KAPALUA, Hawaii — Patrick Cantlay is back to competition for the first time since the Ryder Cup, and the attention again is on his hat.
Yes, he’s wearing one.
This cap features a logo for the First Responders Children’s Foundation. Cantlay has a new partnership to raise awareness and money to support first responder families across the country.
It starts with a purpose. Cantlay and the FRCF this week are launching a fundraising campaign to aid first responder families impacted by the deadly wildfires across Hawaii in August, which obliterated a historic part of Lahaina and killed 100 people.
The Sentry starts Thursday at Kapalua, about 10 miles from Lahaina.
From the partnership will come the Patrick Cantlay Scholarship, which will award four-year scholarships to a cohort of first responder children who demonstrate business acumen and aspire to become entrepreneurs. The scholarship program starts this fall.
When he began his foundation, Cantlay wanted the key beneficiaries to be junior golf and support for first responders.
“Supporting first responders, their families and the communities they serve is very important to me,” Cantlay said. “We look forward to spotlighting the vital contributions of first responders while also tending to the unique challenges that their children and families experience.”
First Responders Children’s Foundation was founded more than 22 years ago in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in which 800 children lost a parent who was a first responder. The foundation has awarded 1,300 scholarships totaling more than $3.8 million.
When last seen on the golf course, Cantlay came under severe scrutiny for not wearing a hat at the Ryder Cup. European fans at Marco Simone read an unsubstantiated report that he went hatless to protest not getting paid to play.
Cantlay has denied the report by saying the hat didn’t fit right, pointing out he didn’t wear one at Whistling Straits in 2021, either.
He added one other comment in a recent interview with Golf.com.
“If I was to make a protest, everyone would know what I’m protesting, why I’m protesting and how I’m protesting,” Cantlay said with a grin. “I would never, never do a silent protest.”
The top 50 players in the FedEx Cup last year are assured of playing eight signature events with a $20 million purse and fields of no more than about 80 players.
The others are not exactly applying for food stamps.
On the first day of the new year, the PGA Tour finally released prize money for its 35 tournaments in runs from The Sentry through the Tour Championship. The total prize money is $402.4 million, which does not include the four majors.
The $20 million purses are the eight signature events and two FedEx Cup playoff events. The Players Championship is $25 million. The five opposite-field events have $4 million purses.
Those 18 “regular” tournaments have an average purse of $8.74 million.
The majors typically do not announce their prize funds until the week of the championship. Last year, the Masters was $18 million, the PGA Championship was $17.5 million, the U.S. Open was $20 million and the British Open was $16.5 million.
That puts total prize money of at least $474.4 million. And that doesn't include the $100 million FedEx Cup bonus pool ($25 million to the winner), the $40 million for the Comcast Business Tour Top 10 or $50 million for the Player Impact Program.
The PGA Tour has three $20 million signature events in seven weeks to start the year, and there was concern it might deplete fields at other tournaments, particularly the Sony Open, the middle event.
The Sony Open on Oahu would appear to be doing fine.
The early commitment list has 30 of the 59 players from Kapalua, and British Open champion Brian Harman also is expected to play. The others include Ludvig Aberg, former U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose and Lucas Glover.
It would appear to be a choice between Honolulu and the California desert, as The American Express has a top-heavy field that includes Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Cantlay.
The most ambitious of the group would be Harman and Tyrrell Hatton, both playing at Kapalua and Sony, and then heading straight for the European tour's Dubai Desert Classic.