes second. Rahm would have gained 500 Fed Ex points and Cantlay would have lost a couple hundred.  Would that at all have effected the starting scores at the Tour Championship?  

Due to the status elevated accorded the Memorial, along with Bay Hill and Tigers event at Riviera, on the PGA Tour Rahm would have actually collected 550 Fed Ex Cup points had he won.