Canadians Hadwin, Taylor off to hot start
Hadwin, Taylor off to hot starts in first of back-to-back tour stops at Ohio course
Thursday morning started out as just another work day for Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor at the Workday Charity Open in Dublin, Ohio.
It didn’t end that way.
Through nine holes of the opening round of this one-time PGA Tour event, both Hadwin and Taylor were one-under par. Ho hum. When their rounds ended the Canadian pals from Abbotsford, B.C. stood first and second atop the leaderboard, before Collin Morikawa scorched Muirfield Village with a seven-under 65 in the afternoon to wrest the lead away from the Canadian duo. Hadwin made five birdies on his second nine to shoot a six-under-par 66 and take the clubhouse lead after the morning wave.
“Even though it’s sort of a tamer Muirfield Village than we may be used to, still a lot of slope on those greens,” Hadwin said after his round. “Just hitting good shots, quality shots to the right side of the hole, giving myself looks.”
The Workday Charity Open is the first of back-to-back tour events at the famed Ohio golf course, with Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament set for next week. This week, tournament organizers have set up a slightly more forgiving course with shorter rough and slower greens. The famed course will be back to its familiar test a week from now when Tiger Woods and Rory Mcilroy join the field.
“It’s a golf course where, if you get too aggressive, it will sneak up on you pretty quick,” Hadwin said. “Even with softer conditions than what we’re used to.”
Hadwin sits alone in second place at six-under.
Even though this week is an undercard of sorts before next week’s main event at Muirfield, the field is still strong, featuring five of the world’s top-10 players including No. 2 Jon Rahm and Nos. 5 and 6, Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka. There are six Canadians in the field, including Taylor, who is making his PGA Tour restart debut.
Taylor began his back nine with a 33-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole to get to two-under par. He followed that birdie bomb up with some magic on the par-five 11th hole.
“I drove it really, really well,” Taylor said of his round. “On the par-5s, I put myself in good positions.”
Taylor hit a 318-yard drive at the 11th, and then followed it up with a 271-yard approach shot to the green that finished three feet from the hole, setting a near tap-in eagle.
He birdied the closing hole to finish the day with a bogey-free five-under 67, tied in a group including Hideki Matsuyama and Zach Johnson at five-under.
Roger Sloan teed off late in the day and joined the Canadian leaderboard party finishing at four-under to join a group of players including Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed.
“I didn’t have a lot of expectations,” Taylor said. “I know competitive rust is definitely a thing I’ve had to struggle with in the past, but I’ve felt that I’ve played enough, so I felt good there, and I had no expectations, which is a good thing. So everything is going well.”
Taylor is one of the only North American players to sit out the first four tournaments of the tour’s restart after the 91-day COVID-19 shutdown. The 32-year-old has an eight-monthold son at home and already has a win under his belt this season at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am, where he out-duelled Phil Mickelson on Sunday.
“Obviously the break was great timing for a lot of reasons, but to have a bit of a cushion, take some more time off, I just really enjoyed being home,” Taylor said. “I’m excited to get back out here and play.”
Taylor and Hadwin are the same age and grew up playing junior golf together at Ledgeview Golf and Country Club in B.C. It’s already been a banner year for Canadian men’s golf with Taylor’s win in February, and now back-to-back top-five finishes from Mackenzie Hughes at the Travelers Championship and Hadwin at the Rocket Mortgage Classic coming into this week.
Canadians have a victory and seven top-six finishes this season and there are a record three players (Hadwin, Hughes, Corey Conners) inside the top 100 in the world rankings, with Taylor (102nd) looking to join the party.
Tiger Woods will make his long-awaited but much-expected return to the PGA Tour next week at the Memorial Tournament.
Woods made the announcement Thursday morning on Twitter, a day before the deadline to enter the field for the Nicklaus tournament.
“I’m looking forward to playing in the @Memorialgolf next week. I’ve missed going out and competing with the guys and can’t wait to get back out there,” Woods posted.
The 15-time major champion hasn’t played a tournament since the Genesis Invitational in February.