Penton: Taylor on Canadian ‘Rushmore’ after amazing putt
By Bruce Penton
That wasn’t just ‘a putt’ that Nick Taylor made to shock the golf world in mid-June. That was a putt that created a new stone figure on the Canadian version of Mount Rushmore’s Great Sports Moments.
Paul Henderson is up there of course, with his goal with 34 seconds left in the final game giving Canada victory over the hated Russians in the 1972 Summit Series; Joe Carter’s smiling face beams down on the strength of his World-Series-winning three-run homer in 1993 that gave the Blue Jays the title over Philadelphia Phillies; and Sidney Crosby’s ‘golden goal’ to win the Olympic gold medal in 2010 has elevated him to Rushmore history.
Now, Nick Taylor completes the rocky Rushmore foursome.
For 69 years, no Canadian had ever won the Canadian Open golf tournament. Pat Fletcher in 1954 was the last to do it. The drought might have gone on forever because there are only five or six Canadians with enough game to win on the PGA Tour and the weekly competition is stiff.
But at the Oakdale Golf Club on June 11, Abbotsford’s Taylor made history — and in the most spectacular of fashion.
A score of minus 17 for four rounds, including spectacular weekend play of 63-66, earned Taylor a spot in a playoff with England’s Tommy Fleetwood, who was looking to make a little personal history himself. Ranked 21st in the world and a six-time winner on the European Tour, Fleetwood was still seeking his first PGA Tour event. Only Taylor stood in his way of finally winning in North America.
Canadian golf fans don’t have to be told what happened but, for the record, we’ll state what millions of them watched around suppertime on that Sunday. Playing the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff, Taylor sank the most unlikely putt of his career — it was also the longest he has ever holed in his professional life — a 72-footer that caused pandemonium to break out on site and in millions of living rooms, sports bars and golf club lounges across the country. Golf statisticians said the chance of making that putt was in the one per cent range.
Pack your bags, Nick. You’re going to Canada’s Mount Rushmore.That winning smile will be etched in stone forever.
The $1.62 million he banked for the win pushed his season earnings past the $5.5 million mark, but the money was secondary to the honour of a Canadian winning the Canadian Open. With that miraculous 72-foot putt, Pat Fletcher, like Tommy Fleetwood, has been bumped aside.
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Golf website ‘The Fried Egg’ on Twitter, without mentioning the name Adam Hadwin: “We hope you all made it through your weekend without being tackled.”
Jerry Tarde of golf digest.com, simplifying the PGA-Saudi golf merger: “‘Marry me or I will kill you’ was the proposition the PGA Tour commissioner faced. In the geopolitical world, it’s the same deal Putin proposed to Ukraine and China to Taiwan.”
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Vancouver comedian Torben Rolfsen: “A New YorkYankees game was postponed because of smoke. What? A Snoop Dog pre-game concert?”
Ron Green, Jr., of golfpost.com., on the 80-yard 15th hole at the Los Angeles Country Club: “That’s shorter than Terrell Hatton’s tamper.”
Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: “Putting Lord Stanley’s Cup in Vegas is like hanging the Mona Lisa in Room 123 of the Motel 6 in Ocala.”
Bob Molinaro of pilot online.com: “Jokic in basketball, Novak Djokovic in tennis … the Serbs are no joke.”
RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: “The Vegas Golden Knights ended the NHL playoffs, knocking off the Florida Panthers to claim the Stanley Cup final. The NHL preseason starts next Tuesday.”
Headline at fark.com: “Nine arrested for stealing Yogi Berra’s rings. Apparently they weren’t smarter than the average Berra.”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca