Oh, Canada! Nick Taylor Drills 72-Foot Putt To Defeat Tommy Fleetwood At RBC Canadian Open, Ending 69-Year Drought
It appeared that heartbreak was coming to Canada once again. In 2004, Mike Weir let a 3-shot lead slip away and lost on the third playoff hole to Vijay Singh. On Sunday, Nick Taylor gave Tommy Fleetwood two chances to win the RBC Canadian Open in a playoff.
He wasn't going to give him a third.
Taylor buried a 72-foot putt on the fourth playoff to card an eagle to beat Fleetwood. CBS golf announcer Jim Nantz called it one of the greatest moments in Canadian sports history.
For the first time since 1954, a Canadian won the Canadian Open. That represents a 69-year drought.
Nick Taylor sinks a 72-foot putt on the 4th playoff hole to defeat Tommy Fleetwood and win the RBC Canadian Open. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
In 1954, Pat Fletcher captured the title. Fletcher was born in UK and emigrated to Canada at age four. Fitting, then, that Taylor outdueled British golfer Tommy Fleetwood to capture the crown.
Taylor became the first Canadian-born player to win the championship since 1914, nearly 110 years. Karl Keffer, born in Ontario, Canada, hoisted the trophy all those years ago.
Nick Taylor's RBC Canadian Open did not start strong
Nick Taylor did not play well during Thursday's first round, shooting a three-over 75. It appeared like a missed cut was in his future. However, he fired a five-under 67 on Friday to make the cut and then set the course record with a 63 on Saturday (that Eric Cole tied Sunday) to put himself right in the thick of the race.
Conversely, Fleetwood played solid golf on both Thursday and Friday shooting a pair of 70s. Then, like Taylor, Fleetwood went nuts Saturday firing an 8-under 64.
Taylor entered Sunday three shots behind leader C.T. Pan, Fleetwood two shots back. Taylor came out hot, carding four birdies in the first seven holes. He played at level par over the next nine holes, including a bogey at #16.
Knowing he needed to post a better score than his 15-under at the time, Taylor birdied both 17 and 18 to post the clubhouse lead at 17-under par.
Tommy Fleetwood, two shots back, fired darts into both 16 and 17 to tie Taylor at 17-under.
All that stood between him and the championship was the par-5 18th, the easiest hole on the golf course.
But Fleetwood missed the fairway off-the-tee, hit a poor layup into the rough, and managed to just get the ball on the green in three. He two-putted to send the tournament to a playoff.
The pair returned to play #18 again, and Taylor took control. After missing the green with his second, Taylor got the ball up from the rough to just over five feet from the cup.
Fleetwood, also in the rough after his second, couldn't quite control his pitch and sent it 20 feet past the hole. It appeared Canada had its champion at long last.
Tommy Fleetwood delivers 20-footer to put the pressure back on Taylor
But Fleetwood stepped up and drained that putt, forcing Taylor to convert from five feet to continue the playoff. Which he did.
The duo headed back to 18 to play the hole for third time in a row, counting their final holes in regulation. This time, Fleetwood had the big edge. Both men reached the green in three, with Taylor now staring at a 20-foot putt and Fleetwood just outside 10 feet. Taylor missed, giving Fleetwood a putt to win the tournament.
Both players just missed the green, with Taylor sitting in the second cut just beyond the fringe and Fleetwood just on the fringe. Again, Taylor could not convert. And, again, Fleetwood had a putt inside 14 feet to win the RBC Canadian Open.
This moment must have given the Canadian fans flashbacks of 2004 when Vijay Singh defeated Canadian Mike Weir on the third playoff hole.
But unlike Singh, Fleetwood could not convert. That sent the players back to the 18th hole for the FOURTH time.
Fleetwood came up short of the green with his second shot and Taylor reached the surface, but barely. After Fleetwood pitched the ball to around 15-feet, Taylor stared down a 72-foot putt.
Surely, all Taylor wanted to do was get the ball within three feet, give himself a tap-in and force Fleetwood to make a putt to send the Canadian Open to a fifth playoff hole.
Taylor, and the rest of Canada, never expected what came next
It was the longest-made putt in Nick Taylor's PGA Tour career. And it came to win his country's national open championship.
Talk about a moment.
Nick Taylor of Canada celebrates with his caddie after making an eagle putt on the 4th playoff hole to win the RBC Canadian Open at Oakdale Golf & Country Club. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
Fans mobbed the 18th green, looking to celebrate with their countryman who finally ended the nearly 70-year drought.
What a glorious day for Canada, and therefore, the world.
A storybook ending, complete with a South Park reference.
Oh, Canada indeed.