The post Nick Taylor joins Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson on exclusive list with Sony Open playoff win appeared first on Golf.

The post Nick Taylor joins Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson on exclusive list with Sony Open playoff win appeared first on Golf.

Nick Taylor finds himself in rarefied air after his thrilling playoff win over Nico Echavarria on Sunday at the Sony Open.

Taylor needed to drain a miraculous chip on the 72nd hole at Waialae Country Club to find a way into a playoff. But once Taylor reached the sudden-death playoff, he did what he has done in each of the past two seasons — win.

Both Taylor and Echavarria birdied the first playoff hole before the Canadian got the best of the 30-year-old Colombian with a birdie on the second hole to clinch his fifth PGA Tour victory and third consecutive season with a playoff win.

In 2023, Taylor drained a 72-foot putt to beat Tommy Fleetwood at the RBC Canadian Open. The Canadian once again rose to the moment last season when he bested Charley Hoffman in a two-hole playoff to win a Signature Event at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

By beating Echavarria in extra holes on Sunday, Taylor joined an exclusive group of players to win a PGA Tour event in a playoff in three consecutive seasons. According to golf stats guru Justin Ray, Taylor is the first player to achieve the feat since Bubba Watson did it between 2010-12. Per Ray, only five players have won in a playoff in three consecutive seasons since 1999. That list includes Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

In 1999, Woods defeated Miguel Angel Jimenez on the first playoff hole to win the WGC-American Express Championship. Woods beat Bob May in a playoff to win the 2000 PGA Championship the following year. He also beat Ernie Els in a playoff at the 2000 Mercedes Championship. Then, in 2001, Woods beat Jim Furyk in an epic seven-hole playoff battle to win the 2001 WGC-NEC Invitational.

Taylor struggled last season after winning in Phoenix. After that playoff win, he carded just one top-10, which came at the team event at the Zurich Classic. Taylor’s inconsistent season saw him fail to crack the top 50 on the FedEx Cup list and forced Mike Weir to leave him off the Presidents Cup team.

The 36-year-old Canadian worked hard during the fall and hopes to be more consistent in 2025.

If he can put himself in the hunt more often, he believes he’ll start to stack wins. He’s already proven he has a clutch gene that delivers in big moments.

“I feel like I can rise to the occasion and it’s pretty fun,” Taylor said Sunday after the win.

It’s never bad to find your name on a list with Woods and Mickelson, either.

The post Nick Taylor joins Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson on exclusive list with Sony Open playoff win appeared first on Golf.

The post Nick Taylor drains improbable 72nd hole chip to win Sony Open appeared first on Golf.

The post Nick Taylor drains improbable 72nd hole chip to win Sony Open appeared first on Golf.

One of the great traits of sports is that they are presided over by a commanding sense of fate.

The competition may be intense and the possibilities may be many, but by the time we have reached the end, we usually feel as if we have gotten the outcome we deserved. In golf, all that’s left to learn by the time Sunday morning rises is the path from point A (opening tee shots) to point B (the winner’s circle).

But there is no person in the golf world, and perhaps no person in the spiritual world, who would have predicted Nick Taylor would win the Sony Open by the time he reached the 72nd fairway in Waialae. It wasn’t just that Taylor was trailing by two shots on the last hole, with the leaders still behind him. Not just that he’d blown consecutive four-footers on the 69th and 70th holes to fall into that position. Not just that was seconds away from overcooking his approach on the 72nd hole to the back bumper of the green, leaving a gnarly 60-footer down a ridge just to get to a playoff. It was that Taylor himself didn’t think he had a chance.

“It was a tough day,” he admitted later. “I was 1-over through 7 and not really thinking about winning.”

But then the great pendulum of fate swung from behind the 72nd green in Waialae, and suddenly Taylor was watching his ball roll down the ridge at the perfect pace and perfect line, tracking nearer and nearer to the hole. And then, equally suddenly, it fell in, and Nick Taylor wasn’t two shots off the lead anymore. He was the leader in the clubhouse, tied with Echavarria. And Spaun and Jaeger were in trouble behind him.

The sequence arrived in an instant, and was visible best on NBC’s broadcast, which had effectively shifted its focus away from Taylor to keep maximum attention on the three golfers with the best chance of winning the tournament. The start of Taylor’s chip hardly cleared over the television screen, and then it was in the bottom of the hole and the NBC crew was expressing its solemn shock at the possibility that Taylor might now be headed for a playoff.

When Spaun and Jaeger missed the 72nd fairway behind Taylor, it seemed that possibility had become probability. Probability became certainty when Spaun and Jaeger each tapped in for par to end their rounds at 15 under, one shot behind Echavarria and Taylor. Still, victory was another thought entirely. Taylor needed to win a playoff against Echavarria on the same 18th hole, and his foe wouldn’t go away easily.

The two golfers made birdies each on the first playoff hole. But then, after returning to the 18th hole for a second time, it seemed a conclusion was nearing. Taylor had undercooked his approach this time, leaving 40 yards to the pin, while Echavarria had struck a towering hybrid to 40 feet.

