Professional golfer Nick Taylor won the RBC Canadian Open tournament on Sunday. While the milestone is obviously a big one for his blossoming career, it’s also significant for his country.
In winning the tournament, Taylor, who grew up in Abbotsford, BC, became the first Canadian to do so in 69 years. The last player from Canada to win the Open was Pat Fletcher in 1954 at Point Grey in Vancouver.
And Taylor performed the triumph incredibly.
After closing out his final round with consecutive birdies, the 35-year-old came out victorious against opponent Tommy Fleetwood, as he drained a ridiculous 72-foot putt for the eagle on the fourth playoff hole.
āTHE DROUGHT IS OVER!!ā
An incredible angle and @SiriusXMPGATOUR call of @NTaylorGolf59's unbelievable winning putt @RBCCanadianOpen. pic.twitter.com/4XjLpHPELb
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 12, 2023
Not only was the putt the longest of the tournament, but it was also the longest of Taylor’s PGA Tour career up to this point.
“The drought is over!” exclaimed PGA Tour broadcaster Mark Zecchino as the crowds at Toronto’s Oakdale Golf and Country Club celebrated. “He’s an icon now in this country!”
National pride was undoubtedly in the air as spectators broke out in the ‘O Canada’ chorus during the final round.
Even fellow Canadian golfer Adam Hadwin joined the party on the green, spraying champagne on Taylor and his caddie Dave Markle. Unfortunately for Hadwin, though, security guards did not recognize the PGA Tour member and tackled him to the ground.
“Corner of my eye, I saw he got a nice tackle there,” Taylor told reporters after his big win.
“I hope he’s all right. He was upright when I saw him later, so I hope he doesn’t wake up tomorrow morning with any broken ribs or anything.”
Luckily, Hadwin fully recovered, laughing the incident off after security guards recognized him.
As for Taylor, he still seems to be soaking it all in.
“To break that curse ā if you want to call it ā I’m pretty speechless,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to sink in for quite some time what happened today.”
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