2023 Golfweek Awards: Nick Taylor's winning eagle

For every year that Canadian golf fans had to wait for one of their own to win the RBC Canadian Open, Nick Taylor’s ball traveled more than a foot.

“The Putt” is how many refer to it simply north of the border. In the midst of a persistent downpour, Abbotsford native Nick Taylor’s 72-foot eagle bomb on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff at Toronto’s Oakdale Golf and Country Club put an end to a 69-year streak in which no Canadian had won the national open.

On the TV call, Jim Nantz of CBS offered the exclamation, “Glorious and free.”

As the ball got closer to the hole, Adam Hadwin, crouching greenside and clutching a bottle of champagne, exclaimed, “Do it, do it, DO IT!”It succeeded!The PGA Tour Network’s Mark Zecchino, a Canadian calling the action, lost his head, repeating, “The drought is over, the drought is over.””History, history, history!”

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.”

“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.

After trading birdies on their first two attempts at No. 18 in the playoffs, the players returned to the hole for a third try, parring the par-3 ninth and 18 on their second try.While Fleetwood lay up after his drive struck a fairway bunker, Taylor’s tee ball hit a rut in the fairway. However, he tore his second shot from 221 yards to the front of the green. Fleetwood’s third putt went to twelve feet, but Taylor’s uphill eagle putt struck the flagstick and dropped, dramatic finishing the playoffs.