But Taylor would not go away. He struck a downright perfect chip shot to 3 feet, swinging pressure back in the direction of Echavarria, who popped up his putt off the back fringe.

It was Echavarria’s turn again, and this time, the birdie putt missed, leaving a 3-footer for Taylor to clinch the title. Taylor struck his putt straight into the bottom of the hole. Tournament over. Victory.

As the weight of the moment washed over him, so did the depth of his shock. For the third time in the last three years — the first being his equally dramatic 72nd hole make at his national Canadian Open, the second being in an equally thrilling playoff at the WM Phoenix Open — Taylor had plucked victory from the jaws of the impossible.

Taylor was a winner again on the PGA Tour, and he’d solidified himself as one of the Tour’s nastiest finishers — though the level-headed Canuck would never admit as much.

“I feel like I can rise to the occasion and it’s pretty fun,” he said Sunday with a grin.

Indeed he can. In ’23, the clutch gene remade the Canadian Open tournament logo. In ’24, it turned him into a Signature Event winner. And in ’25, it made him a winner even when he didn’t believe it possible.

Was it fate? Perhaps. But it sure didn’t feel that way.

The post Nick Taylor drains improbable 72nd hole chip to win Sony Open appeared first on Golf.

The post What clubs does Sony Open winner Nick Taylor play? Winner’s bag appeared first on Golf.

The post What clubs does Sony Open winner Nick Taylor play? Winner’s bag appeared first on Golf.

After a dramatic chip-in on the 72nd for eagle to get into the playoff, Nick Taylor defeated Nico Echavarria on the second sudden-death playoff hole to win his fifth PGA Tour victory at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Take a closer look at the bag of Titleist and TaylorMade gear Taylor got the job done with, including the wedges he used for the chip-in and clutch up and downs in the playoff.

Driver: Titleist TSi3 10.0 degrees (Fujikura Atmos Tour Spec Blue 6 X)

Titleist GT3 Custom Driver

GT3 – Speed-Tuned Distance & Control GT3 offers Titleist’s boldest combination of power and personalization. With a speed-tuned design that allows you to precisely match performance to your most frequent contact location, you can make your biggest drives even bigger while taking total control over flight and shaping. For players with a relatively consistent impact location, GT3 offers a precisely adjustable CG Track to max out distance and directional control. Seamless Thermoform Crown A reimagined ultra-lightweight design, born from a new Proprietary Matrix Polymer. The tunable acoustic properties of this unique composite allow Titleist engineers to realize new material gains while maintaining our signature sound and feel. All wrapped in a clean look that inspires total confidence. Split Mass Construction A breakthrough in internal weighting unlocks longer drives and enhanced directional control in GT3. The Adjustable CG Track now sits closer to the face for more dynamic CG control, while additional discretionary mass is pushed to the back of the club to maintain optimal stability through impact. Advanced Aerodynamics GT3 features a new raised tail contour that represents a dramatic shift in driver aerodynamics. Previously impossible to execute due to design constraints, this advanced shaping results in a driver that swings faster while still providing optimal CG control.

$649.00 $449.99 from Fairway Jockey

View Product

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10

5-wood: TaylorMade SIM 2 Max

Hybrid: Titleist TSR2 21.0 degrees (Graphite Design Tour AD DI 95 Hybrid X)

Graphite Design Tour AD DI Hybrid Shaft

*New cosmetic look for 2021! The Graphite Design Tour AD DI Hybrid features premium, aerospace quality carbon-fiber materials and incorporates the proprietary Graphite Design Material Stiffness Integration (MSI) philosophy and technology. The Tour AD DI Hybrid is designed with the same performance characteristics of the Tour AD DI Wood shafts. You can purchase the Graphite Design Tour AD DI Hybrid in the following models: 75,85,95,105. You can buy the Graphite Design Tour AD DI Hybrid with the adaptor sleeve of choice built to your required specifications. PRO TIP: The Graphite Design Tour AD DI Hybrid is ideal for the player that seeks a mid trajectory with mid spin and pin point accuracy. Players of all skill levels will benefit from the exceptional control, workability and superior performance of the Tour AD DI Hybrid shafts.

