Taylor finishes strong at South Regional
It was a slow start for Medicine Hat College Rattlers golfer Matthaus Taylor, but the finish was nothing short of spectacular.
While he closed out Saturday’s opening round in the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference South Regional at Desert Blume with a 41-37-78 to put him in a tie for 17th, he finished the event with a 40-30 on Sunday to climb all the way up into a tie for fourth.
“I just had to keep trusting that I’m good enough to make birdies out here and get shots back,” said Taylor. “And it happened.”
The Medicine Hat product sunk five birdies, one eagle, two bogeys and a par on Sunday’s back nine after starting his day with four consecutive bogeys. His performance down the stretch shaved eight strokes off his previous day’s score and pushed him 13 spots up the leaderboard — but perhaps most importantly, it gave Taylor some confidence heading into next week’s ACAC Championship.
“It’s all about growth and just finding a base, finding who I am as a golfer and moving on to what’s actually important,” said Taylor, adding he really turned things around with his short game. “I just started making some putts. I struggled with my putting horribly in Round 1 and horribly for probably the first 10 or 11 holes today, but then it just clicked.”
The fourth-place finish comes after Taylor split the win with MacEwan’s Josh Gorieu at the North Regional last weekend, and sets up what should be a strong push for nationals at the ACAC Championship.
Taylor made the return to MHC this season after spending two years with the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns, and says it’s great to be able to play with his hometown team again — and on the local links to boot.
“It’s huge,” Taylor said of playing at Desert Blume ahead of next weekend’s ACAC championship in Edmonton. “It’s two days that just give you confidence.”
Fellow Rattlers Brett Griscowsky finished in a tie for 20th after shooting a 79-83-162, while Troy Ferguson took 23rd with an 83-81-164. Rattlers Kent Lesko, Kelton Hope and Mitchell Morrison all finished tied for 24 with 165s. The combined finish put Medicine Hat sixth in the men’s team stroke play.
On the women’s side, Rattlers Nicole Schultz and Sierra Zukowski finished fifth and sixth respectively and second in the team stroke play.
Schultz shaved two strokes off her first round to take fourth with an 8684-170, while Zukowski closed out her weekend at 86-87-173.
The Rattlers head to Edmonton RedTail Landing Golf Club on Saturday for the ACAC Championship.