Canadian golf hopes to ride momentum from Nick Taylor's home victory to U.S. Open and beyond
RBC Canadian champ joined by 6 countrymen in tournament in L.A. this week
Nick Taylor celebrated his first two PGA Tour victories by eating pizza and doing laundry.
There won't be much time for celebration following his third title either after the Abbotsford, B.C., native became the first Canadian man to win the national open since 1954 on Sunday at Toronto's Oakdale Golf and Country Club.
Taylor is one of seven Canadians in the field for the U.S. Open, the third major of the year which begins on Thursday at Los Angeles Country Club.
Joining him are three other Tour winners this season: Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C. Four Canadian victories mark the most ever in a PGA Tour season.
Together, they form a generation of golfers inspired by Mike Weir's 2003 Masters victory.
"That was right when I was dropping pretty much every other sport and focusing on golf," Taylor said on Sunday.
WATCH | Nick Taylor credits pep talk from wife,:
"To have Mike win that tournament I think really made everyone believe that we could do it coming from a country like we do, where golf isn't ideal for — it wasn't quite half the year where I grew up, but three, four months you're not really touching a club. It's inspirational."
The other three Canadian golfers in the U.S. Open field are Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C.
After Taylor, 35, erased the men's national open drought, he said the next frontier for the Canadian contingent is to win a major.
"[The Canadian Open] is fifth on the list, I think, from the four majors," he said. "Corey's played unbelievable the last two or three years in a lot of major championships. He's been inspiring to play well at the top of the best fields out here. But that's the next step."
WATCH | Taylor makes 72-foot eagle putt to win RBC Canadian Open:
Conners held a share of the 36-hole lead at the PGA Championship last month until a wayward bunker shot on Saturday derailed his tournament. He wound up tied for 12th.
A similar story repeated itself at Oakdale, with Conners among the leaders after the first round but unable to stay in contention through the back nine on Sunday.
At the moment, Brooke Henderson is the standard-bearer in Canadian golf.
WATCH | Nick Taylor wins Canadian Open, ending Canada's drought:
The 25-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., is the winningest player in the country's history with 13 victories on the LPGA Tour, including major championships in both 2016 and 2022. Henderson is the only Canadian to have multiple majors.
She was the last Canadian to win the national open when she was victorious in 2018 in Regina at Wascana Country Club.
"The emotion that our country feels when a Canadian does well on a stage on home soil is something really special," Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum told CBC Sports ahead of the tournament.
That effect was felt in the immediate aftermath of Taylor's victory as well.
Brad Clapp, general manager of Ledgeview Golf Club in Abbotsford — Taylor's home course — said "the club was quite energized" Sunday.
"The clubhouse was busy and had a lot of people there and cheering them on and I'm sure at their houses, too," he told The Canadian Press. "This is monumental. Obviously for the nation, but to look at it from a Ledgeview Golf Club standpoint this is, yeah, it's incredible."
WATCH | Taylor celebrated by golfers in hometown:
Jay Taylor, Nick Taylor's dad, watched his son win from home as he prepared to fly to Los Angeles for the U.S. Open.
He said the reaction was emotional — "you can't do anything but cry and hug" — while also acknowledging what the moment could mean moving forward.
"The young children that were watching today, that were there, the teenagers, all the golfers that are in junior golf programs watching this right now — a Canadian kid won. They know it can be done."
Just one week prior to Taylor's victory, Canada boasted winners on the women's Epson Tour, the PGA Tour LatinoAmerica and the senior men's PGA Tour Champions — all on the same day.
A win this week in Los Angeles would only amplify the momentum Canadian golf is currently riding — though it would certainly be tough to top Taylor's miraculous 72-foot putt, the longest of his career.
"That's the next step," Taylor said. "Next week there's seven of us there, so hopefully we can do the same thing. The more time we're up at the top of the leaderboard, lucky bounces like that will go in the hole. So hopefully that starts happening."
Beyond the U.S. Open, there's also the men's Open Championship in July on top of four women's majors remaining on the schedule.
Since the end of Weir's prime, Canadians in major contention have been few and far between.
Now, though, a major championship seems more plausible than ever.