$220.00 from Fairway Jockey

View Product

Irons: Titleist T100 4-9 (True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM10 46.10F, 54.14F, 58.04T (True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400)

Titleist Vokey SM10 Raw Custom Wedge

For every shot, every lie, every course, there’s a grind fit for your swing. Finding the right grind to match your swing and playing conditions will give you the best turf interaction, contact and shot performance. Master Craftsman Bob Vokey has spent decades crafting, developing and improving his tour proven grinds to fit players of all levels.Anyone can manufacture a wedge, but it takes a master to turn a piece of high-performance technology into an instrument of creative control. Bob’s six tour-proven grinds are designed to offer maximum creativity, versatility and consistency, all meticulously developed through years of working with the best players in the world. PROGRESSIVE CENTER OF GRAVITY SM9 features a progressive center of gravity (CG) throughout the lofts, which optimizes ball flight, accuracy and forgiveness. Using tapered top lines and varied hosel lengths, the Vokey R&D team has raised the height of the CG in the higher lofts, which promotes a lower, more controlled flight.The CG is also forward of the face, resulting in increased MOI, exceptional feel and a club face that simply wants to square up at impact. SPIN MILLED GROOVES SM9’s patented Spin Milled grooves are meticulously engineered through a new cutting process to maximize spin and durability. The process starts by cutting the face perfectly flat with a high-speed saw. Then every groove is individually cut based on loft and finish; low lofts (46°-54°) are designed with narrower, deeper grooves, while higher lofts (56°-62°) have wider, shallower grooves.Micro-grooves are individually cut in between grooves, which maximize spin on partial shots. A proprietary heat treatment is applied to the impact area which doubles the durability of the groove without impacting feel, making it the most durable groove in golf. The process is only complete when every Vokey wedge is 100% inspected for utmost quality and performance.

$225.00 from Fairway Jockey

View Product

Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour Red

TaylorMade 2025 Spider Tour Black Custom Putter

BLACK PVD FINISH The durable PVD coating creates a beautiful high-quality finish with sole plate, back badge and copper accents. TRUE PATH™ ALIGNMENT The patented alignment system provides visual clarity and helps golfers better envision the line to the hole. WHITE TPU PURE ROLL™ INSERTMade from a combination of Surlyn and aluminum, the white TPU Pure Roll™ insert creates a softer feel.Grooves are angled at 45° to encourage optimal forward roll as well as better sound, feel and overall roll characteristics. The white insert also creates better symmetry with the white True Path alignment. THIN WALL UNDERCUT CONSTRUCTION We’ve engineered a super stable structure by removing excess weight to create high MOI and legendary Spider performance. HYBRAR ECHO®DAMPENER HYBRAR is behind the face to dampen unwanted vibrations, delivering premium sound and feelon every putt with the best possible sensation. TSS WEIGHTING TSS weights provide balanced weighting and help optimize performance for all various putter lengths. STEEL WIREFRAME Allows engineers to better control weight distribution and CG location.

$349.99 from Fairway Jockey

View Product

Golf Ball: Titleist 2023 Pro V1x

Want to overhaul your bag for 2025? Find a fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post What clubs does Sony Open winner Nick Taylor play? Winner’s bag appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘It’s a shame’: Phoenix Open champ laments rowdy fans who ruined the party appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘It’s a shame’: Phoenix Open champ laments rowdy fans who ruined the party appeared first on Golf.

Last weekend at the WM Phoenix Open, the traditional party atmosphere devolved into mayhem, with rowdy fans disrupting the event more than usual, leading to a decision at one point on Saturday to shut the gates and stop alcohol sales.

While we’ve heard a lot about the chaos that unfolded at TPC Scottsdale, including a tournament organizer’s promises to make changes, we had yet to hear from the week’s winner, Canadian pro Nick Taylor.

News

Taylor put on a clutch display on Sunday to close out regulation and win a playoff over Charley Hoffman, backing up the reputation he previously burnished with a similarly-gutsy victory at last year’s Canadian Open, where he became the tournament’s first Canadian winner in 69 years.

This week, Taylor is in Los Angeles for the 2024 Genesis Invitational, where he sat down with reporters for a pre-tournament press conference.

When asked about the fan incidents during this year’s Phoenix Open, Taylor called them “unfortunate,” but he also suggested it’s par for the course at the event.

“From the videos that I’ve seen, those instances are unfortunate, but I don’t think it’s a standalone, it’s been like that for a bit,” Taylor said. “But I think the cat’s probably out of the bag.”

Taylor also placed the blame on “small percentage” of the rowdiest spectators, and lamented their negative effect on the fans who were there to enjoy the tournament.

News

“You know, it’s a shame when only a very small percentage of fans are like that, it gets exposed a bit, but the majority of the fans are great, they’re just trying to watch some good golf and cheer. Yeah, that needs to be cut out.” Taylor explained.

As for how the WM Phoenix Open tournament organizers can get a hold on the worst-behaving fans while maintaining the beloved atmosphere, Taylor doesn’t see any easy solutions.

“I don’t know how much they can change. I think it’s a week where the classic line is that I can do this for one week but multiple weeks, probably not.”

But he also suggested that the specific complications of this year’s tournament caused by horrendous weather were mostly responsible for the uptick in disruptive fan behavior.

“I think this year again with the weather, everybody kind of getting in the same area waiting around, it was probably a perfect storm to cause some of that a little more, but I’m not sure how they would reel it back to be honest.”

Now with four PGA Tour wins on his resume, Taylor will attempt to capture his first Signature Event this week at Tiger Woods’ Genesis Invitational, where he hopes to meet, and maybe play with, Woods for the first time.

