PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Patrick Cantlay, meet Xander Schauffele, your Genesis Invitational final-round playing partner Sunday and biggest threat standing in the way of your winning your coveted hometown event at Riviera Country Club for the first time.
Actually, Cantlay and Schauffele need no introduction to each other at all.
They’re best friends, they live nearby each other in Florida, they dine together, socialize together, vacation together, play golf together and, in some cases, win golf tournaments together.
Schauffele estimates he and Cantlay have played more than 100 practice rounds together on the PGA Tour and in Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup team competitions — and that number is probably conservative.
On Sunday at Riviera, though, the best friends will be vying for the same title and trophy while paired together in the final round — with Cantlay leading the tournament at 14-under par and Schauffele on his heels at 12-under.
“We’ve had a few final rounds together, so should be a comfortable pairing,’’ Cantlay said. “I’m looking forward to it. We play most practice rounds together and we play a lot at home. It won’t be anything out of the usual.’’
Except for the $4 million first prize … and Cantlay, a Long Beach, Calif., native and UCLA graduate, winning on a course he craves to win on.
“Yeah, this golf course is a golf course I grew up on, playing in college a number of times and having the NCAA Championships here,’’ Cantlay said. “Being from Southern California, it’s one of the tournaments on the list that I’d like to win the most.’’
Schauffele, a San Diego native, has his own home-state mojo going, as well.
“It’s a pretty comfortable pairing for us,’’ Schauffele said. “We play a lot week in and week out and we both love to compete. We’ve played in the final pairing a couple times. I got the best of him at Travelers and he got the best of me at BMW. We know where we stand and how we compete against each other.’’
The pair has played together in the Zurich, which is a PGA Tour team event, three times and won once together. They’ve been paired together in 11 team competition events (four times in the Ryder Cup and seven times in the Presidents Cup) and are 6-5.
On the PGA Tour, they’ve been paired together 20 times in tournament play with Cantlay carding the lower score 10 times, Schauffele eight and two ties to round it out. In those 20 head-to-heads, Schauffele has a scoring average of 68.5 to Cantlay’s 69.
They’ve been paired together in tournament final rounds twice. In the 2022 BMW, Cantlay won the tournament with a final-round 69 to Schauffele’s 71. In the 2022 Travelers, Schauffele won with a final-round 59 to Cantlay’s 76.
“When we play on Mondays and Tuesdays, we’re trying to beat each other,’’ Schauffele said. “I think the only time we’re really rooting hard for each other is when we’re playing team events. Of course, I’d like to see him do well, but when we’re in the final group together it’s pretty obvious what we’re trying to do.’’
Cantlay entered Saturday’s final round at 13-under with a five-shot lead and looked possibly poised to run away with the tournament with two strong rounds over the weekend.
But he managed only a 1-under-par 70 in Saturday’s third round while Schauffele did his best to chase down his pal by posting a 6-under 65 to shave those valuable five shots off the lead.
“I just wanted to give myself a shot tomorrow,’’ Schauffele said.
Mission accomplished.
While the two friends are at the top of the leaderboard, don’t rule out Will Zalatoris, who’s authoring a terrific comeback from the back surgery that erased his 2023 season. Zalatoris, who had a hole-in-one Friday, shot 65 on Saturday and is tied with Schauffele in second at 12-under.
Luke List is at 11-under, Jason Day and Harris English are 10-under. That pretty much ends the list of players who have a realistic chance of capturing the $4 million winner’s check.
The theme to Sunday’s final round is certainly about the two close friends and how they fare against each other.
The most recent of Cantlay’s eight career wins win came at the 2022 BMW Championship.
“Golf’s like that sometimes,’’ he said. “I’ve had some close calls. I had a year not too long ago [2021] where it felt like every close call went my way and lately it hasn’t been like that the last year or so, but looking to change that tomorrow.’’
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