NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – Nick Taylor’s coach gave his pupil a singular thought for Saturday at the PGA Championship – just commit to the shots he needed to hit. Taylor’s ball-striking has long been elite and there was no sense, now, in waffling on anything especially considering how tricky Aronimink Golf Club had played so far.
Kudos to Taylor, who must be a tremendous listener.
The Canadian ended up gaining more than four shots to the field in both the approach-the-green and tee-to-green ball-striking statistics (essentially leading the field) on Saturday and thanks to a bogey-free 65 in the third round at Aronimink – one of just two golfers in the field whose scorecard was free of blemishes on Saturday – Taylor is firmly in the mix at the PGA Championship.
Taylor sits at four under for the tournament and is just two shots back of the lead after Alex Smalley birdied three of his final four holes Saturday. Smalley, an unheralded PGA Tour up-and-comer who has never held a 54-hole lead in his career, started three over after his first four holes but raced through the finish Saturday at the PGA Championship and shot a two-under 68 – the only golfer to be under par for each of the first three days.
But, with a knowing look, Mark McCann – Taylor’s coach – told Sportsnet “we all know” what happens when Taylor gets close to the lead late on Sunday. Indeed, Taylor’s last three victories on the PGA Tour have come in playoffs including the epic 2023 triumph at the RBC Canadian Open.
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There’s been a bit of beloved nostalgia through May for Taylor, who switched back to the same putter he used to win in Canada three weeks ago. Since the change, he’s notched two top-15 finishes in a row on the PGA Tour and this week at Aronimink he sits sixth in strokes gained: putting.
Taylor's day was special even before the first shot was hit as he was paired with fellow Canadian Corey Conners for the third round. He is sharing a home with Conners this week and they had breakfast together and drove into the course together. Why not?
They both had it going early, with Conners making four birdies in a row on Nos. 3-6 and adding another on the par-four 10th. The train fell off the tracks quickly for Conners through the back nine as he gave all those birdies back with four bogeys in a row on Nos. 12-15 and then stumbled into the house with two more bogeys on Nos. 17 and 18 to shoot a two-over 72. He’s tied for 52nd heading into Sunday.
Taylor Pendrith, the other Canadian who made the cut, shot a three-under 67 and is tied for 44th.
While Conners was struggling late, Taylor was able to stay in his own steady bubble.
“Everything was very good today,” Taylor said. “The iron game was definitely kind of back to myself, in a sense, where it's the strength of my game, and today gave myself a lot of opportunities. Just hit a lot of greens, gave myself relatively routine pars. It was a steady day. It was comfortable pairing with Corey.
“Bogey-free round around here is no easy task, so I'm proud of that today.”
Taylor, who will be in the penultimate pairing alongside Jon Rahm Sunday at Aronimink, was seemingly quick to praise all aspects of his game Saturday. Driving, he explained, was another thing he’d worked hard on the last few weeks after a realization at the recent Cadillac Championship. He was in contention there, a signature event on the PGA Tour, but just “didn’t drive it well enough” to keep climbing the leaderboard.
“To compete at events where it was a little more penal off the tee with rough (I) worked hard on that the last couple of weeks. I feel like it’s gotten better every day and that’s definitely been a key this week,” Taylor said.
While Taylor got into the clubhouse early at four under – he’s in a five-way tie for second – amongst the chasing pack at three under is Rory McIlroy, gunning for his second major of the season.
McIlroy was tied for 105th after his four-over 74 on Thursday and no one has come from further back after the first round in major championship history to eventually hoist the trophy Sunday night.
“I think it's just setting yourself little targets,” McIlroy said of his focused effort to climb out of the hole he dug after Thursday. “(On Friday) I set myself a target of getting back to even-par for the tournament, didn't quite get there, was one shy. Again today, set myself a target of if I could get to 5-under par, one better than the leaders going out. (Again) didn't quite get there, but I think just setting yourself these little targets, it helps you just lock in and focus on yourself and not really think about anything else that's going on.”
There was plenty of volatility in the leaderboard Saturday at the PGA Championship and while there are some big names within shouting distance of the top of the leaderboard, there’s a Canadian with a tremendous chance to win the whole thing – as long as he stays committed.
In 14 of the last 15 PGA Championships, the eventual winner was either leading or within two shots of the lead at the end of the third round.
“Luckily I'll have a chance tomorrow, whatever that will be,” Taylor said, “and we'll kind of take it from there.”
