It’s a moment that will be etched in the RBC Canadian Open annals forever — seconds after Nick Taylor made a 72-foot bomb on the fourth playoff hole to the country’s national tournament, his fellow countryman and winner on the PGA Tour Adam Hadwin ran on the green, along with several other Canadian Tour players, to celebrate with him and shower him with champagne.
A security guard, just doing his job, didn’t recognize Hadwin in the moment and tackled him to the ground.
After a year in the shadows, the man notorious for that body blow finally spoke with Canadian TV network TSN this week, although he did so anonymously.
That security guard clearly played football. Look at that amazing disguised blitz. Caught Adam Hadwin completely off guard. And then the textbook tackle not leading with his head.pic.twitter.com/3ilSvATB1I
As Taylor and the fans tracked the ball, Mr. X kept his eyes on the crowd. When the putt dropped, it set off one of the wildest wild celebrations and perhaps the most famous tackle in golf history.
“I was on the other side of Nick and his caddie,” Mr. X recalled, “which meant I had to come around him. There were a lot of people moving and I saw this person heading directly towards Nick. I saw it as if it was in slow motion, this guy coming towards Nick with a bottle and no credentials.”
Mr. X moved quickly, like a defensive back spotting the halfback getting a handoff. He intercepted him and the two ended up on the ground.
“It was a soft takedown,” Mr. X pointed out with a chuckle. “His feet never left the ground.”
The security guard and the golfer lay intertwined on the ground for only a second or two. Taylor’s caddie, David Markle, saw what was happening and paused his celebration to try to alert Mr. X that he had taken down one of Canada’s greatest golfers.
“Bryan Crawford [RBC Canadian Open tournament director] came over and it was over quickly,” said Mr. X. “We got up and laughed, said sorry to each other, and it was all over.”
The footage will be talked about all weekend as Taylor is joined by Rory McIlroy, who also won this event in 2022, Shane Lowry, Sahith Theegala, Tommy Fleetwood, Cameron Young, Sam Burns, Tom Kim and Adam Scott, among others at Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Hamilton, Ontario.
“Bad thoughts seem to go out of my brain,” he said.
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Former University of Washington men’s golf coach Matt Thurmond’s scouting report of Nick Taylor from the team’s 2009 media guide has aged well 15 years later.
“I’ve never coached anyone that can raise his game so much in difficult conditions and high-pressure situations,” Thurmond, now the coach at Arizona State, wrote all those years ago. “Nick can hit the best shot at the biggest moment.”
“He’s tough when he gets the chance, it’s just getting him there,” said Mark McCann, Taylor’s swing coach since 2018. “Every time he gets a sniff, he’s going to win, it’s getting him to that sniff.”
Taylor notched his fourth career Tour title in the Valley of the Sun, the Canadian native’s adopted hometown. His first win came at the 2014 Sanderson Farms Championship but then he had to wait more than five years to get back to the winner’s circle. When he did so, at the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Taylor stared down Phil Mickelson in the final round. There was also the time in 2018 when Taylor shot a final-round 63 at the Wyndham Championship to keep his Tour card.
How does he do it when his back is against the wall or the tournament is on the line?
“Bad thoughts seem to go out of my brain,” he said.
Taylor’s third win proved that Pebble was no fluke, winning his national open to snap a 59-year drought for Canadians at the 2023 RBC Canadian Open. With the pressure of an entire country depending on him to end the winless spell, Taylor calmly stepped up and holed an unforgettable 72-foot eagle putt to clinch the title in a four-hole playoff over Tommy Fleetwood.
And then on Sunday, he trailed Hoffman by three strokes with four holes to go but never panicked, electing to lay up at the par-5 15th and rely on his stellar wedge game. Taylor credited work he’s done with his mental coach, Chris Bergstrom, in helping him find his sweet spot for being so mentally tough.
“The chase mentality seems to be my best mindset where I have to do things,” he said. “Sometimes that means I need to birdie two holes on the back nine to make the cut. We have tricks to try to get into that mindset. I had to get into that mindset trying to chase down Hoffman … Why the ball decides to go in the hole at the right time in the last two years, who knows?”
