Taylor Pendrith relives McIlroy's first tee disaster at The Open, bad day for Canucks

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PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Taylor Pendrith’s first career Open Championship round didn’t go as planned at Royal Portrush on Thursday.

“Pumped one out of bounds on the first swing,” the big-hitting Canadian said. “Tried to battle back. Felt like I was hanging in there all right, but didn’t really do much great today. Didn’t hit the driver as well as I have been, didn’t really have to many opportunities.”

Teeing off just after 7 a.m. local time, the Richmond Hill, Ont., native pulled out his mini-driver (a driver with a smaller club head that are growing popular on tour) from the bag and stared at the intimidating opening tee shot that features out-of-bounds areas on both the left and right.

“I chose left,” Pendrith said dryly despite the teeming rain that began just as his round finished.

Rory McIlroy famously hit his opening tee shot out of bounds left in 2019 and made an opening quadruple-bogey eight. Pendrith managed to save a double bogey on Thursday.

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“I was battling hard after a really poor start. I was four-over through four so I hung in there just didn’t have my best stuff,” Pendrith said.

After playing the final 14 holes in even par, Pendrith finished with a first round four-over par 75.

It would be a sign of things to come for the other three Canadians in the field, but more on that in a moment.

The 34-year-old Pendrith has now played in every major championship. In May, he became the first Canadian since Mike Weir to finish inside the top-5 at a major with a T5 at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.

Before this trip overseas, Pendrith had never played a single round of links golf. His first experience came last week at the Scottish Open and, when he arrived at Royal Portrush, he wasn’t expecting the giant sand dunes and dramatic vistas of the rugged coastline.

If only he had known that many of the beach scenes from Game of Thrones were filmed directly below the stunning fifth green at Portrush, he would have had a better idea of the landscape.

“Honestly, when I saw the course the first time it wasn’t what I expected it to be. I thought it would be flatter with straighter holes and less blind tee shots,” he said, perhaps remembering this tournament being played the past two years in England at Royal Troon and Royal Liverpool.

“Here, there are a lot of blind tee shots, so I’m just trying to get used to that. Trying to get used to picking a good target and making a good swing despite not being able to see where you’re hitting the ball or where it lands. That’s a bit tricky for me.”

Teeing off in the fourth group of the day, Pendrith avoided the worst of Thursday’s weather.

“It wasn’t super windy. It was consistent and the pins were kind of where we expected them to be,” he said. “Just tricky when you don’t have your best stuff. The poor start didn’t help, just not a great day.”

Fellow Canadian Mackenzie Hughes struggled even more on Thursday, shooting an eight-over 79.

Nick Taylor likely left the opening round with the worst taste in his mouth after ending his day with a bogey at the 17th hole and double bogey six on the 18th to shoot 77. T

he five-time PGA Tour winner’s greenside chip at the closing hole came up inches short of the putting surface and rolled back down the slope finishing farther away that it started. Taylor did exactly the same thing early in his round at the par-5 second when he was pin-high in two shots and turned a birdie opportunity into a bogey.

Corey Conners had a poor day on the greens, but shot a 74, the lowest Canadian round of Thursday.

“I found it tricky out there. Really didn’t think I was far off but didn’t give myself many chances out there,” he said.