Nick

Taylor

It looked like an early week for Taylor when he opened with a 3-over 75 on Thursday but nobody was better from Friday through Sunday (67-63-66). The University of Washington alum ended the week ranked 5th in strokes gained approach and 10th in putting. This will go in the books as his third career win on the PGA TOUR but certainly means the most to Taylor, “I can’t even describe it. This is the most incredible feeling. The fans were unbelievable all day. Every green, every tee box I was getting ovations and to make those last two putts to give myself a chance to do that, I’m speechless.” With this win, Taylor also jumps from 32nd to 6th in the FedExCup race. He is the sixth Canadian to win the RBC Canadian Open and the first since 1954 (Pat Fletcher).

The Canadian had a balanced attack today on his way toward five birdies to erase a pair of bogeys. Taylor walked off the course ranked top 40 in all four sub-categories of strokes gained including top 10 off-the-tee (+1.2). He could play his way into the Masters with a win but that doesn’t appear to be on the top of his mind, “Game feels good. It’s been a long stretch, so I’m excited to finish off strong and have a week off.” Taylor has played seven of the last eight weeks.

The Scottsdale resident was making his ninth career start at the WM Phoenix Open and he’d previously failed to cash in on local knowledge (nothing better than a 49th-place finish in 2020). “My track record here is really not that great. I’ve worked a lot on my putting. Kind of changed my grip over the fall. I putted great this week. That’s kind of been my Achilles Heel out here. I feel like I’ve always hit it pretty nice out here. Just wasn’t able to read the greens that great. Once I saw some putts going in I definitely got some confidence and rolled a lot of nice putts. So that was kind of the difference this week.” That story certainly checks out as Taylor gained 4.4 strokes around-the-green (3rd) this week, and 7.4 strokes putting (4th).

Taylor carded an eagle early at the par-5 third but dropped three shots to make the turn at 1-over. He stormed the castle from there with six back-nine birdies without dropping a single shot. He did it in tough weather conditions as the morning wave averaged 1.66 shots over-par today. “It’s definitely the tougher of the winds, I feel like, especially coming down the stretch. All those holes are playing a lot longer than typical. Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of wind conditions, but this was one of the toughest stretches I’ve played out here.” If this co-lead stands then it’ll be his fourth career first-round lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR. He finished outside of the top 25 in two of those events (2019-20 Shriners, 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge) but won the 2020 Pebble Beach Pro-Am after leading early.

The Canadian felt right at home on a chilly Thursday morning in Jackson, Mississippi. “It was cold. The wind was obviously up a little bit, and the greens were quick. This is probably the fastest I’ve seen them since the first few years we had the event here. This morning definitely felt like a nice chilly Autumn day back home.” Taylor traded six birdies with just two bogeys today despite landing just 13 GIR. He’ll need to clean up the iron play if he wants to remain in contention for three more days but this is certainly a great start.

The Canadian finished his week ranked T26 in GIR but also leaned heavily on the short game to keep his name near the top of the board. He walked off the course ranked 1st in strokes gained around-the-green (+5.66). It will be his first top 10 in over a year (T10 at the 2021 Wyndham Championship, August 2021). It’s not his first taste of success at Silverado Resort and Spa, though. Taylor now has three top 10s in his last five trips to Napa, and will be one to circle anytime the TOUR returns.

The Canadian is making his eighth appearance at Silverado Resort and Spa, with two notable top 10s on his resume (2017, 2019). He’s very comfortable at the course and showcased that comfort today, especially around the greens. He walked off the course ranked first in strokes gained around-the-green. “That wasn’t the best kind of start, a little sloppy, but kind of clawed it back together and to finish off like I did was a nice way to start the year.” Taylor ended last season with missed cuts in five of his last seven starts (and finishes outside of the top 50 in the other two) but he’s back on track this week on a familiar course.

If this lead/co-lead holds up, it would be the Canadian’s third 18-hole lead/co-lead in 217 events, previously 1-for-2 converting. It’s his first since the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach, where he led by two before going on to a 4-shot, wire-to-wire victory, his most recent of two TOUR victories. Afterwards (link below) regarding getting through final qualifying on Monday (from the Dallas site) for the upcoming U.S. Open: “Yeah, definitely. I felt like I putted really nice on Monday, and that kind of led into today. I think I have good mojo. Yeah, hopefully we can just keep it going.” On nine (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation, the 34-year-old outpaced two bogeys at holes 8 and 18 (errant tee ball) with four birdies at 1, 5, 6 and 10, and a hole-out eagle-2 at 12 from 95 yards away. At last check, he lost strokes around-the-green (-0.917) but gained 4.725 on approach and 0.653 on-the-green, highlighted by a 40'1" bomb for birdie-3 at 5 and lowlighted by two missed scoring chances from inside of eight feet.

The 33-year-old Taylor finished T-16 last weekend at the Honda Classic after carding a 67 on Sunday at PGA National. It marked a solid rebound performance after Taylor missed the cut in his previous start at the Phoenix Open. In 11 events this season, he’s made eight cuts with his best finish being a T-14 at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. In four previous starts at the Arnold Palmer, he’s 2-for-2 in cuts made. For 52-year-old Lickliter, this week will mark his eighth start at the Puerto Rico Open, where he’s made the cut twice (2011. 2016). In 21 PGA Tour starts since the 2013-14 season, however, Lickliter has made just two cuts (both during the 2015-16 season). He played 17 PGA Tour Champions events last season and notched just one top-25 finish, a T-13 at the Constellation Furyk & Friends.

Finishing in a tie for 33rd at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, the Canadian continued an odd, early season trend. Alternating made cuts and missed cuts through the first five starts of his new campaign, Taylor will hope to put it to an end to this at the Houston Open. Having not played in Houston since 2018, the 33-year-old will be seeing Memorial Park for the first time. Down the road at Golf Club of Houston, Taylor went MC-46-44-MC in his four attempts in the Shell Houston Open. Perhaps a change of venue and some recent form will assist Taylor in capturing his second career top-10 finish in the state of Texas.