What he does know is that two years ago he fell into the trap of projecting ahead to what it would be like to qualify for the International Team for the Presidents Cup and he applied too much pressure to achieving his goal of his first international competition. This year, he’s poised to make the team and play for Canada’s Mike Weir in Montreal, and with his world ranking climbing to a career-best of 28th, he’s in line to represent Canada at The Olympics.
“Those are huge goals of mine but also golf will kind of take care of that. If I’m looking week after week of where I am, what I need to do, it’s only going to be hurtful,” he said.
The International Team can certainly use a player who can raise his game in the most pressure-packed situations like Taylor has been doing ever since Coach Thurmond first laid eyes on him.
Nick Taylor’s drought-ending eagle putt on the fourth playoff hole in Canada claimed our Shot of the Year.
Nick Taylor’s ball travelled more than a foot for every year Canadian golf fans had waited for one of their own to win the RBC Canadian Open.
North of the border they refer to it simply as “The Putt.” Amid a steady rain, the 72-foot eagle bomb at Toronto’s Oakdale Golf and Country Club by Abbotsford’s own Nick Taylor on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff ended a 69-year drought of a Canadian not winning its national open.
CBS’s Jim Nantz delivered the exclamation on the TV call: “Glorious and free,” he said.
Quite simply, it was Golfweek’s Shot of the Year for 2023.
“Do it, Do it, DO IT!,” shouted Adam Hadwin, kneeling greenside and holding a bottle of champagne, as the ball neared the hole.
It DID IT!
Canadian Mark Zecchino calling the action on Sirius/XM’s PGA Tour Network lost his mind as he went on repeat: “The drought is over, the drought is over…History! History!”
Taylor tossed his putter into the air and leaped into the arms of caddie Dave Markle, a former teammate on Canada’s amateur team, after the longest made putt of his PGA Tour career. Out of the corner of his eye, Taylor recalled seeing Hadwin, who grew up at the same course, Ledgeview Golf Club, get tackled by a security card as he attempted spraying Taylor with champagne in what became an even more viral moment than the winning putt.
Fellow Canadian players Mike Weir, who left the property and returned to witness history, and Corey Conners were among those who ran onto the green to congratulate Taylor. The partisan crowd was so loud – they had serenaded Taylor with a rendition of its “O Canada” national anthem during the day – that CBS’s Amanda Renner had to delay the post-round interview because she couldn’t hear.
“This is for all the guys that are here. This is for my family at home,” Taylor said with tears in his eyes. “This is the most incredible feeling.”
Nick Taylor 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 on June 11, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
The last player from Canada to win the Canadian Open had been Pat Fletcher in 1954 at Point Grey in Vancouver. Technically, Fletcher was born in England; Carl Keffer had been the only Canadian-born champion, winning in 1909 and 1914. Weir had come close, losing a playoff to Vijay Singh in 2004. The 35-year-old Taylor, who was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, won for the third time on the PGA Tour. He did so despite shooting 75 in Thursday’s opening round.
“I was just hoping to make the cut,” Taylor said.
Wife Andie, who was back home tending to the couple’s second child, a daughter named Harper, who they had welcomed just five weeks earlier, gave him a much-needed pep talk via phone between rounds.
He rallied with a 67 on Friday to make the cut by just one shot. Taylor vaulted into contention by firing a course-record 9-under 63 on Saturday to move within three shots of the lead entering the final round. Five birdies over his first ten holes propelled Taylor to a three-shot lead at 16 under with eight holes to play, but there would be a couple hiccups coming home at Nos. 11 (offset by a bounce-back birdie at 12) and 16, which meant he needed to drain an 11-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to close in 6-under 66 and finish at 17-under 271, walking backwards with his fist raised as the ball disappeared into the hole.
A putter flip remembered across the country.🏌️♂️
The Canucks honoured RBC Canadian Open champion Nick Taylor before their game against the Sharks tonight. 👏 pic.twitter.com/vbh0dVfJGA
Fleetwood could have played spoiler in regulation, but he missed his tee shot right at the par-5 18th, laid up into an awkward lie in the right rough and two-putted for par to force the playoff.
The players traded birdies on their first time playing No. 18 in the playoff, then both parred 18 on a second playing and the par-3 ninth before heading back to 18 for a third go at it.
