Canada's Nick Taylor Ends 69-Year Canadian Open Drought, Sets Off Raucous Celebration
After a wild week in the business of golf, a classic late Sunday afternoon at the RBC Canadian Open brought the focus back onto the course with a historic win.
Canadian-born Nick Taylor became the first native to win the country's national open since 1954, holing a 72-foot eagle putt on the fourth playoff hole to defeat Tommy Fleetwood and set off a raucous celebration around Toronto’s Oakdale Golf and Country Club.
“I’m very speechless,” Taylor said, choking up. “This is the most incredible moment."
Fellow Brits Justin Rose, Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton all stuck around for the playoff to support Tommy Fleetwood, while Canadians Mike Weir, Corey Conners and Adam Hadwin were on hand for Taylor.
As the celebration began on the 18th green, Hadwin ran out to shower Taylor and his caddie, only to get tackled by security.
Taylor opened the week with a round of 72 and was tied for 120th. Just making the cut was the first order of business, which he did with a Friday 67. Then he shot 63-66 on the weekend, birdieing the last two holes to post 17 under.
Fleetwood tied him at that number and they went back to the 18th to begin a sudden-death playoff. When Taylor poured in a five-foot birdie putt to extend the playoff, rain began and was heavy at times throughout the rest of the playoff.
The two traded pars at the second and third playoff holes, then back at the 499-yard par-5 18th, Taylor reached the green in two while Fleetwood was on in three. Taylor went first from a distance where two putts would have been perfectly fine, yet he poured it in.
The 72-footer was the longest made putt of Taylor’s PGA Tour career.
For the RBC Canadian Open, it was the second straight year when the tournament took a backseat for a while but delivered on Sunday. In 2022, LIV Golf’s first event was contested in London on the same weekend, with a curious sports world watching. But after it concluded on Sunday, fans turning to the Canadian Open saw Rory McIlroy win with a sparkling final-round 62.
Before Taylor, Pat Fletcher was the last Canadian winner of the Canadian Open, in 1954.