PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Nick Taylor, Adam Hadwin and Corey Conners played a nine-hole practice round Tuesday at TPC Sawgrass with Taylor making an eyebrow-raising six birdies. A winner already this season, Taylor was already a sneaky nice pick to win The Players Championship this week, the crown jewel of the PGA Tour. Taylor’s Tuesday effort bumped his confidence and his wallet — thanks to a little money game with his countrymen.
And while this week marks another example of the Canadian takeover in men’s professional golf with seven teeing it up — believed to be the most-ever Canadians in The Players Championship field — it’s also another opportunity for this golden group to start contending on the biggest stages in the sport.
“The next step is to prove it at these types of tournaments,” Taylor told Sportsnet. “The moments I’ve been in might not be much bigger, but it’s the kind of golf courses and being more confident and comfortable with the stage.”
Conners has had three top-10 finishes at the Masters in recent years, but Hadwin has just one career top 10 in majors, ditto Mackenzie Hughes. Taylor has never notched a top 10 at a major or Players Championship.
Taylor admits his poor major-championship record is partially due to extenuating circumstances — he had early exits last year at the PGA Championship, just two weeks after his daughter was born, and the U.S. Open, a week after his life-changing win at the RBC Canadian Open — but he’s come into this week, and this year, with a renewed sense of accomplishment. He finished tied for 12th last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard at a tough Bay Hill layout, which Taylor called U.S. Open-like.
“Last week was big,” Taylor said. “I think I’m better than I was a year ago (and) all those experiences can only help me.”
Taylor is the highest-ranked Canadian male in the world, at No. 25. There are five, Hadwin, Conners, Hughes, Taylor Pendrith and Adam Svensson ranked inside the top 100.
Ben Silverman is No. 117 in the world and is making his Players Championship debut this week.
It’s a week like this that really hammers home the next-level golfing success Canadians are seeing on the highest level in the sport.
“Corey’s had a lot of success at the Masters the last few years but the rest of us are eager to prove ourselves in these biggest events,” Hadwin said. “Nick has had incredible success winning in Phoenix (but at) The Players and the majors I think we have a lot to prove to Mike (Weir) and the (Presidents Cup) International Team and I think playing well in these events will go a long way knowing that come September we can face everything that comes with (the Presidents Cup) being in Canada.”
Ah, yes — the Presidents Cup.
This year’s edition will take place at Royal Montreal, with the team event returning to Canada for the first time since 2007. It’s also an Olympic year. The battle to head to Paris is one of Team Canada’s tightest. Taylor has started to pull away, but Hadwin and Conners are separated by just four spots in the world rankings.
“I think we all view representing Canada as a privilege and we all, at the end of the day, want to be top dog,” Hadwin said. “I don’t think anybody else would answer differently but we also want to beat each other when the others’ are playing their best.”
“Presidents Cup is something we talk more about because we know there are more than two spots available,” Taylor added. “If we had to choose between the two I don’t know which way guys would lean, but the Presidents Cup we’ve just known as an opportunity for longer. And the third-best Canadian is not going to be able to do both. But it’s on all of our minds.”
While Taylor’s world ranking is about 20 spots higher than the next-closest Canadian, his run has had to do a little with playing well at the right time — and in the right events. His runner-up at the WM Phoenix Open last year (a Signature Event at the time) was a big bump for his world ranking and also in his confidence, he said. Taylor’s second-place finish there moved him from No. 223 in the world to No. 73 – and he hasn’t looked back since. A playoff win five months later in Canada followed by another playoff victory at this year’s Phoenix Open and he’s on top of Canada’s golfing mountain.
“I was talking to (my wife) Andie – imagine if I finished second in both of those. What a buzzkill that would be,” Taylor said with a laugh. “But it’s a complete opposite.
“The next logical step is to play better in these events.”