History in the Making
Pelting rain in Toronto this morning, the day after Nick Taylor’s dramatic, historic victory at the RBC Canadian Open up at Oakdale. Took the dogs out on my golf course this morning, not a body to be seen except for a few workers getting drenched. Even the dogs seemed to be saying, “Really? Do we have to be out here?”
No golf today, quite probably. Almost as if the golfing gods were telling us fanatics to take the day off, to give nature and our golf courses a rest, to maybe appreciate Taylor’s achievement and the long road he travelled to get there. At 35, he’s been at this for a long, long time, and now that’s he’s a certified winner on the PGA Tour, he must also know the window to win more isn’t that large.
For Canadian golf, it was a seminal moment. Brooke Henderson did it first back in 2018, winning the women’s CP event to end a 45-year drought, but the dramatic way in which Taylor did it, and the fact it happened in media-heavy Toronto rather than Regina, and the fact he did it in a playoff with a 72-foot eagle putt, all seemed to conspire to make his achievement bigger than Brooke’s. Which is kind of unfair. But that’s also sports.
As far as Taylor’s triumph over Tommy Fleetwood, it could be argued Fleetwood gave it away as much as Taylor one it. Fleetwood had gone birdie, birdie and birdie on No. 18 on the first three days of the competition, and the hole - with a tee shot shorter than the second shot because of the strategically positioned tee deck - had been susceptible to eagles and birdies all week. But sports come with pressures, and even great players get tight. Fleetwood had won six times on the Euro tour, but never on the PGA Tour. He was facing demons of his own, and he totally botched the 18th with victory in his grasp. A iron of the tee, too short and in the right rough. A layoff that also landed in the rough, and in terrible lie with the ball below his feet. A third shot just to get on the green. Finally, a par, to set up the playoff with Taylor. Fleetwood will be thinking about the way he played the 72nd hole today as much as Taylor’s incredible long-distance putt to win the tournament.
I saw the final hole in a house full of folks who had just completed the Ride to Conquer Cancer. The reaction to the winning putt was utter elation and joy. The juxtaposition of those feelings, the thrill of athletic victory alongside an athletic endeavour designed to remember all the family members and friends lost to cancer, was intense and emotional.
It was a little like being with friends in PEI back in ‘21 when the Canadian national women’s soccer team won Olympic gold. Just makes it a little more memorable, a little more like one has witnessed dramatic history-in-the-making.
No wonder we need a day off. Thanks rain.