Taylor tees off for Round 1 on Thursday at 12:01 p.m. ET with Viktor Hovland and Sam Burns.

The post ‘It’s a shame’: Phoenix Open champ laments rowdy fans who ruined the party appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Learned my lesson’: Why this pro thought twice about celebrating at the WM Phoenix Open appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Learned my lesson’: Why this pro thought twice about celebrating at the WM Phoenix Open appeared first on Golf.

There are about a half dozen Canadian pros on the PGA Tour, and they are a tight-knit bunch. That much was evident at last summer’s RBC Canadian Open, when Nick Taylor became the first Canadian to win their country’s national open since 1954.

Taylor drained a 72-footer for eagle on the fourth playoff hole at Oakdale Golf and Country Club to beat Tommy Fleetwood and win last June, and when the unlikely winning putt dropped the celebration was on. Some Canadian pros were among those who stormed the green, but one — Adam Hadwin, wearing jeans, a hoodie and black hat — wasn’t dressed in his typical golf gear and apparently blended in well with the spectators. A security guard must have thought so too, as he tackled Hadwin to the ground.

Hadwin has been a good sport about the incident, and it was even motivation for his family’s Halloween costumes.

He’s also apparently learned from it, too. Fast forward to Sunday at the WM Phoenix Open, and Taylor was closing in on his fourth career PGA Tour victory. He shot a final-round 65 and then went birdie-birdie in a playoff to beat Charley Hoffman.

Hadwin was spotted near the green waiting to see if Taylor could close it out (in an outfit similar to what he wore at the RBC Canadian Open), but he didn’t rush the green with Champagne like he did last summer.

“No, not this time,” Hadwin said. “I learned my lesson.”

“It was reminiscent of the Canadian Open a little bit,” Taylor said afterward. “A lot of snowbirds down here, a lot of people come down to this tournament that I know, even on the West Coast and all over Canada. The support was incredible. It was pretty fun to be around, so it was fun all week.”

As for Hadwin?

“He dodged security this time,” Taylor said, “so it’s good.”

The post ‘Learned my lesson’: Why this pro thought twice about celebrating at the WM Phoenix Open appeared first on Golf.

The post Nick Taylor rallies to win WM Phoenix Open in playoff appeared first on Golf.

The post Nick Taylor rallies to win WM Phoenix Open in playoff appeared first on Golf.

Everyone on Super Bowl Sunday was focused on the wrong Taylor.

While Taylor Swift was cheering on beau Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49ers, Nick Taylor was earning his shot at redemption.

One year after finishing second at the WM Phoenix Open to Scottie Scheffler, Taylor entered the final round tied for the lead of this year’s weather-delayed event largely on the strength of opening the week with a record-setting 60.

But with a few holes left, he seemed destined to come up short again. Charley Hoffman had built a three-shot lead and Taylor chose to lay up on the par-5 15th from 254 yards.

“Our rule of thumb is honestly if I don’t have a 5-iron, 4-iron going in, I’ve always laid up the last handful of years,” he said. “Even this morning, the only reason I went for it, it was a back pin, which is super tricky with the soft greens to try to hit a wedge close, so I hit a hybrid just short of the green and was able to make Mabel birdie.

“But it wasn’t even a decision.”

It paid off as Taylor got up and down for birdie on 15, rolled in a six-footer at the stadium hole 16th for another and then curled in a 10-footer for birdie on 18 to catch Hoffman at 21 under and force a playoff.

He then birdied the 18th twice more in the playoff, defeating Hoffman’s par on the second playoff with an 11-footer to win his fourth PGA Tour title.

While not as dramatic as his 72-foot bomb to beat Tommy Fleetwood last June — becoming the first native Canadian to win the Canadian Open in nearly seven decades — this win came in nearly the same manner. It also makes a full-circle moment for the part-time Scottsdale resident after his close call one year ago.

Taylor entered last year’s edition of the Phoenix Open outside the top 200 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Two wins later and he’ll now be inside the top 40 of the OWGR for the first time in his career.

His two-hole playoff came after he had already played 30 holes Sunday after the tournament was delayed several times throughout the week due to rain and frost. Taylor actually began the day with two bogeys in his first three holes to end the front nine of his third round.

News

Taylor didn’t drop a shot after that, making three birdies to close the third round before going right back out for the final round in a tie for the lead with Sahith Theegala.

“It was a marathon day,” Taylor said. “We signed our scorecard after the third round, and I had eight minutes to go to the tee. I don’t know if that riled me a little bit, but it was just a long day. Again, to find my swing a bit the last nine or ten holes and make some birdies was incredible.”

The final round quickly became a duel between Taylor, Scheffler, Hoffman and Sahith Theegala, but Hoffman took control with an eagle-birdie-birdie run on 13-15. On the same holes, Scheffler, who was seeking to become the first player to three-peat at an event in more than a decade on the PGA Tour, missed three putts inside six feet. He ended up finishing T3 at 18 under with Sam Burns after a 64.

