Nick Taylor considers himself to be playing the best golf of his career right now, and the results prove him right.
Taylor is the Canadian in the best position in the standings (22nd), which will earn him a participation in the PGA Championship, starting Thursday.
The second major tournament of the year will be presented at the Oak Hill club in Rochester, New York.
The 35-year-old British Columbian hasn’t played the PGA Championship in three years.
Since 2020, he has taken part in only one prestigious tournament – the United States Open, last year.
The good results are piling up this season, though.
In 18 tournaments, he finished in the top 10 five times, including second place on two occasions.
Taylor finished sixth at the Fortinet Championship in September, seventh at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January, second at the Phoenix Open in February and 10th at the Valspar Championship in March.
Last month, he and compatriot Adam Hadwin finished second at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.
“In Hawaii, I already had in mind how I want to play. I thought enough of questioning myself was enough, Taylor said. You can easily fall into this trap, try a bit of everything and not get the results you want. I have identified what suits me and I take it seriously. »
Taylor worked on his short distance game with instructor Gareth Raflewski.
Taylor has qualified for the weekend 13 times, racking up $4.05 million in prize money heading into the middle of the season. That’s more than double that of 2019-20, his most lucrative season so far.
“I want to keep putting myself in advantageous positions,” Taylor said. I think my results reflect my commitment to a certain way of playing. »
At the PGA Championship, Canada will be represented by Taylor, Hadwin, Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes, Taylor Pendrith and Adam Svensson.
That equals the record of six Canadians at a major tournament set last year at the U.S. Open, according to the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.
Taylor said “it’s great” that so many Canadians are there, adding that the group is tightly knit off the court.
“It’s a motivator,” Taylor said. It feels like every tournament you can see the maple leaf towards the top of the leader board. »
