Nick of Time: Taylor's historic Canadian Open win gives tourney much-needed boost

TORONTO – The morning of Sunday at the RBC Canadian Open is when the staff who have been at the event for the whole week is operating in top gear. It’s the final round, after all. The maintenance staff in particular should be dialled in – except there was one special difference for this year’s final round. Thomas Byrne, a young man helping set the pins at Oakdale Golf and Country Club, put a toonie on the bottom of the cup on No. 18 for the finale.

An extra dose of Canadian comfort, just in case.

Turns out that bit of luck was needed at day’s end, as Abbotsford, B.C.’s Nick Taylor rolled in a 72-foot(!) eagle putt on the fourth playoff hole to defeat Tommy Fleetwood for his third career PGA Tour title – breaking the 69-year drought for Canadians at the RBC Canadian Open. The putt was Taylor’s longest of his career, and the longest of anyone all week by nearly 20 feet.

A Canadian. At the Canadian Open. Taylor flipped his putter in the air like Jose Bautista flipping his bat, embraced his caddie Dave Markle and was showered with champagne and let the tears flow talking about his young family who were at home in B.C. The toonie helped him take it.

"To break that curse, if you want to call it that is … I'm pretty speechless," said an emotional Taylor. "I don't think it's going to sink in for quite some time what happened today."

It’s too early to tell how much of a seminal moment that will be in terms of trickle-down influence for the next generation of young golfers. But as far as last week specifically? It was the perfect finish after a fairly turbulent start.

There’s no need to re-hash the full Tuesday bombshell. For the second year in a row, news from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) and its overwhelming desire to be part of men’s professional golf interrupted the Canadian Open – this time on a seismic scale. A go-forward framework had been approved amongst the PIF, the PGA Tour, and the DP World Tour, setting the stage for a new world order in pro golf. Arguably, the biggest news in the history of the game.

The PGA Tour, Golf Canada, and the tournament itself didn’t quite go into crisis mode, but everything was tense. No answers, only questions. SCOREGolf reported there was talk of a walk-out by some Tour players in its player meeting Tuesday afternoon, but cooler heads prevailed.

Rory McIlroy came into the media centre Wednesday to address the assembled masses – with plenty of news reporters there, not interested in knowing why his strokes gained: putting was down to 113th this season from 16th the year prior. At the PGA Championship, McIlroy said he wanted to not be part of the LIV-Golf narrative any longer. At the RBC Canadian Open, what McIlroy said was the LIV-Golf narrative.

The big-time news had a big-time impact on this year’s RBC Canadian Open, and it continued to hang over the event like smoke from the Quebec wildfires after balls got in the air Thursday. McIlroy answered nine questions in his post-round interview that day, seven of which were on the bigger story of the day, and not his 1-under 71. Canada's Corey Conners, however, was the co-leader after a 5-under 67. A spark. A welcome relief.

By the time the Black Eyed Peas broke into the opening notes of ‘Boom, Boom Pow’ on Friday night, the leaderboard was starting to take more shape. McIlroy had zipped up the standings thanks to a 5-under 67, and Taylor – who had got “a talking to” from his wife Andie on his attitude Thursday night, he said with a laugh – bounced back after an opening-round 75 with his own 67.

Saturday’s concert headliner was Alanis Morrisette. You ought to know that heading into Sunday’s finale the buzz was firmly wrapped in Taylor, who had shot a course-record 63 on moving day. He was firmly in the mix. Could it be his time? Nothing ironic about that.

The opening nine at Oakdale Golf and Country Club played nearly three strokes harder than the back nine for the week – a product of it being nearly 450 yards longer – but Taylor was 5 under for the first nine on Saturday and went out in 4 under in the final round. The lead was his. He was composed and focused. Markle, his caddie, told him to “see” every shot before he pulled the trigger. His putting was top-tier – the result of plenty of hard work with Irish-Canadian short-game guru Gareth Raflewski (who actually pulled a double Sunday, as his student on the LPGA Tour, Ashleigh Buhai, also won) – and he embraced the moment, or, moments. Standing ovations on every tee and every green, the national anthem on 14, and plenty of cheers that inappropriately rhymed with Taylor’s first name.

“The crowd support was the most unbelievable thing I will probably ever experience in my life,” Taylor said.

Taylor finished at 17 under for the week and then played the waiting game while the rest of the day’s final groups came through No. 18. Conners, Mike Weir, Adam Hadwin, and Taylor’s brother Josh watched on TV in the locker room as Fleetwood couldn’t make birdie on the final hole (which played as the easiest hole of the week). The pair were off to a playoff.

Dave McKay, the CEO of RBC, was around the final hole in a navy blazer and matching umbrella. He and Taylor won the RBC Heritage Pro-Am together earlier in the year. Organizers, sponsors and Golf Canada officials also made their way to 18. The final hole had become a living, breathing organism as the playoff wore on. Fleetwood and Taylor played 18 twice before going to the par-3 9th. No blood on the short hole. Back to 18. Taylor’s drive on the fourth extra frame found a divot but he bunted a fairway metal onto the green, 72 feet away. Fleetwood was in the fairway bunker and had to pitch out. But he his third to 15 feet, setting up a comfortable birdie attempt. Then Taylor, well, he did the darn thing. Bedlam. Electricity. History.

A Canadian hadn’t won since 1954, and a Canadian-born golfer hadn’t done it since 1914. He was the fourth Canadian to win on the PGA Tour this season – a record. He’s just the sixth Canadian in the history of the PGA Tour to win three times or more.

He did it all with an RBC patch on his left sleeve, and a Canadian passport in his pocket. Next year at Hamilton Golf and Country Club, there will be a Maple Leaf next to the name of the defending champion in the best parking spot in the place.

Taylor was asked what the win meant, and someone, he said, shouted “everything.”

“I don’t know any other word to use other than that,” Taylor said.

So, when it comes time to reflect back on the 2023 RBC Canadian Open, perhaps, after all, the biggest news of the week will be about the home-country champion.

Just the way it should be.