That left Taylor as Hoffman’s main challenger after the 47-year-old — who is playing this season on a career money exemption after losing his full-time status two years ago — made a 70-foot two-putt on 17 to help him reach 21 under.

“I played my butt off. I gave myself a chance,” Hoffman said. “I knew if I got to that 22 number it would be hard for him to catch me, and left a putt short in regulation. But I love the juices. I love competing. This builds a little fire in the belly. I definitely want to be back here.”

Taylor’s questionable decision to lay up on 15 paid off when he spun his wedge to just three feet.

“My wedge game is a strength of my game,” he said. “It turned out there. Last year, I did the same thing, and it didn’t turn out. I was confident in the decision. I just knew that with how receptive the greens were, the wedge shot with the backboard there was very doable, and I thought that was my best percentage play.”

He then stuffed his approach at the stadium hole, igniting the crowd, some of whom had been waiting in the stands since before 7 a.m.

Taylor blocked his tee shot right on 18 but his ball skipped out of the bunker and into a good lie in the rough. He hit that to 10 feet and 30 minutes later played his approach from the same spot on the second playoff hole to set up the winning put.

The post Nick Taylor rallies to win WM Phoenix Open in playoff appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Not handing the score out like candy’: Why golf went LOW this week appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Not handing the score out like candy’: Why golf went LOW this week appeared first on Golf.

LIV Golf’s Joaquin Niemann shoots a 59. Then came an epic admission — GOLF.com 

‘Biggest thing for me’: Wyndham Clark thanks 1 club change for Pebble record — GOLF.com

After record-breaking 57, Korn Ferry pro makes tantalizing claim — GOLF.com

Aldrich Potgieter shoots 59 at Astara Golf Championship — PGATour.com

Nick Taylor matches course-record 60 at WM Phoenix Open — PGATour.com

What a run of scores that’s been over the past five years!

Joaquin Niemann, on the LIV Golf circuit, behind 10 birdies and one eagle, fired a 12-under 59 on the El Camaleon Golf Course. Wyndham Clark, on the PGA Tour, with 150 feet, 10 inches of putts made on the front nine, fired a 12-under 60, a record at renowned Pebble Beach. Cristobal Del Solar, on the Korn Ferry Tour, fired a 13-under 57 on the Pacos Course at Country Club de Bogota in Colombia, and no one in the history of PGA Tour-sanctioned tournaments has gone lower. Aldrich Potgieter, at the same tournament, fired a 59, and the 19-year-old is the youngest ever to go sub-60 in a Tour-backed event. Nick Taylor, on the PGA Tour, fired an 11-under 60 in front of the rowdies at the WM Phoenix Open. 

[Tapped on shoulder.]

[Told it’s not been over the past five years.]

[Told it’s all happened over this past week.]  

A week?! A week. The first headline came last Friday, the second last Saturday, the third came on Thursday, and the last two were written on Friday. Starting seven days ago, a 60-or-better score has been posted five times across the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour and LIV Golf league, and it’s the Oprah Winfrey meme, except golf — you get a 59, and you get a 59, and you get a record, and you get a record.

Here, then, is a look at how they’re doing it. 

How they’re making something that’s pretty rare all of a sudden look like a daily thing.

We’ll break it up into some obvious reasons and some bigger-picture reasons, the latter with the help of someone who walked side-by-side with Clark last week. 

The obvious reasons why players have shot 60 or better over the past week 

Lift, clean and place 

News

All but Niemann’s round featured this. The others played under the ‘preferred lies’ rules decision, or lift, clean and place, meaning, yes, if a pro’s ball was in the fairway, they could lift the ball up, clean it and then place it back down within a club length of where it was, but no closer to the hole. 

In short, it’s advantageous, and that’s not to mention that when it’s in play, rain has fallen — and greens are softer. Clark didn’t disagree with the preferred-lies benefit, but he had another thought, too. 

“You know, anytime there’s preferred lies obviously, you know, it’s — you know, it’s not the purest — it’s not golf at its purest. But I don’t know if you were out here or not, but the golf course was so saturated, there was no other way to play golf this week other than doing preferred lies. 

“With that said, any winner on the PGA Tour, it doesn’t matter if you’re getting preferred lies from everywhere or if you’re teeing the ball up from the middle of the fairway, it’s still the best players in the world playing against each other on the same golf course in the same conditions and it’s hard. It’s hard to win out here, it doesn’t matter the conditions.” 

Shorter courses 

The El Camaleon course was 7,116 yards, and Pebble played to 6,972, and TPC Scottsdale, the host of this week’s WM Phoenix Open, is 7,261. Not monsters, but not mice.

The Pacos course, though, measured 6,254 yards.   

Del Solar told GOLF’s Jessica Marksbury that the longest club he had into a green was a 6-iron — on a par-5.

Higher elevation 

The El Camaleon course plays to an elevation of about 30 feet, and Pebble Beach is 0 feet. TPC Scottsdale is higher — 2,165 feet. Then there’s the Pacos course. 

