ST. LOUIS – Jamie Mulligan knows exactly how long it has been since his star pupil Patrick Cantlay last won.
“To the day,” he said.
It doesn’t require too much math. Cantlay won the 2022 BMW Championship, repeating as champion, for his eighth career PGA Tour title when it was held at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware four years ago to the day. Or as Mulligan can attest: 1,461 days ago.
“It’s hard to win and we haven’t played perfectly great, but great’s in there, you already know that,” Mulligan said on Friday before he and Cantlay delved into a post-round wedge session on the range at the 2026 BMW Championship. “He was impressive today. It was fun to watch.”
Cantlay kept his poise despite following both of his birdies on the front nine with bogeys
and his putter caught fire coming home.
“I played an OK front nine but it was overall a little sloppy. Didn't make many putts,” he said. “Then got going on the back nine. It was really nice to finish with a couple birdies, especially after a 3-putt on 16.”
Cantlay, 34, rolled in four birdies in the first five holes on the back nine, slipped out of the trance he was in momentarily at 16, where he missed a 4-footer for a bogey, and birdied the final two holes for an eight-birdie, 5-under 65 at Bellerive Country Club.
It’s been a pedestrian season by Cantlay’s high standard. While he recorded 10 top 25s in the 14 times he made the cut this season, his best result is T-7 at the Valspar Championship. His best result at a major was at the Masters, where he finished T-12 after opening with 77. But he missed the cut at the U.S. Open and was a non-factor at the other two majors (T-35 at the PGA and T-28 at the British).
The 2019 FedEx Cup champion is in danger of missing the top 30 cutoff for the Tour Championship for the first time since 2020, and the only time he hasn’t made the field in Atlanta since 2017. Cantlay entered this week at No. 43 and has to work to do to extend his streak.
“I would say almost regardless of where I'm at, top of the FedEx Cup or on the bubble, I don't really think about it,” he said. “I definitely know the best way to move up that board is to play well this week and so I just put all my attention there.”
He’s also on the outside looking in for qualifying for the U.S. Presidents Cup team, entering the week at No. 17 in the standings with the top six automatically making the team at the conclusion of the BMW on Sunday. Should the putter stay hot after shooting 8-under 132 at the midway point of the championship, he could make it hard for U.S. Captain Brandt Snedeker to not pick one of the stalwarts of the last three winning teams (2019, 2022, '24 with a 10-4-0 career record) after next week.
But Cantlay is only focused on the things he can control this week and ending his victory drought. He admitted that it feels like a long time since he won the BMW four years ago.
“It comes in stretches. I've won a lot really quick and had some time in between some wins,” he said. “Like I said, get hot with the putter, anything can happen.”
It’s been 1,461 days and counting but he could be just 2 days away from claiming a third BMW Championship title and his ninth trophy overall.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Patrick Cantlay seeks to end long victory drought at 2026 BMW Championship
