Golf gets another moment in the sun as the U.S. Open comes to L.A.
Canadian Open champ Nick Taylor rolls into the major
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Basketball and hockey normally dominate the North American sports news cycle this time of year. But, as the Denver Nuggets and Vegas Golden Knights marched toward frictionless five-game victories in their respective finals, golf grabbed everyone's attention over the past week with a pair of dramatic stories.
First came last Tuesday's bombshell announcement from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf's Saudi backers that they'd agreed to merge their warring tours under the umbrella of a new company heavily financed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund. We still know next to nothing about how it will all work as the deal is still being ironed out, but there's been talk of allowing defectors such as Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson to return to the PGA Tour next year if they agree to certain penalties. The future of the unloved LIV tour beyond this season remains completely up in the air.
While everyone was still digesting that stunning news — and players were screaming at PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan for taking the Saudi money after shaming them into not doing the same — Nick Taylor authored one of the greatest moments in Canadian golf history. The 35-year-old from Abbotsford, B.C., sank a 72-foot eagle putt on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff on Sunday in Toronto to become the first Canadian in 69 years to win the men's Canadian Open.
WATCH | Taylor converts long putt to capture RBC Canadian Open:
A few days later, golf is ready for another moment in the sun as the U.S. Open — the most demanding of the four men's majors — tees off Thursday at the Los Angeles Country Club. Taylor is there, along with virtually all of the world's best players, including the LIV rebels. Monahan is not, after experiencing a "medical situation" that caused him to turn over day-to-day operations of the PGA Tour to a couple of his lieutenants.
Here are some more things to know about the U.S. Open:
The venue is fresh.
Even though it's well over a century old, the intensely private L.A. Country Club is brand new to most golf fans because it hasn't hosted a big-time tournament in decades and has never staged a major. There will be rough (this is a U.S. Open, after all), but in many ways the course is atypical for this event. The fairways are relatively wide, and the linksy terrain on some holes infuses a bit of British Open flavour.
Another wrinkle is the diverse par-3s. A couple of them are listed at 290 and 284 yards, which would make them among the longest ever at the U.S. Open. Contrast those with the tiny 15th hole, which for at least one day will be set up to play just 92 yards — the shortest in modern U.S. Open history.
Scottie Scheffler is the man to beat (if he can putt).
The world's No. 1-ranked player is the clear favourite in the betting markets. He's ahead of Jon Rahm and Koepka (the winners of this year's Masters and PGA Championship, respectively), four-time major champion Rory McIlroy and others including three-time major winner Jordan Spieth, Norwegian rising star Viktor Hovland and defending champ Matt Fitzpatrick of England.
Scheffler is unmatched when it comes to the most repeatable shots in golf, those from tee to green. That's how the 26-year-old American has finished no worse than 12th this calendar year, including victories at the extremely lucrative Players' Championship and the big-money Phoenix Open in late winter. But the 2022 Masters champion's putter deserted him at Augusta and hasn't returned — with the slight exception of the PGA Championship, where he tied for second.
Scheffler's putting was downright bad at his last two events, but he still placed third in each — a testament to how incredible the rest of his game is right now. If he can straighten things out with the flat stick this week, everybody else could be playing for second.
Nick Taylor headlines a big Canadian contingent.
Seven Canadian players will tee it up in L.A., led by the newly crowned Canadian Open champ and the country's highest-ranked player, No. 29 Corey Conners, who won the Texas Open in April (Taylor is up to 44th after his big win).
Joining them are two others who have won on the PGA Tour this year: 67th-ranked Adam Svensson and No. 68 Mackenzie Hughes. Plus, 70th-ranked Adam Hadwin (who got a tough lesson in security measures after Taylor's win), No. 117 Taylor Pendrith and No. 666 Roger Sloan, who lost his Tour card last season but got in through a qualifier.
They'll all be trying to become the first Canadian man to capture a major since Mike Weir won the Masters 20 years ago. Read more about the high hopes for Canadian golfers following Taylor's victory in this story by CBC Sports' Myles Dichter.