It sits at 8,612 feet. 

The higher the elevation means the longer the ball flies. There’s also a formula to it. In a wonderfully reported story by GOLF’s Jonathan Wall in 2019, Wall wrote this:

“The math seems to match up with a writeup Steven Aoyama, a principal scientist in Titleist’s golf ball R&D department, published a few years ago that stated distance can be calculated by”multiplying the elevation (in feet) by .00116. For example, if you’re playing in Reno, at one mile elevation (5,280 feet) the increase is about six percent (5,280 x .00116 = 6.1248). If you normally drive the ball 250 yards at sea level, you will likely drive it 265 yards in Reno.”

Gear

Using that information, a ball that goes 250 yards at sea level goes about 275 yards at the Pacos course, thanks to a nearly 10 percent bump (9.98). 

They’re good 

Pros are good, too. We’ll get to this more in a sec.

The thought is also a segue to the bigger-picture reasons why players have shot 60 or lower over the past week.

The bigger-picture reasons why players have shot 60 or lower over the past week  

Thinking about this story, I texted Mark Immelman. As an analyst for CBS, he walked alongside Clark last week. As an instructor, he understands the golf swing. 

We ended up talking for 15 minutes on Friday afternoon. Below is a part of that conversation. 

‘Mindset driven’

Immelman had three thoughts. 

“First off, the mindset of these guys,” he said. “You know, I find every year there’s certain places you go to where you know par is a good score. Like Bay Hill, or a U.S. Open, or certain major championships. When the conditions are set a certain way where players realize par is good, and if you venture into the 60s, you played very well. But then there are other events where they’re like, OK, this is open season. And with Signature Events and now all the points and the money involved, you find players going, all I need is one week really to set up my entire year, or potentially a year beyond that. 

“So they’re like, strike while the iron is hot. And I was following Wyndham Clark last week and this is a guy who began the day five-under, [and] they kind of knew that there was a chance that there would be 54 holes [because of storms], but they weren’t guaranteed, but he just got off to a hot start. And then over the second nine, where the holes are harder, it wasn’t like he backed off shots whatsoever. He had a few shots where you could see he was mindset driven, where he was going after hole locations. Now granted, he was playing very well and making putts, but it was just that I was struck by how he played offense all the time. 

“He stands there on the 18th tee, and look, that’s not the easiest tee shot in the world, Pebble Beach, especially if you got a lead and there’s pressure on you, and he starts this power fade shot basically over the water’s edge and smashes it down the fairway. And I was like, this is gutsy. So it speaks to mindset. I feel like when these guys feel it, it’s like open season and they just get the green light and they go.”

News

It’s an interesting thought, that with the Signature Events (as Pebble Beach was) and the pursuit to play them (which the WM Phoenix Open and Korn Ferry events help in), along with a short season, pros have to play more aggressively.     

“Nowadays the prize funds are just so big, that these guys know, I need just one week,” Immelman said. “And so when they feel it, they just go. So it’s certainly a mindset shift.”

‘They just swing away and roll the dice more often’

Immelman’s second thought? 

These guys are athletes now. 

“The way they play the game is different,” he said, “and whereas golf used to be like defensive in a way, unless you were really good, nowadays it’s like, just get the driver in your hand — metrics show that the farther down the fairway you hit it, the better you are, so they just swing away and roll the dice more often. So being athletic, they can hit the ball a long way, they’re getting short irons to targets.”

‘Hot streak’

One more theory:

“And then, at certain places like this week, at Phoenix with conditions being perfect and greens being great,” Immelman said, “all you need is a bit of a hot streak. 

“You get some wedges to targets, you reach a few par-5s in two — I mean, if you birdie the par-5s, then you got the nucleus for a good round and then you just got to pick up a few more and if you get a few wedges in hand, you know, they’re getting looks inside 15, 20 feet, and on perfect greens, it’s also open season if you’re feeling it.”

Back to the obvious now. Back to the players 

Here, I asked a question. We’ll end things with it. 

Immelman answered, but he wanted our exchange in the story, so here that is in full.

“There’s the obvious with the course on the Korn Ferry Tour being under 6,300 yards, and that it was at a high elevation, and they’re playing with lift, clean and place — but that being said, you still have to hit the shots, these guys are really good, right?”

“I need you to write this like I need air in my lungs.”

“Because look, I got to follow Wyndham Clark at full flight, and it was majestic, it was something to behold. And so I tweet about this, and you got the usual guys going, shouldn’t count because of lift, clean and place. And I’m like, people, you still got to make the score, I don’t care whether you’re playing the ball up or down. Granted, yes, you’re going to get good lies all the time. But Pebble Beach, if you missed a fairway, it was no dice because it was so lush and so wet, and the rough was punitive. So you still have to hit shots and you still got to make putts. …

“There’s always two sides to the argument, and whether you’re playing the ball up, or you’re playing the ball at altitude, you still have to get the ball in the hole. And that hole is small. If you’re not playing well, it looks smaller.

