Pantomime villain Cantlay turns attention to wedding, USA turn attention to Ireland

ADJUSTING FOCUS: USA's Patrick Cantlay. Pic: Zac Goodwin/PA Wire.

On every hole the progression was the same. Boos, a Mexican wave of hats all the way to the tee and shot after shot excellence. 

Patrick Cantlay powered his win to another impressive win at the Ryder Cup on Sunday. He finished the week with two points and at the centre of a controversy storm.

And he is getting married on Monday.

It kicked off on the second day in Rome. It was reported by Sky Sports that Cantlay was at the centre of a split in the American team, refusing to wear a team hat out of protest that players in the Ryder Cup don’t get paid.

Then his caddy Joe LaCava was involved in a confrontation with Rory McIlroy. Cantlay and Wyndham Clark’s beat McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick, his American team-mates waved their flags in celebration while Cantlay doffed a pretend cap right back. In the middle of all if it was LaCava, while McIlroy was still trying to putt.

“I didn't find out until after the match had finished and obviously quite a scene there in the dark when it was finishing,” Cantlay said on Sunday night.

“Like I said yesterday in the media, I didn't see the incident that happened on the green with Rory and Joe. I was wrapped up in a totally different head space than watching that. It was a crazy 24 hours.

“I mean, last night I was just trying to give the guys a little bit of momentum, and fortunately, Wyndham and I were able to close that match out and try to set a new tone going into today. But like I said, it was a steep climb.” 

Cantlay overcame European stalwart Justin Rose in an awesome match in the singles session. He led from the second hole, but Rose dug in and sunk some stunning putts to win the 13th and 15th. On every hole a raucous crowd took aim at the American and he took it all in his stride.

On the 10th, a large contingent of travelling support cheered fervently for ‘no hat Pat.’ He responded with a raised hand of appreciation.

The hat controversy is going nowhere. “What a world,” said Jordan Spieth when the issue came up again in the press conference. The latest yarn is that Cantlay is getting married on Monday and didn’t wear a hat because he didn’t want to have tan lines.

“I am getting married tomorrow, yes. I'm very excited about that,” he said with a smile as applause from his team-mates rang around the room.

Despite their defeat, Zach Johnson’s team were relatively upbeat and maintained once more the group have never been more united.

America remains without a win on European soil since 1993 while neither team have won the Ryder Cup away from home in 11 years.

Johnson was magnanimous in defeat and stressed their task is to look inwards rather than for any change in the tournament.

“This is a moment where you literally just have to accept that The European Team played really, really good golf, and that is really my freshest reflection right now is that Luke's team played great and my boys rallied and fought.

“There are so many nuances, characteristics of what this tournament is all about that it would be a shame to change anything. I mean, I would love to start the week over, but that is not possible.

“Furthermore, I would say, I think when it comes to foursomes, four-ball, all that, I get where you are going. The fans and the people of the home team or whatever are a big part of this. It is the energy.

“It is kind of like the fuel to the engine, if you will. Four years from now, hopefully we will implement a better process certainly than I did and we can show up in Ireland. Obviously get it back in New York, but keep it once we go back to Ireland.”