Monday, November 17, 2014
Nick Taylor-Champion
Quite unexpectedly,
about a week ago, Nick Taylor emerged from the pack as the winner of the
Sanderson Farms Championship, in Jackson, Mississippi, on the American
Professional Golf Association Tour. He
carded eight birdies on the final round to score 66. He bogeyed the final hole,
but was well aware that he did not need a par to win.
Following his
victory, he spoke with his wife who had just finished work as a social worker
in Canada. The 26 year old golfer from Abbotsford, British Columbia picked up
more than $700 000 for his victory, as well as exemptions for 2016/2017 on the
PGA tour. They planned to go to Mexico this week to celebrate the win. He has
another tournament there to close out the season.
I am certain that his
win came as no surprise to Taylor.
But the road to success in the golf world is
not at all easy, and requires great patience. He won the Canadian Junior
Championship in 2006, and the Canadian Amateur in 2007. He qualified for the
U.S. Open in 2008 and 2009. He was a first team All American in 2009 and 2010.
He was named Canada’s top amateur in 2009. He made his first PGA cut in 2008 at
the RBC Canadian Open. In 2010, after a great career at the University of
Washington, he rose to # 1 ranking in the world as an amateur.
He began his
professional career in 2011, and earned enough money on the PGA Canada TOUR to
gain full status for 2012. He finished 30th on the Order of Merit.
Even in 2012, he did not win any tournaments, but finished 11th on
the Order of Merit. In 2013, he finished 7th on the Order of Merit
to gain exemption into the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament finals. He
finished 11th to gain conditional status on the Web.com Tour. He
went on to finish 37th in the Priority Ranking, earning his PGA card
for the 2014-2015 season.
His win at the
Sanderson Farms Championship was of great significance to Canadian golf. He is
the first player to move from the PGA TOUR Canada to the PGA Tour, and win. He
is the first native Canadian to win since 2007, when Mike Weir won.
I am certain that the
path to this championship was not an easy one. I have followed golfers on the
PGA TOUR Canada, and I have seen the joy and the sorrow. But the rewards are
great, once achieved.
He had played the
Pro-Am on Monday, prior to the tournament. “It was huge for me to see the golf
course early. And the greens, honestly, were faster on Monday than they were
all week.” Reflecting on the course itself he stated: “I loved it. It fit my
eye.”
The first person to
congratulate Nick at the scorer’s table was Canadian Adam Hadwin. “We’re
staying together this week. Adam had such a great week. I’ve been rooming with
him a lot.”
The night before the
final round, Nick made some alterations to his game. The day before, he felt he
had “hit the ball well off the tee, but it was a little sideways.” At that
point he said he worked on “a bit of posture”.
He gave credit to the
other Canadians at the tournament, David Hearn and Graham DeLaet. He knows that
the road has been paved by Mike Weir, and older greats including Al Balding,
Gary Cowan, Dave Barr, Ian Leggatt, Stan Leonard, Jim Nelford, Bob Panasik, Jim
Rutledge, George Knudson, Glen Hnatiuk, Richard Zokol, Brad Fritsch, Stephen
Ames, Rod Spittle, Pat Fletcher, and yes, even Moe Norman.
Enjoy the moment,
Nick. Continue to hit ‘em straight. Off to the LPGA event this week in Naples.
James, Tiffany Joh, and Joanne
James Hurst
Sportslices.blogspot.com
November 16,
2014
# posted by James Hurst @ 2:24 PM 