Taylor’s tee shot found a divot in the fairway, but he ripped his second shot from 221 yards to the front of the green, while Fleetwood laid up after his drive found a fairway bunker. Fleetwood hit his third shot to 12 feet, but Taylor ended the playoff in dramatic fashion when his uphill eagle putt hit the flagstick and dropped.
“Ever since I’ve been on the PGA Tour this is one that we want to do as well as we can in, and the crowd support was the most unbelievable thing I will probably ever experience in my life,” Taylor said that Sunday. “To break that curse, if you want to call it, is, I’m pretty speechless.”
Following a seemingly endless array of media interviews that night, Taylor was the last player to leave the premises around 10:30 p.m. and his stomach was growling. Jason Logan of Score Golf recounted the scene of Taylor pulling into a McDonald’s just before the Highway 401 on-ramp to load up on Chicken McNuggets. But just as they were about to order, Taylor’s phone, connected to the car’s Bluetooth system, rang and the caller’s name flashed on the display panel was none other than hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.
“I don’t have him in my phone but his name pops up for whatever reason and I look at the guys and I’m like, ‘I should probably take this call,’” Taylor recalled to Score Golf.
As Logan pointed out, that personifies how Taylor authored one of those proud Canadian sporting moments akin to Sidney Crosby’s golden goal, Joe Carter’s World Series-winning home run and Donovan Bailey’s 100-meter Olympic gold medal. It’s such a memorable moment that the RBC Canadian Open changed its logo to reflect Taylor’s histrionics.
It’s why Taylor likely will never have to buy a Molson (or Labatt’s) at a 19th hole in Canada for the rest of his life, Adam Woodard wrote in his lede to the Golfweek game story on Taylor’s triumph.
Taylor told the “Subpar” Podcast, he hadn’t been to a bar much to test this out, but at the U.S. Open the following week in Los Angeles he grabbed drinks with an old college roommate and someone recognized him and bought his round.
“This is going to start happening,” he said. “It’s not so bad.”
Seventy-two feet to win your national open in a playoff? It doesn’t get much better than that and it was an unanimous choice for Golfweek’s Shot of the Year.
See how new national hero Nick Taylor dressed for success during his epic win at the 2023 RBC Canadian Open.
What. A. Putt.
Nick Taylor holed a 72-foot putt on the fourth playoff hole to defeat Tommy Fleetwood and win the 2023 RBC Canadian Open. Taylor is the first Canadian to win his national open since 1954.
David Dusek recently took a look into Taylor’s winning equipment, so let’s dive into the champion’s closet and see how Nick dressed for success in Adidas apparel at the 2023 RBC Canadian Open.
The 35-year-old won the 2023 RBC Canadian Open at Oakdale Golf and Country Club in North York, Ontario, on Sunday for his third PGA Tour victory.
He also made history as the first Canadian to win his national open since 1954. Taylor shot a final-round 6-under 66 and wound up in a four-hole playoff alongside Tommy Fleetwood, but sealed the deal with a 72-foot bomb of a putt.
For his efforts, Taylor will take home the top prize of $1.6 million, while Fleetwood, who is still chasing that elusive first PGA Tour win, will leave with $981,000.
Check out how much money each PGA Tour player earned this week at the 2023 RBC Canadian Open.
After Nick Taylor made a 72-foot bomb on the fourth playoff hole to make history and win the 2023 RBC Canadian Open, his fellow countryman and winner on the PGA Tour Adam Hadwin ran on the green, along with several other Canadian Tour players, to celebrate with him and shower him with champagne.
After all, the Winnipeg native had just become the first Canadian to win his national open since Pat Fletcher in 1954. However, a security guard – who was just doing his job, to be fair – didn’t recognize Hadwin in the moment and tackled him to the ground.
I don’t know who this security guard is, but if he’s a local I’m guessing he was one hell of an enforcer when he played hockey growing up in the greater Toronto area. But given how strong his form is, maybe he played football.
There was a flurry of different videos posted on Twitter and even Hadwin’s wife was commenting.
Omg I can’t handle these different angles. The security guard’s laser focus on his target. Adam’s commitment to the giant bottle of champagne. So many things to take in with every new POV 💀😂 https://t.co/4SlIfznmJK
Nick Taylor will never have to buy a Molson at a 19th hole in Canada for the rest of his life.