“That was my rant.”

We laughed. One more question. 

“The other argument, the other thing you’ll possibly see is the frequency of it now. Across the PGA Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour and the LIV tour, there have been five of them in a week. Do you think there’s anything behind the scores being diminished at all? Or is this what golf is now? Expect more of it.”

“When [Roger] Bannister broke the four-minute mile, then everyone realized it was possible,” Immelman said. “And so when 59 started to be shot, and then [Jim] Furyk’s 58, golfers realized this is possible. 

“But I still think it’s very much a function of the conditions. There’s just certain places that it’s not on. You still have special rounds and it will be 63 or 64. But when you get summertime golf on the PGA Tour when you have summertime storms and the golf course is receptive and the place is like a dartboard, if someone is hitting the ball, they are going to get good looks. And at a Pebble Beach, which is shorter, you know, despite the rough, if you’re hitting the ball, you’re going to get good looks. Granted you have to control spin and trajectory a whole better because those greens have so much tilt in them, but it’s the nature of the beast. I don’t think it’s diminishing the thing. It’s still 60. And you have to play your behind off to shoot a score like that.

“They’re not handing the score out like candy.”

The post ‘Not handing the score out like candy’: Why golf went LOW this week appeared first on Golf.

The post This PGA Tour winner didn’t know he was leading… until CBS told him appeared first on Golf.

The post This PGA Tour winner didn’t know he was leading… until CBS told him appeared first on Golf.

When Nick Taylor was coming up the 14th hole, the “Rink Hole,” during the final round of the RBC Canadian Open in June, Colt Knost asked his producer something.

“Are we really going to make him do this?” Knost recalled on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar with his co-host Drew Stoltz and Taylor.

Knost was referring to Taylor’s impending walk-and-talk with the CBS TV crew which was due to take place on the 15th hole, as Taylor pre-agreed to.

CBS broke new ground this year in golf TV production when they debuted walk-and-talk segments with players during tournament action. The first one was with Max Homa during the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open. Homa won the tournament the next day.

Most of the previous walk-and-talks had taken place during the third round of tournaments, and if they hadn’t, they were typically early in the final round.

But because of programming constraints, Saturday’s third-round broadcast of the Canadian Open was shorter than normal so producers decided to push the walk-and-talk to Sunday. Taylor, as one of the home countrymen, who contended earlier in the year in Phoneix, agreed to take part.

But there was a problem. Taylor was five under for the day and had surged into contention.

Would a walk-and-talk at this juncture be distracting?

However, Taylor didn’t even know he was leading.

News

“I knew that it was gonna be on 15 and you know where I was in the tournament, a lot could happen. It was very bunched,” Taylor told Knost and Stoltz on the podcast. “I didn’t look at the leaderboard all day until probably 17. But when I got when I got to the walk-and-talk, the guy came up, I thought it would have been more of a distraction if I just made a decision to not do it. But I already committed to do it.

“When I was talking to Jim [Nantz] and Trevor [Immelman] and near the end of it, Jim’s appreciative. He’s like, ‘Thank you so much for doing this. You know, we’ve never had somebody do on Sunday in contention, let alone leading the tournament.’

“I’m like, ‘Oh, guess I’m leading the tournament.'”

Taylor parred 15 but bogeyed 16. He got that shot back and then another by birding the final two holes to finish at 17 under to get into the playoff where he drained that massive eagle putt for his third career PGA Tour title.

But when he got asked if it was a distraction after the playoff, he didn’t even remember it.

“After the playoff, I forgot I did that and people started asking because there’s so much that went on the last couple of hours,” Taylor said.

For more from Taylor, check out the entire episode of GOLF’s Subpar below.

The post This PGA Tour winner didn’t know he was leading… until CBS told him appeared first on Golf.

The post You need to see this security guard aggressively tackle Adam Hadwin on the 18th green appeared first on Golf.

The post You need to see this security guard aggressively tackle Adam Hadwin on the 18th green appeared first on Golf.

Adam Hadwin never could have seen it coming.

There was the champagne, for one thing. He’d busted out a bottle of bubbly and was already mid-spray by the time it happened. It’s tough to see through the sparkle.

There was the emotion of the moment, too: Hadwin, a proud Canadian, had stuck around to root on his good friend and countryman Nick Taylor. And now Taylor had finished off Tommy Fleetwood on the fourth playoff hole of the RBC Canadian Open.

There was the shock value of what had just happened, too: Taylor had poured in a 72-foot eagle putt to end a historic drought of Canadian winners with the longest made putt of his PGA Tour career.

And then there’s Hadwin himself: He’d finished up his competitive week a couple hours earlier, closing out a final-round four-under 68 with birdies at 17 and 18. Then he’d donned an unassuming green hoodie to watch the rest of the proceedings, looking very much the everyman as he stood alongside also-hoodied Canadian pros Corey Conners and Mike Weir. At 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds, Hadwin in street clothes doesn’t necessarily scream “professional athlete,” after all.

