Canada’s hopes rest with Hearn, Taylor
Thumb injury forces DeLaet to withdraw from PGA Championship
David Hearn is in the first group off the No. 10 tee Thursday; Nick Taylor is in the last group off No. 1.
Hearn will be done before lunch. Taylor will be battling darkness.
Hearn, the veteran from Brantford, Ont., has done everything but win on the PGA Tour, losing in playoffs at 2013’ s John Deere Classic ( to Jordan Spieth) and this year’s Greenbrier Classic ( to Danny Lee), leading last month’s RBC Canadian Open by two strokes after 54 holes before being overtaken on Sunday by Jason Day.
Taylor, the PGA Tour rookie from Abbotsford, B. C., has won last November’s Sanderson Farms Championship but hasn’t done much else.
Hearn is 36, a 15- year pro playing in his ninth major championship. Taylor is 27, and though it’s his third time facing the pressure of a major, he hasn’t played one in six years, since his second of backtoback U. S. Opens.
But the two Canadians competing in this week’s PGA Championship have this much in common: A practice round of nine holes, played over nearly four hours Monday, with two or three weather warnings forcing them to take cover while thunderstorms blew through Whistling Straits.
And they both agreed on this: the fairway is the place to be this week, even if the common perception is that the biggest of the big hitters will have a huge leg up on the competition.
“Length is always an advantage. They’ll be hitting three woods to where I’m hitting drivers some times,” said Hearn. “But I think this is a course where the accuracy might level the field a little bit.”
The course is rain- softened and very green, but the forecast is for a dry, hot week. And the fescue in the rough is high and healthy.
“Obviously these long holes, the longer you hit it, it’s going to help but you still have to hit it straight,” Taylor said. “It’s not one of those ( courses where) you bomb it anywhere and you can find it.”
DeLaet out: Graham DeLaet would have made it a Canadian three- ball Monday, but the same left thumb injury that forced him to withdraw at the RBC Canadian Open two weeks ago is still giving him trouble and he pulled out.
“So disappointed that I can’t tee it up at the PGA,” the 33- year- old from Weyburn, who has had a series of small injuries the last couple of years, posted on Twitter. “Need some time for my body to heal. I plan on being back and ready for a ( FedEx Cup) playoff run.”
“I texted him this morning to see if he wanted to play and he said he was pulling out,” said Taylor, the former world No. 1 amateur from Abbotsford, B. C.
“I don’t know the extent of what happened. It just sucks. It seems that this year, he started to play well at Travelers, and he’s just hit a speed bump a couple of times.”
RBC Redux: Though he struggled on Sunday at the Canadian Open, Hearn said the experience of playing under pressure in front of a huge and partisan audience could only help him in major championships.
“To be in a situation like that and have those feelings walking around on the weekend ... I don’t know if you can replicate that in any other tournament we play out here,” he said. “I think that the fans were so 100 per cent behind me doing well that weekend — it was a lot to live up to but I’m real proud with the way I played. I know from that experience that in these major championships or any big tournament that I play, I can handle that type of atmosphere and pressure.”
More Majors: Both Hearn and Taylor are focused on qualifying for, and contending in, the majors. Hearn has made only three cuts in the eight majors he has played.
“I played well at the Players Championship a couple of years ago, that was tremendously rewarding and I was again in the mix this year,” he said.
“To play well when the best players in the world are playing, that’s what we play for. You want to prove yourself against the best and you want to beat them.”
Victory Hangover: Taylor said it took him longer to adjust to life as a PGA Tour winner than he thought.
“Not that it affected me off the course, but just realizing what I’d done and how it changed things for my golf career. Just knowing that I’m playing out here full- time, and that I have won. It’s hard to pin down, but it definitely took more time to adjust,” he said.
Taylor, earned a three- year exemption for his victory and the $ 720,000 first prize, but has made just more than $ 300,000 in his other 24 PGA Tour starts this season.
Obviously these long holes, the longer you hit it, it’s going to help but you still have to hit it straight.
NICK TAYLOR