The 35-year-old from Winnipeg claimed his third PGA Tour win on Sunday at the 2023 RBC Canadian Open at Oakdale Golf and Country Club in North York, Ontario, after a marathon four-hole playoff with Tommy Fleetwood and made a little history on the side as the first Canadian to win his national open since Pat Fletcher in 1954. Taylor ended the 69-year drought and tournament in style with a 72-foot prayer of a putt that was answered by the golf gods and produced a miraculous moment for the tens of thousands of Canadian fans who weathered the rain to witness it.
“It feels, I can’t even describe it. This is the most incredible feeling,” said Taylor. “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.”
“Nice moment for Nick and the fans here. So it’s great to be a part of that Sunday and that playoff. I had my chances, really. It wasn’t to be this time. But, yeah, congratulations to him,” said Fleetwood, who is still chasing that elusive first PGA Tour win. “I had my chances and didn’t take ’em.”
Tyrrell Hatton (64), Aaron Rai (67) and C.T. Pan (70) finished T-3 at 16 under, with Eric Cole (63) and Mark Hubbard (70) three shots back, T-6 at 14 under.
After making the cut by just one shot, Taylor fired a course-record 9-under 63 on Saturday to move within three shots of the lead entering the final round. Five birdies over his first ten holes propelled Taylor to a three-shot lead at 16 under with eight holes to play, but by the time he tapped in for his first bogey of the day on the 11th hole, his lead was just one.
In a matter of minutes Cole signed for a 63 of his own and was in the clubhouse at 14 under, and he was shortly joined in second by Fleetwood and Rai after the pair made birdies on Nos. 8 and 12, respectively. Hatton joined the party and tied Taylor at 16 under after he birdied his final four holes to sign for his second 8-under 64 of the week. Rai threw his name in the mix with a birdie on the last, leaving a three-way tie for the lead with Taylor on the par-5 18th tee.
His approach to the green went long into the rough, and his chip shot left a six footer for birdie. Taylor took a few steps and let out an epic fist pump as his putt curled in from the right side of hole to take the clubhouse lead with a 6-under 66. Fleetwood birdied two of his last three but made a disappointing par thanks to two bad shots on the 18th hole and forced a playoff at 17 under with a 5-under 67.
Both players found the fairway on the first playoff hole, No. 18, but each blew the approach and missed the green to the left. Despite an awkward stance with a foot in the bunker, Taylor hit a beauty of a pitch and left just a few feet for birdie. Fleetwood juiced his from the rough but got up-and-down with a lengthy birdie putt to apply the pressure on Taylor, who made his putt just as it started to rain to take the playoff back to the 18th tee.
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From the fairway Fleetwood missed his approach on the second playoff hole even further to the right, so far in fact that it landed in the hospitality tent. Taylor took advantage and ran his approach from the first-cut rough just to the left of the green, but a long way from the back right pin. Taylor’s chip left something to be desired as it came up woefully short of the pin, leaving a 20-foot birdie putt. Fleetwood got a drop in the thick, wet rough and hit one inside Taylor to 11 feet. After Taylor’s effort missed low and right, Fleetwood missed high and left to send the playoff to the par-3 ninth.
Taylor just missed the green but left a short putt from the fringe while Fleetwood’s shot clung to the edge of the green just a few feet closer. Both missed their putts and tapped in for par, sending this marathon match back to the par-5 18th for a fourth playoff hole.
Nick Taylor leaps into the arms of his caddie after sinking a 72-foot putt in a playoff to win the 2023 RBC Canadian Open. (Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports)
After a poor tee shot forced Fleetwood to lay up, Taylor’s found the front-half of the green from the first cut, leaving a 72-foot putt for eagle. Fleetwood’s approach came up short of the pin, leaving 12 feet from a similar location as one of his previous missed birdie putts. With his nation watching, Taylor buried the putt and sent the crowd into a frenzy.
The win is Taylor’s third of his career after he previously claimed the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and 2014 Sanderson Farms Championship. He had missed the cut in his last two starts but now has six top-10 and two runner-up finishes this season.
Looking for his first win on the PGA Tour, Tommy Fleetwood hit his ball into a hospitality tent to the right of the 18th green on the second hole of a playoff to decide the 2023 RBC Canadian Open.
