Canada’s Nick Taylor won the Canadian Open title Sunday in a playoff, becoming the first Canadian to win the country’s men’s national golf championship since 1954.
Taylor defeated England’s Tommy Fleetwood in the fourth playoff hole with an insane 72-foot putt to take home the title and snap a drought for the Canadian men that lasted 69 years.
The 72-footer was the longest make of Taylor’s PGA career. Not a bad place to do it.
After the putt, Canadian fans stormed
One day after posting a course record 63 at Oakdale Golf and Country Club in Toronto, Taylor started quickly on his quest to become the first Canadian since Pat Fletcher to win the national open, carding a birdie on the second hole of his final round. By the end of his front nine, the Abbotsford, B.C. native had three more and had moved into the lead.
Overall, Taylor finished with eight birdies and two bogeys Sunday, carding a 66 to finish 17-under for the tournament. Taylor capped off his round with a clutch 11-footer for birdie that had the Canadian crowd in a frenzy.
Taylor had a number of fellow Canadian golfers in the crowd watching the playoff, including Canadian golfing legend Mike Wier and Corey Conners.
The win was Taylor’s third on the PGA Tour and first since 2020, when he won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
When Fletcher won in 1954 at Point Grey Golf Club in Vancouver, he was the first Canadian to do so since Karl Keffer in 1914, a 40-year gap. This 69-year wait was much longer, but was finally stopped by an incredible four-day performance from the 35-year-old Taylor.
