Patrick Cantlay is going to be wearing a Team USA cap at the Presidents Cup this week.
And that means we won’t be seeing round two of the drama known as ‘hatgate’.
The 32-year-old was a major talking point at last year’s Ryder Cup at the Marco Simone Golf Club in Italy as he refused to wear a hat.
He stepped out onto the opening tee at the tournament without the headgear on despite all of his teammates wearing it.
It led to reports that he was refusing to wear it in protest over the American golfers not being paid to play in the illustrious event.
Addressing the reports surrounding his fashion choice, Cantlay said at the time: “It just doesn’t fit, it’s as simple as that.”
But now fans are all making the same joke as he now looks set to wear a cap this week at the Presidents Cup in Canada.
One fan wrote on X: “Is Patrick going to be paid to play this week?”
Another said: “Cantlay wearing a cap…must have got his $$.”
“Looks like they [the caps] fit Cantlay’s head,” a third posted.
Even captain Jim Furyk was happy to poke fun at the situation when asked about it by media members.
“We finally had one that had that odd of a shape that it would actually fit on there,” Furyk said.
“I think a lot of it’s our vendors. He wore a hat two years ago in Charlotte. We had the same vendors on the PGA Tour, and he seems to be comfortable.
“If my guys are comfortable in hats, they can wear hats. If they’re not comfortable in hats, it doesn’t matter.
“It doesn’t work out too well for me, I’ll just say. My head will turn purple after a day, but I want them comfortable.
“I think we would both say that the clothing this year, my guys love it.”
The Presidents Cup is run by the PGA Tour, as opposed to the PGA of America, who run the Ryder Cup.
Similarly, Cantlay opted not to wear a hat for the 2021 Ryder Cup but did use one for the 2022 Presidents Cup.
So unless the PGA Tour have entirely different hat suppliers, with completely radical approaches to head measurement, it is still entirely possible Cantlay’s gripe is with the PGA of America, not the shape of his head.
European fans were mocking him throughout the week in Italy back in September of last year, waving their caps at him ironically and chanting ‘hats off for your bank account’.
And those taunts would all spill over on the 18th green in the third round of the tournament when Rory McIlroy got involved.
As Cantlay and teammate Wyndham Clark stole a point from McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick, his caddie Joe LaCava got one back on the fans.
LaCava would celebrate a huge putt by lifting his cap off his head and waving it around, mimicking those doing it to Cantlay.
But McIlroy still had a chance to tie and he was angered by the caddie getting in his way, before going on to miss the putt.
Shane Lowry and Justin Rose had strong words for LaCava on the course and eventually, this incident would all boil over in the car park outside Marco Simone.
McIlroy, who was still left raging by Cantlay’s caddies’ actions, had to be held back by Lowry as he got involved in a heated argument with Justin Thomas’ caddie Jim MacKay.
The Northern Irishman appeared to shout ‘That’s f***ing disgraceful’ in regards to the incident on the 18th before being bundled into a car and driven away.
Cantlay will be competing alongside World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and more stars as they look to continue America’s domination at the Presidents Cup.
The action will begin on Thursday – live on talkSPORT 2.
News Summary:
- Team USA captain asked about Patrick Cantlay U-turn after Ryder Cup row
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