How visiting Tiger Woods’ house deeply humbled Patrick Cantlay
How humbled Patrick Cantlay was visiting Tiger Woods’ home.
Patrick Cantlay joins Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas on the list of pros who arrived with A-stories after visiting Tiger Woods’ home. getty images
Few pros have ever set foot in Florida’s Jupiter Island Manse, but they always come away with great stories. That is until they choose to share that story.
Rory McIlroy was there in March 2021, more than a month after Woods was involved in a near-fatal car accident. McIlroy later said he was impressed by Woods’ 15 major wins, but more impressed by Woods’ reaction to the lesser putts. (When McIlroy asked where all his other trophies were, Woods said, “I don’t know.” “Mom has a few, some in her office and some all over the place.”
“I came home and thought everyone cared,” McIlroy said. “So how easy was it for him to beat the others?”
There’s also the story of Justin Thomas, who became one of Woods’ closest friends on tour. Thomas said the first time he visited Woods’ home before the Masters, when Woods was injured and not scheduled to play, Tiger asked him to stop and play chips in the backyard.
“So he taught me how to hit a lot of shots around the green, the holes that I use [at Augusta], different bunker shots and why I can’t do this, why I can’t do that. he is. That’s right,” Thomas said on the 2020 GOLF Subpar Podcast. “I thought, ‘Oh, that was really good.’ The next year I said, “If you want to work on your short game this week, let me know and I’ll come over.” “I’m going to play this year,” he said. “Yeah, you know?” But when I said, “If you want to practice, call me,” he said, “I’ll see you in Augusta.” (laugh).
We’d like to introduce you to Patrick Cantlay, who spoke to the media at Wednesday’s season opener. After Scotty Scheffler beat John Rahm to win PGA Tour Player of the Year honors, Cantlay was asked how he thought tour pros prioritize things like scoring average, top rankings and wins.
“I think it depends on the individual,” Cantlay said, usually before an individual professional decides to disclose additional information. “Let me tell you a story.”
story? Include us. “I went to the Tigers and after I won Player of the Year [in 2021] I wanted to talk about the Ryder Cup and at the time being named Player of the Year seemed like a big deal. Give me this little Jack Trophy Bronze Nicklaus,” Cantlay said. He said: “So I went past Tiger’s house and I was in the basement and there were about ten of them in the corner of the basement next to each other. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom… I said, “Hey, I’m leaving now,” and he looked at me and said, “You’ve got a lot of work to do” (laughter).
Is there a moral to the story here? If you are invited to the tiger’s house, do not refuse. Cantlay made his first round of The Sentry at 2:21 p.m. ET Thursday. The second period starts at 16:27. ET on Friday. Find out how to watch all the action here, and for more on Cantlay, check out our in-depth interview with Dylan Dethier.