Whatever the specifics, the viral moment of the tournament — Taylor’s 72-foot bomb — was quickly supplanted by what happened next. As Hadwin rushed onto the green, champagne bottle in hand, an overzealous security guard made his move. Before he knew it Hadwin had been planted on his back, his threat fully neutralized.

Check it out below:

A few other angles of the moment trickled out shortly thereafter; this one showed that Hadwin and the security guard making nice after the misunderstanding (and CBS’s Amanda Renner cracking up at the surreal scene, too).

The combination of Taylor’s putt and Hadwin’s tackle were the perfect end to an intense week on Tour.

Taylor’s putt was a reminder of all that is good and meaningful about golf and sports; the Canadian faithful, who literally sang the national anthem every time a Canuck appeared on the 14th tee box, were rewarded at long last with a countryman victor — and in dramatic fashion!

And Hadwin’s moment was a perfect reminder that in a sport worth billions of dollars, it’s these ridiculous moments that break through. It’s the spontaneous stuff, the hilarious stuff, the stuff you couldn’t make up that matters.

Oh, yeah — and Adam’s wife, Jessica, says he’s okay. And that he apologized.

What could be a better ending to the Canadian Open than that?

The post You need to see this security guard aggressively tackle Adam Hadwin on the 18th green appeared first on Golf.

The post A win for the ‘Eh’-ges! Nick Taylor makes history at the Canadian Open appeared first on Golf.

The post A win for the ‘Eh’-ges! Nick Taylor makes history at the Canadian Open appeared first on Golf.

Nick Taylor had won on the PGA Tour before, but not like this.

The 35-year-old even counts one of the PGA Tour’s marquee events, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, as one of his previous two titles, but none mean more than his own national open.

Not since 1954 had a Canadian won the PGA Tour’s only event held in the “Great White North” and that weighed hard on Taylor, especially after an opening-round 75 that left him in a tie for 120th.

He called his wife, Andie.

“My wife gave me a talking to Thursday night. I was just kind of getting in my own way,” he said Saturday. “I knew my game was there, but a little kick in the butt didn’t hurt.”

Taylor, who shot a course-record 63 Saturday, followed it with a 66 Sunday capped by birdies on 17 and 18 in dramatic fashion to post 17 under and eventually force a playoff with Tommy Fleetwood.

He matched Fleetwood’s birdie on the first playoff hole and after the stalemate continued to a fourth hole, Taylor drained a 73-foot eagle putt on the 18th green at Oakdale Golf and Country Club to break the Canadian winless drought at the RBC Canadian Open.

The scene on the 18th green turned into a madhouse as fans stormed the green after the walk-off bomb. The aftermath was so hectic, security even tackled fellow-Canadian pro Adam Hadwin when he tried to shower the winner in champagne.

Not only did Taylor’s win break the drought for Canadians at their national open, but it also marked the fourth win by Canadians on Tour this season. That’s the most since the Tour started keeping those records in 1983.

“I can’t even describe it. This is the most incredible feeling,” Taylor said after the playoff Sunday. “The fans were unbelievable all day. Every green, every tee box I was getting ovations and to make those last two putts to give myself a chance to do that, I’m speechless.

Gear

While the 72-footer prevented Fleetwood from potentially becoming the most hated person in Canada, it does continue a dubious streak for the Englishman. Despite owning six wins on the DP World Tour and coming into the week at No. 23 in the Official World Golf Ranking, he is the second-highest-ranked player without a PGA Tour win. The highest-ranked is second-year PGA tour member Cameron Young (No. 17).

Fleetwood had a chance to win the tournament outright on the 18th hole but hit his drive into the rough and made a controversial decision to lay up. His second was blocked into the thick rough on a steep bank right of the fairway and he did well to make par from there. The quirky 499-yard par-5 was the easiest hole on the course all week, playing more than half-stroke under par.

“I was playing so well and just got a bit fast,” Fleetwood said. “I obviously had my chances starting with the par-5 with an iron off the tee and then in the playoff. But I’m not going to take anything away from Nick. I played with him the first two rounds and he obviously struggled on day one. So he’s played unbelievable from there on in and then amazing moment for him on the last hole.”

Taylor started the day at 11 under, behind a crowd of six golfers in tie for second, including Fleetwood at 12 under. C.T. Pan held the overnight lead by two at 14 under but struggled early and rallied to finish in a tie for third with Tyrrell Hatton and Aaron Rai at 16 under.

Rory McIlroy also started the day at 12 under but never got any momentum and settled for a 72 and T9.

Taylor’s win capped a turbulent week on the PGA Tour in which it announced a shocking merger with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, the primary backer of rival LIV Golf. It was the second straight RBC Canadian Open clouded by controversy around the golf world after LIV launched during the event in 2022.

The post A win for the ‘Eh’-ges! Nick Taylor makes history at the Canadian Open appeared first on Golf.