Global Courant
TORONTO –
As Nick Taylor’s 22-yard eagle putt fell to win the RBC Canadian Open, a Canadian golf who’s who attacked the green with bottles of champagne to spray him.
Mike Weir, Corey Conners, Adam Hadwin and Golf Canada officials raced to Taylor to celebrate as thousands of fans broke loose around the hole.
After a 69-year drought, a Canadian had finally won the men’s national golf championship.
The lengthy putt ended a dramatic four-hole play-off featuring England’s Tommy Fleetwood. They tied at 17-under after 72 holes and topped the tightly packed leaderboard at Oakdale Golf and Country Club. Both players birdied the first playoff hole, then grabbed consecutive pars for Taylor’s stunning clincher at No. 18.
“Great moment for Nick and the fans here,” said Fleetwood, who birdied numbers 17 and 18 to force the playoffs, while Taylor watched TV in the clubhouse. “It’s great to be a part of that Sunday and those play-offs.
“I really had my chances. It wasn’t to be this time. Congratulations to him.”
The wild celebrations included Hadwin, who is also from Abbotsford, being tackled by a guard as he rushed onto the green to congratulate Taylor. Hadwin insisted he was too full of adrenaline to even feel the tackle.
“It’s incredible. I mean, what do you think of one of the greatest moments in Canadian golf history?” Hadwin said. “I think we all predicted this would happen.
“I’m not sure any of us predicted a 72-foot eagle putt in a playoff on the fourth hole to pull it off, but what a way to go.”
The last Canadian to win the event was Pat Fletcher in 1954 at Point Gray Golf and Country Club in Vancouver. There have been other close calls, including a dramatic three-hole playoff in 2004 when Fiji’s Vijay Singh defeated Weir at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont., in 2004.
“My heart still beats for him,” said Weir on the 18th green as the celebrations for Taylor’s victory continued nearby. “That’s just a great finish.”
This year’s edition of the Canadian Open was the one that ended the drought.
With next week’s US Open on the west coast at Los Angeles Country Club, most of the top players stayed away from Toronto to rest ahead of the third major of the men’s golf season.
No. 12 Sam Burns was the highest ranked player in the FedEx Cup standings in the field and he missed the cut on Friday. No. No. 13 Rory McIlroy saw the weekend, as did No. 16 Tyrrell Hatton.
The fact that eight Canadians made the cut – the most since 2002 – was also promising.
When the third round started on Saturday morning, Taylor was in for a win. He had struggled in the first round with a 3-over 75 and then squeaked into the weekend with a 67 to sit at 2-under.
But he shot up the standings 9-under 63 on Saturday to set a new course record at Oakdale and enter the fourth round in a tie with England’s Aaron Rai for eighth at 11-under.
Third round leader CT Pan, Hatton and Aaron Rai tied for third.
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With files on Joshua Clipperton.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 11, 2023.
