Jim Alexander: Patrick Cantlay leaves the door ajar, and Hideki Matsuyama knocks it down

But maybe there’s a pattern here. This was Cantlay’s fifth tournament of the season, and after finishing tied for 12th in The Sentry, the season-opening event at Kapalua, he faded in the late rounds in consecutive weeks at La Quinta and Torrey Pines. At the American Express he started out with rounds of 64, 66 and 67 but finished with a 76. At the Farmers Insurance Open, he shot 65 in the opening round but followed it with rounds of 73, 74 and 75.

Two weeks ago he finished tied for 11th at Pebble Beach. With this week’s tie for fourth, you could make the case he’s trending upward. But he had the lead and failed to close.

Before Matsuyama put on the afterburners on the back nine – that, my friends, is closing – there was a five-way tie for the lead midway through the afternoon, with Zalatoris, List, Cantlay and Schauffele joining the party and seven players within three shots of the lead.

Zalatoris led, briefly, after a birdie on 13. But his week, highlighted by a hole-in-one Friday, turned out to be tougher than anyone could have imagined.

“I didn’t say anything all week, but I – sorry. I lost a family member on Thursday and she was … she was with me all week,” he said, afterward, trying to keep his emotions in check. “You know, (it) was pretty special on Friday to make the hole-in-one after – sorry. Pretty special to make the hole-in-one on Friday after I found outon Thursday. She was with me all week.”

He did not give any details, which is absolutely understandable, but he did say it was unexpected.

“This whole week was for her,” he said. “My family (who is in the Northwest) can’t be here no matter what would have happened, but very proud of how I played. … (It) just shows you life’s short and (to) appreciate the moments, how lucky I am to be out here.”

Zalatoris was sidelined for eight months last year after back surgery. The time off allowed him to go back and get his degree from Wake Forest (in psychology), do some traveling with his wife (they went to Wimbledon) and, eventually, work his way back into golf.

“In my wife’s brilliance when I was sitting in the hospital bed, she asked the doctor, ‘Hey, when’s he going to be able to travel?’ And he said about two to three months,” Zalatoris said. “So we did a bunch of bucket list stuff. When you’re 27, 28 and don’t have kids at home and you’ve got six months off, you know, we did a bunch of fun stuff, so I stayed busy for sure.

“My mind was always on my game, for sure. It’s been a long, weird year. 2023 was a bad movie, but so far things are progressing nicely.”

Zalatoris, a 27-year-old native of San Francisco, has one tour victory, the FedEx St. Jude Championship in 2022. He was asked if his performance this week might be a turning point in his career.

“Every week I’ve been getting better, so I knew I just got to keep doing what I’m doing,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of silver in my house so getting another second place doesn’t really sit that well, but obviously coming back from what I had to go through physically, you know, we’re in the right direction.

“This is really good preparation for the majors coming up. It’s nice to be able to work on these changes when I’m in contention.”

And, he added:

“The beauty of this game is, you know, it’s kind of nice when you get beat by somebody who shoots 62 on Sunday. (A) 62 on Sunday is usually going to win a golf tournament or going to make you a lot of money.”