Taylor Pendrith secures best major finish at PGA Championship, while dealing with a Habs-fan caddie

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Taylor Pendrith picked a great week to turn the corner on a tough stretch.

The Richmond Hill, Ont., native put together four good rounds at the PGA Championship and left Quail Hollow posting his first top-10 in a major championship, finishing the week at five-under par. That was good enough to be in a three-way tie for fifth place, six strokes behind winner Scottie Scheffler.

“It will be my best finish at a major and I feel like I did a lot of really good things this week that I’ll remember when I’m in the position again,” he told Postmedia after Sunday’s 68. “It does a lot for my confidence, because I fell like I’ve struggled confidence-wise the past month and this is a good boost.”

Pendrith said his game has been solid, but he has been letting good results slip away mentally over the past month. Last week at the Truist Championship was a glaring example: After opening 66-70, he fell to nearly the very bottom of the leaderboard over the weekend.

“I feel like my mind has wandered the past few weeks when things are sliding,” he said. “I’ve worked really hard to try to get out of that funk and literally play it one hole, and one shot at a time.

“My mind was wandering a little bit today. I was getting ahead of myself a little bit, so I really just tried to stay patient and focus on what was left in front of me and it turned out good.”

For the second straight day, Pendrith finished with a birdie at the very tough par-4 18th hole. Heading into the season’s second major, he wasn’t sure which way things would go.

“We had a horrible range session Wednesday night and I left the course pissed off, so to come out and play like I did and drive like I did all week feels good,” he said.

Pendrith has had a career of false starts battling injuries for several seasons after turning pro out of college, where he played on the Kent State golf team with good friends Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes.

Conners was the only other Canadian to make the cut at Quail Hollow, charging up the leaderboard on Sunday by making four birdies on the back nine to shoot 67. That got him to a tie for 19th place.

“My putter let me down a little bit this week, but was solid today so hopefully I can build off that and get everything rolling,” Conners said.

It’s about to be a very busy time for the two Canadians. After taking a week off, both golfers will play four weeks in a row during a stretch made up of the RBC Canadian Open, U.S. Open, and two elevated Signature Events on the PGA Tour.

Both Conners and Pendrith are big Maple Leafs fans, and like all of Leafs Nation were nervous but excited for Game 7 on Sunday night.

Pendrith joked that there is some friction on and off the course as his caddie Mitch Theoret (a 2011 New York Islander draft pick) is a Montreal Canadiens fan.

“There were some Go Leafs Go! chants out there today and Mitch is just negative talking and negative cheering them, so you can’t watch the game with him,” Pendrith said.

As for his caddie being a Habs fan?

“Even worse.”