Cantlay could be on track to school Woods

• By Ryan Ballengee
• Oct 5, 2011 7:50 PM ET

SAN MARTIN, Calif. – Perhaps Patrick Cantlay can teach Tiger Woods a thing or two about how to play CordeValle. The world's top amateur is paired with the 14-time major winner on Thursday and Friday at the Frys.com Open. Woods has never played the track competitively, while Cantlay won a college tournament here last year.

"We played a college event out here last year. UCLA hosted it. And I played well. I was fortunate enough to win," he said, before then stating the obvious. "I really like the golf course. I think it suits my game and it's a really good place."

There does not seem to be a course on the PGA Tour that Cantlay does not like. He is riding a streak of four consecutive top-25 finishes, dating back to the U.S. Open. In none of those events, however, did Cantlay play with Woods. 

• Discussion: Who'll go lower, Woods or Cantlay?

The two met and played together in an outing for title sponsor Fry's Electronics, and Cantlay liked what he saw.

"[Woods' game] looked good to me. He chipped and putted real well, hit it solid and played well out there," he said. "So obviously I'm sure he's different in practice rounds than he is in a regular tournament, just like anybody else. But he looked good to me." 

The UCLA golfer will be competing with a Pac-12 rival in Woods, who went to Stanford, but said nothing about the grouping will change his approach.

"I'm not going to even worry about it because I can only control what I'm going to do, no matter who I'm playing with. So to me it's really not a big deal," he said. "I'm just going to stick to my game plan, and nothing I do is going to change because of who I'm playing with."