CALEDON, Ont. — It’s ironic that this is the only week of the year the Canadian golfers who are often near the top of PGA Tour leaderboards don’t get a chance to play together in a Tuesday practice round.
Instead, at the RBC Canadian Open this week at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, the PGA Tour did a few of them a solid and grouped Nick Taylor, Taylor Pendrith, and Mackenzie Hughes together for the first two rounds.
And the good vibes from the trio parlayed into some great play.
At one point Thursday, Pendrith was tied for the lead while Taylor, after a final-hole bogey, was just a shot back at 4 under. Hughes had the shot of the day – an eagle hole out from 194 yards on the par-4 5th (Hughes’ longest-such hole out in his PGA Tour career) and finished with a 2-under 68.
“It was great out there,” Pendrith said. “I felt like the crowd really filled in on the back nine. Nick was making some birdies, and I was making some birdies. Mack holed a 6-iron. So, it was a lot of fun. The crowd was into it. Nice to see a lot of people out here on a rainy day.
“We had a blast out there, and we all played pretty well.”
Pendrith heads into Friday inside the top 10, with Taylor inside the top 20.
Thorbjørn Olesen and Cristobal Del Solar share the lead after matching 9-under 61s. That breaks the course record of TPC Toronto’s North course (post-renovation), which was 64.
Olesen and Del Solar had it going on the greens, which was the difference. Del Solar (who actually shot an incredible 57 on the Korn Ferry Tour last year) was third in strokes gained: putting on Thursday, while Olesen was first in that stat, gaining more than 5.5 shots to the field with the putter.
Cameron Champ sits third after a 62, and Jake Knapp is in fourth after a 63.
It was a wet opener at TPC Toronto, with nearly an inch of rain falling overnight and more misty rain through Thursday morning. Pendrith, with a laugh, said he took his rain jacket on and off ten times. Taylor said he felt bad for his caddie, Dave Markle, as his bag “probably weighed 60 pounds” on Thursday.
Pendrith said the wet conditions meant the greens were awfully soft, and the key was to control the spin on the ball with wedges and be smart with where you had to land the ball. Taylor pointed to how, on back pins, he couldn’t hit a normal “stock” wedge shot since it would spin back about 20 feet. He said it was a challenge to manage that spin and the need to take “some off” with different shots.
Through the afternoon, there was no wind, and with lift, clean and place in effect on a golf course with big fairways and soft greens, the best players in the world were making birdies in bunches. There were seven golfers who shot 64-or-lower Thursday, and they all came in the afternoon.
Pendrith, whose 5-under stood up as the low round of the morning, was 1 under after his first nine holes (the back nine) before making the turn and pressing the gas. He made four birdies in a seven-hole stretch, including roasting a 5-iron from 226 yards on the par-3 7th to just five feet for a tidy “bonus” birdie, he said.
Taylor, who came into the week after a fourth-place finish at the Memorial Tournament last week, continued his impressive run with his putter. He’s struggled so far this season with the flatstick, but these last two weeks Taylor has worked on his setup with his coach, Gareth Raflewski, and has calibrated his eyes so they are seeing straighter – which allows Taylor the most freedom to react and be athletic.
Taylor was fifth in strokes gained: putting last week at the Memorial and was 10th in that stat Thursday at the Canadian Open.
A handful of nice putts, a bunch of birdies and some laughs with pals – and now there’s some of the Canadian contingent firmly in the mix at their national open once again.
“It was a fun, kind of calm energy all day, which was nice,” Taylor said. “It’s nice to play in a group with those guys and have all the fans supporting us,” Pendrith added. “It's the week that we look forward to every year. So, it was a lot of fun."
