CANADIAN ROCK SOLID AT PEBBLE BEACH
Taylor outduels Mickelson at storied California course for second career win,
When the golf history books show the stats on the second victory of Nick Taylor’s PGA career, it will look like it was an easy win. Barely worked up a sweat. Yet that was hardly the case. Yes, the 31-year-old Taylor did become the first Canadian to ever win the famed AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am by a comfortable four shots, making clutch putt after putt while going wire-to-wire on three different courses. But on a Sunday when the iconic layout in Northern California suddenly bared its fangs on the back nine, Taylor actually had to hang tough and show some grit to navigate his way to victory.
If the course and gusty conditions weren’t challenging enough, the Abbotsford, B.C. native also had to go head-tohead with an intimidating golfing legend, Phil Mickelson. The Canadian not only held his nerve to defeat Mickelson in what was essentially a matchplay scenario, but he completely outplayed the man they call Lefty.
The galleries were certainly behind Mickelson, and it was sure easy to tell CBS was a good deal more excited about a possible win by the 49-year-old American superstar than some
Canadian many golf watchers had heard little about before the weekend. The colourful Mickelson was trying to become only the fourth golfer in history to win tournaments in four different decades.
At one point, Taylor made two bogeys and a double bogey over four holes on the back nine, and it looked like the tournament was slipping from his grasp.
“I definitely started feeling some nerves in the middle of the back nine,” he said.
But he didn’t let those errors kill his confidence or cause him to lose his swing entirely, while a fading Mickelson contributed a few wild mistakes of his own.
“That’s where the match-play scenario comes in,” said Taylor. “Phil was making bogeys alongside me. (The course) was just playing so difficult.”
Taylor’s composure was impressive as he focused on the final stretch. Even when he stuck another perfect iron shot five feet from the hole on the signature par-three 17th, then made the birdie putt, he kept his head down and didn’t crack a smile.
This tournament, made famous by crooner Bing Crosby, is an unusual, tradition-laden event with amateur partners who qualify playing through to the final day. So, on the 18th hole on Sunday, Taylor had to wait for former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young to double chip his way onto the green before he could play his final shots.
Taylor’s wife Andie and infant son Charlie, both in toques, were waiting for him just off the 18th green as he finally allowed himself to smile.
“That made it super special,” said Taylor. “I’ve always dreamed of having a family and having them come on the green after winning a golf tournament.
“(Having a child) has made golf less important for me. I still am eager and driven to do well, but when I’m home, I’m just focused on helping Andie and watching Charlie grow. It’s a new chapter in my life. Golf is just not No. 1 anymore.”
Taylor, who punched his ticket to the Masters with the victory, became the seventh Canadian to win multiple times on the PGA Tour. Only Mike Weir and Stephen Ames have done so in the last 30 years. He’s also the third Canadian PGA winner in the last three years — joining Adam Hadwin (2017 Valspar Championship) and Corey Conners (2019 Valero Texas Open) — as this generation of players from the Great White North continues to make gradual inroads in the highest tier of men’s golf. Throw in the breakthrough successes of Brooke Henderson on the LPGA Tour, and these are heady times for the Canadian game.
Taylor began Sunday with just a one-shot lead over Mickelson, who had won five times at Pebble Beach.
“Leading up to the round was hard,” Taylor said. “You know, the anticipation of playing with Phil, having a lead, having a decent cushion on the rest of the field.”
The overwhelming sentiment seemed to be that Taylor would have a very difficult time paired with Mickelson for the final round, that the pressure of the moment would get to him. After all, his only previous PGA win had come in 2014 at a third-tier stop in Jackson, Miss. and now he was playing on one of golf’s best known courses and facing an opponent with 44 career wins.
“I hope (Taylor) doesn’t go away,” said television commentator Nick Faldo. “I hope he sticks in there and gives Phil a fight.”
The B.C. native lost that oneshot lead on just the second hole, but then settled in to build a five-shot lead over Mickelson at the turn.
“We chatted early on,” said Taylor. “He was fun to play with. He was complimentary on my good shots.”
Things got a little choppy at that point. Taylor bogeyed the 11th and 12th holes as the wind made the shaved poa annua greens even more slippery, and then double-bogeyed the 14th to allow Mickelson to creep within two shots.
“I really had to grind and focus there,” said Taylor.
But then he holed a perfect chip shot from 30 feet on No. 15 to seal the deal, and the tournament belonged to a non-American for the first time since 2004.
“That chip couldn’t have happened at a better time,” said Taylor.
Neither could the win. Six years is a long wait for any golfer. Long enough to become a father along the way and maybe gain the perspective that makes winning a little sweeter.