A Canadian, at long last, is the RBC Canadian Open champion again.
Sixty-nine years after Pat Fletcher was the last local to win the title, Nick Taylor claimed his country’s national championship. He shot a closing six-under 66, with birdies on the final two holes, at Oakdale Golf & Country Club in Toronto to finish at 17-under 281, then made a spectacular 72-foot eagle putt on the fourth playoff hole to defeat Tommy Fleetwood.
Taylor, 35, began the final round three shot off the pace of 54-hole leader C.T. Pan, having shot an opening-round 75 and just making the cut with a Friday 67. But then Taylor shot a course-record 63 on Saturday to get back into contention.
Sunday’s round got off to a hot start, as Taylor, who grew up in British Columbia, made four birdies in his first seven holes to take as much as a three-stroke lead at one point on the day.
While Taylor was in the clubhouse at 17 under, Fleetwood, trying to win his first career PGA Tour title, made a mad dash to the finish, carding birdies on the 16th and 17th to get to 17 under and then scrapping in a par 5 on the home hole to go to force the playoff.
The pair both birdied the 18th in the first extra hole, then parred it when playing again. Matching pars on the third playoff hole (par-3 ninth), led them to the 18th for a fourth time on the day. Taylor’s drive found the right rough, but he managed to hit a wood on the green to set up the incredible winning putt.
Taylor’s third career PGA Tour title earned him a first-place prize money payout of $1.620 million from an overall purse of $9 million. Here are the prize money payouts for the entire field.
Win: Nick Taylor, -17, $1,620,000
P-2: Tommy Fleetwood, -17, $981,000
T-3: Tyrrell Hatton, -16, $477,000
T-3: Aaron Rai, -16, $477,000
T-3: C.T. Pan, -16, $477,000
T-6: Eric Cole, -14, $315,000
T-6: Mark Hubbard, -14, $315,000
8: Justin Rose, -13, $281,250
T-9: Brandon Wu, -12 $245,250
T-9: Andrew Novak, -12 $245,250
T-9: Rory McIlroy, -12 $245,250
T-12: Adam Hadwin, -11, $178,650
T-12: Harrison Endycott, -11, $178,650
T-12: Doug Ghim, -11, $178,650
T-12: Jonathan Byrd, -11, $178,650
T-12: Harry Higgs, -11, $178,650
17: Nate Lashley, -10, $146,250
T-18: Will Gordon, -9, $132,750
T-18: Carl Yuan, -9, $132,750
T-20: Matt Kuchar, -8, $102,330
T-20: Sam Bennett, -8, $102,330
T-20: Lucas Glover, -8, $102,330
T-20: Matt Fitzpatrick, -8, $102,330
T-20: Corey Conners, -8, $102,330
T-25: Chez Reavie, -7, $64,850
T-25: Alex Smalley, -7, $64,850
T-25: Ryan Moore, -7, $64,850
T-25: Justin Lower, -7, $64,850
T-25: Dylan Wu, -7, $64,850
T-25: Ludvig Aberg, -7, $64,850
T-25: Lee Hodges, -7, $64,850
T-25: Ted Potter, Jr., -7, $64,850
T-25: S.H. Kim, -7, $64,850
T-34: Harry Hall, -6, $47,925
T-34: Roger Sloan, -6, $47,925
T-34: Cody Gribble, -6, $47,925
T-34: Brendon Todd, -6, $47,925
T-38: Patton Kizzire, -5, $39,150
T-38: Sahith Theegala, -5, $39,150
T-38: S.Y. Noh, -5, $39,150
T-38: M. J. Daffue, -5, $39,150
T-38: Greyson Sigg, -5, $39,150
T-43: Michael Kim, -4, $28,530
T-43: Ryan Gerard, -4, $28,530
T-43: Callum Tarren, -4, $28,530
T-43: Peter Malnati, -4, $28,530
T-43: Carson Young, -4, $28,530
T-43: Shane Lowry, -4, $28,530
T-43: Chesson Hadley, -4, $28,530
T-50: Austin Smotherman, -3, $22,860
T-50: Garrick Higgo, -3, $22,860
T-52: Brent Grant, -2, $21,438
T-52: Mike Weir, -2, $21,438
T-52: Jason Dufner, -2, $21,438
T-52: Cameron Percy, -2, $21,438
T-52: Brian Gay, -2, $21,438
T-57: Andrew Landry, -1, $20,160
T-57: Scott Piercy, -1, $20,160
T-57: Cameron Young, -1, $20,160
T-57: Adam Long, -1, $20,160
T-57: Stuart Macdonald, -1, $20,160
T-57: James Hahn, -1, $20,160
T-57: Peter Kuest, -1, $20,160
T-57: Sung Kang, -1, $20,160
T-65: Richy Werenski, E, $19,170
T-65: Scott Brown, E, $19,170
T-65: Taylor Pendrith, E, $19,170
T-68: Trevor Cone, +1, $18,540
T-68: Akshay Bhatia, +1, $18,540
T-68: Wil Bateman, +1, $18,540
T-68: Brice Garnett, +1, $18,540
T-72: Henrik Norlander, +2, $17,910
T-72: Vince Whaley, +2, $17,910
T-72: Martin Trainer, +2, $17,910
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