Amateur Patrick Cantlay Leads the Travelers Championship After 36 Holes

CROMWELL, Conn.—The days of amateur golfers winning at the game’s highest level all but ended with Bobby Jones’ Grand Slam run in 1930.

Since 1950, only four amateurs have won PGA Tour events.  Phil Mickelson was the last Amateur to win a PGA Tour event when he won the 1991 Northern Telecom Open while still at Arizona State.

We’re only 36 holes into the 2011 Travelers Championship, but don’t look now, there’s an Amateur on top of the leaderboard.

Patrick Cantlay, who tied for 21st at last week’s U.S. Open is at 13-under-par for the tournament after a course record-setting 60 in Round 2.

Cantlay leads Johnson Wagner by a stroke and Nick Watney and Shane Bertsch by two.

An amateur on a PGA Tour leaderboard after 36 holes is comparable to a pitcher tossing five no-hit innings.

You can’t help but think about the possibility of a no-hitter, but you don’t even want to mention it for fear of jinxing the whole thing.    

“I've had a couple leads before, and I know it's really important to stay in the moment,” Cantlay said following round two.

“I really need to not get ahead of myself and stick to my game plan, stay aggressive, you know, have a good time.”

Before we even get into what a win by Cantlay this week would mean, let’s look at some numbers.

44 and 41.

44 is the age of David Toms, a PGA Tour winner this year at Colonial and a participant in this week’s Travelers Championship.

41 would be the combined age of the past two winners on tour if Cantlay were to somehow follow up 22-year-old Rory McIlory's U.S. Open triumph with a victory of his own this week at the Travelers Championship.    

Cantlay, a freshman at UCLA, is no stranger to success in this game, having won the Pac-10 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards this past year. 

But a PGA Tour win is another matter altogether.

Harrison Frazar has been playing professional golf for 15 years and just won his first PGA Tour event two weeks ago in Memphis.

There are guys who have been out on tour for decades and have never won a PGA Tour event.

If Cantlay were to win this week, being an amateur he would forego a $1.08 million pay day.  Despite the opportunity to become an instant millionaire on Sunday afternoon, it doesn’t appear as if Cantlay is looking to reconsider his amateur status anytime soon.

“I have nothing to lose as far as money's concerned, and it's just not a factor,” Cantlay said.

“It's like playing in an amateur tournament for me. The money is irrelevant because I can't win any at the beginning of the week and I can't lose any at the end of the week.”

Amateur golf will never again be what it was in the 1920s and 1930s.  Most good young players these days are simply trying to develop to the point where they feel confident in their ability to make a living out on tour.

However, between Jordan Spieth’s solid performances at the last two HP Byron Nelson Championships (T-16 in 2010 and T-32 in 2011) and Cantlay topping the 36-hole leaderboard at the Travelers Championship, a trend is beginning to develop.

The age in which young amateur golfers can legitimately compete with the top players in the world is trending downwards, and it probably won’t be another 20 years before we see an amateur win a PGA Tour event.

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