MasterCard pauses deals with 2 LIV Tour golfers

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Patrick Cantlay rallied from four shots behind and got far enough ahead that Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas couldn’t quite catch him Sunday in the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Winner’s Bag: Patrick Cantlay Cantlay closed with a 7-under 65 for a one-shot victory, the third of his career, and first in his home state of California. All three required making up a deficit of three shots or more. As much as Cantlay celebrated a victory he felt was overdue, Rahm and Thomas were left to rue their mistakes. Rahm took the lead with a birdie on the par-5 11th, only to drop shots on each of the next two holes, including the par-5 13th. The Spaniard had a chance to force a playoff, but narrowly missed from 15 feet on the par-3 17th and from 20 feet on the final hole. He shot 68. Thomas, who started the round with a one-shot lead, had to scramble for par on the last two par 5s, and hit into hazards on consecutive holes down the stretch. His tee shot to a front pin on the par-3 15th plugged into thick grass, and Thomas did remarkably well to hack out to 30 feet and make bogey. Cantlay, in the group ahead of Thomas and Rahm, bungled the par-5 16th by missing the green from 114 yards and making only his second bogey of the round, and the tournament. That reduced his lead to two shots. Thomas drilled a drive and was in perfect position with a 4-iron. But he sent that out to the right, trying to avoid a shot left of the green, and it bounced off a tree and into the creek. After the penalty drop, he had to play a marvelous pitch-and-run off hard pan to get up-and-down for par. But he needed birdies, and that didn’t come for Thomas until he needed to hole out from the 18th fairway for eagle. His approach landed 4 feet next to the hole. The birdie gave him a 69. Cantlay has no weakness in his game except for the victory tally. He’d gone more than a year since his last victory, when he rallied from three behind at Muirfield Village to win the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. His other win was in Las Vegas in 2017 when he came from four shots back and won in a playoff. At a tournament with low scoring, he had no choice but to produce his best of the week. Cantlay opened with four birdies in six holes to get in the mix, and he surged into the lead with four birdies in a five-hole stretch on the back nine. The final birdie was the toughest, a 7-iron he hit at three-quarter speed that landed right next to the hole and rolled out to 10 feet for his third straight birdie. Thomas and Rahm provided some help on the par-5 13th. Thomas went from thick rough to more thick rough and still had 189 yards for his third shot, and he ended up making a tough par save from the collection area behind the green. Rahm was in the fairway and in range, but he came up well short into a bunker, left that short of the green and missed an 8-foot par. No one else was within four shots of Cantlay. The other show at Sherwood was on the opposite side of the course with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson playing together in the final round with no fans. Woods closed with a 74 and still beat Mickelson by four shots. Mickelson, coming off a victory last week on the PGA TOUR Champions, had five 6s on his card. Both finished out of the top 70 against a 78-man field.

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Quicken Loans, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, has signed on to be the title sponsor of the 2018 Quicken Loans National, the tournament announced today. The 2018 Quicken Loans National will be played at TPC Potomac, June 25-July 1. The title sponsor agreement with Quicken Loans is for one year. The tournament also announced that Quicken Loans golfer Rickie Fowler will participate in the 2018 Quicken Loans National. This marks the 4th consecutive year Fowler has played in the tournament. “We are excited to have Quicken Loans continue as the title sponsor of The National in 2018 and look forward to our tournament host Tiger Woods and the PGA TOUR’s stars coming to TPC Potomac June 25 – July 1,� tournament director Mike Antolini said. “Quicken Loans has been a terrific partner of the tournament since 2014 and we expect to have a great week for players, fans and the community.� “The Quicken Loans National has a tremendous reputation for honoring active and retired service members,� said Quicken Loans CEO Jay Farner. “We’re looking forward to another exciting weekend with some of golf’s biggest names, including our own partner, Rickie Fowler. But most of all we are looking forward to again shaking the hands of the men and women who have, and continue, to so selflessly serve this great country.� Also returning to TPC Potomac for the 2018 Quicken Loans National is the Quicken Loans Shot for Heroes. Open to all fans attending the tournament from June 27-July 1, Shot for Heroes helps raise money for charity with every swing taken. In addition, fans have the chance to win prizes by landing a ball within the “Q� or winning a grand prize by making a hole in one. Quicken Loans Shot for Heroes has raised nearly $750,000 for U.S. military-affiliated charities since the program was initiated during the 2015 tournament. The Quicken Loans National will return to TPC Potomac for the second consecutive year. Last year Kyle Stanley defeated Charles Howell III in a one-hole playoff. The win was Stanley’s second career victory on the PGA TOUR. The Quicken Loans National features 120 PGA TOUR golfers and a $7.1 million purse. Past champions of the tournament include tournament host Tiger Woods, K.J. Choi, Bill Haas, Billy Hurley III, Anthony Kim, Troy Merritt, Justin Rose and Nick Watney.

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With a new putter in his bag, Tiger Woods didn’t make his first birdie until the 14th hole and settled for an even-par 70 in the first round of the Quicken Loans National.

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