The 32-year-old from Southport, England, squared off against Nick Taylor, the Winnipeg native who is aiming to become the first countryman to win the Canadian Open since Pat Fletcher in 1954. Taylor and Fleetwood finished the tournament tied at 17 under, and after each made birdie on the par-5 18th – Fleetwood got up-and-down after a drop in the rough – the playoff went to the 159-yard par-3 ninth hole.
From there each made par, sending the playoff back to the 18th at Oakdale Golf & Country Club in Toronto.
C.T. Pan is on top with 18 holes to go at the RBC Canadian Open, but there’s a six-way tie for second that include Rory McIlroy, who is the back-to-back defending champion of the event.
Saturday’s scores were low at Oakdale Golf and Country Club in Toronto, and plenty of players took advantage. There’s Pan and McIlroy near the top, Canadians Nick Taylor and Corey Conners lurking and others searching for their first Tour victories among the mix up top.
A reminder: you’d have to go back to the 50s to find the last time a Canadian won the Canadian Open.
From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for the final round of the 2023 RBC Canadian Open at Oakdale Golf and Country Club.
Sunday tee times
1st tee
Tee time
Players
7:50 a.m.
Andrew Landry
7:55 a.m.
Richy Werenski, Henrik Norlander
8:05 a.m.
Scott Piercy, Vince Whaley
8:15 a.m.
Bill Haas, Trevor Cone
8:25 a.m.
Brent Grant, Cameron Young
8:35 a.m.
Martin Trainer, Adam Long
8:45 a.m.
Stuart Macdonald, Scott Brown
8:55 a.m.
Michael Kim, Mike Weir
9:10 a.m.
Chez Reavie, Akshay Bhatia
9:20 a.m.
Wil Bateman, Jason Dufner
9:30 a.m.
James Hahn, Patton Kizzire
9:40 a.m.
Harry Hall, Ryan Gerard
9:50 a.m.
Callum Tarren, Peter Kuest
10 a.m.
Alex Smalley, Cameron Percy
10:10 a.m.
Ryan Moore, Sahith Theegala
10:20 a.m.
S.Y. Noh, Brice Garnett
10:35 a.m.
Brian Gay, Austin Smotherman
10:45 a.m.
Justin Lower, Dylan Wu
10:55 a.m.
Roger Sloan, Peter Malnati
11:05 a.m.
Sung Kang, Garrick Higgo
11:15 a.m.
Matt Kuchar, Ludvig Aberg
11:25 a.m.
MJ Daffue, Sam Bennett
11:35 a.m.
Carson Young, Lee Hodges
11:45 a.m.
Shane Lowry, Taylor Pendrith
12 p.m.
Lucas Glover, Cody Gribble
12:10 p.m.
Eric Cole, Will Gordon
12:20 p.m.
Brendon Todd, Greyson Sigg
12:30 p.m.
Ted Potter Jr., S.H. Kim
12:40 p.m.
Carl Yuan, Matt Fitzpatrick
12:50 p.m.
Adam Hadwin, Chesson Hadley
1 p.m.
Tyrrell Hatton, Harrison Endycott
1:10 p.m.
Doug Ghim, Nate Lashley
1:20 p.m.
Brandon Wu, Jonathan Byrd
1:35 p.m.
Aaron Rai, Corey Conners
1:45 p.m.
Andrew Novak, Nick Taylor
1:55 p.m.
Justin Rose, Harry Higgs
2:05 p.m.
Rory McIlroy, Mark Hubbard
2:15 p.m.
C.T. Pan, Tommy Fleetwood
How to watch
You can watch Golf Channel for free on fuboTV. ESPN+ is the exclusive home for PGA Tour Live streaming. All times Eastern.
Here’s what you missed from a scorable third round of the 2023 RBC Canadian Open.
Saturday was unlike the first two days of the 2023 RBC Canadian Open.
There was plentiful sunshine. The scores were low. Numerous players made their move at Oakdale Golf and Country Club in Toronto, hoping to play their way into contention on moving day.
The leaderboard is loaded heading to Sunday. There’s Rory McIlroy, who’s searching for his third straight RBC Canadian Open victory. There are players going for their first victories on Tour. Then there’s the Canada angle.
The last time a Canadian won the RBC was Pat Fletcher in 1954. There are a pair in striking distance with 18 holes to go. However, it’s a former PGA Tour Canada player on top by two.
