McCARTHY: Time is now for a Canadian golfer to win another major as Oakmont looms

Article content

OAKMONT, Pa. — There has never been a better group of Canadian golfers on the PGA Tour and the final step to cement this generation’s legacy would be to win a major championship.

There are four Canadians in the field this week at the U.S. Open in Oakmont: Corey Conners, Nick Taylor, Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor Pendrith.

All four of them are PGA Tour winners, all four arrive ranked inside top 50 in the world and all four of them are between 33 and 37 years old.

After playing a practice round together ahead of Thursday’s action, the Postmedia caught up with Canada’s two highest-ranked golfers and asked if it ever crosses their mind as the years go by that the time to make something magical happen might be right now.

“The game feels great. The last few years has been a really consistent good stretch, so yeah, it’s time to see what I’m made of,” five-time tour winner Nick Taylor said.

For Conners, it’s about stacking up good results at big events and building confidence, something Canada’s only major winner Mike Weir once told the Toronto Sun was key for him in getting over the final hump.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

“Mentally, I’ve always been fairly mature, but I’m always growing,” Conners said. “I’ve gained confidence being out here a number of years and playing in these big events and getting myself into the mix a few times. Using that experience I’m ready to go and do it again.”

Taylor is firing on all cylinders heading into the torture chamber that is Oakmont. The 2023 RBC Canadian Open champ finished T13 last week at TPC Toronto — taking top-Canadian honours — and finished in fourth place a week earlier at Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village, always one of the toughest tests on the PGA Tour. He already has a win under his belt this year in January at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

“There’s no bailout here at Oakmont, there’s nothing easy. I think the positive of playing the past two weeks is that obviously Muirfield was extremely difficult and par had a value there as well,” Taylor said. “You just have to commit. You can’t be trying to steer it around here or you’ll get in trouble.”

Committing to his shots is coming a little easier for Taylor these days, as he has largely removed the left-miss off the tee, something that had plagued him some weeks in the past. His iron play has improved to the point where he should be in ball-striking conversations usually limited to Conners when Canadians are mentioned.

“I can’t get ahead of myself, these events are really challenging,” Taylor said. “You can come to any event feeling good and a course like this can just get you.”

With a reputation as a closer on Sundays, Taylor’s biggest issue at majors has been making it to the weekend. At the Masters in April, he finally ended a rather shocking streak of nine consecutive missed major cuts. If his game continues to become more consistent, expect plenty of big things from the 37-year-old native of Abbotsford, B.C.

For Conners, it never has been about consistency or about getting into contention, something he does quite regularly. The 33-year old Listowel, Ont., native is ninth in the season-long FedEx Cup standings and is armed with one of the finest tee-to-green games in the world. He also possesses a swing that earns praise from analysts and his peers nearly every week he tees it up.

“I’ve hit the ball well my whole career and it’s definitely good to hear,” Conners said. “It makes me happy, I guess. It’s not always as sharp as I want it to be, but it’s certainly a good strength to have around here at Oakmont.”

When the U.S. Open rolls into Oakmont, the conversation instantly goes to the rough and the greens.

“Some of the craziest greens I’ve ever seen and pretty demanding off the tee and into the greens. It’s quite something, “Conners said after playing the course this week for the first time. “I think the shift is just really battling hard when you make a mistake and trying to recover. You’re not going to be able to force anything out here, you have to be disciplined and not get discouraged after mistakes and take a bogey if that’s the case.”

The stoic Conners seems to have the perfect personality to handle the roller coaster of emotions Oakmont will deliver. And pairing that with his ball-striking prowess, it could once again come down to whether the top-ranked Canadian can rely on his sometimes shaky putter for four days.

So far this season, Conners is 74th in strokes-gained putting and actually in the positive compared to the PGA Tour average in a stat that he never has cracked the top-100 in over his career.

“Putting has been fairly consistent this year — it wasn’t great last week, but I’m optimistic with my ball-striking and I think I’m getting it dialled in where I want,” Conners said.

For now, Canada’s major championship hopes rest squarely on the shoulders of this unlikely generation of PGA Tour winners.

“We are all waiting for more guys to get out here and follow in our footsteps,” Conners said. “It would be great to have a younger generation of Canadian at these events and on the PGA Tour. I don’t know what it was for us, maybe just good timing for the crop that’s out here.

“I know Golf Canada is working hard with its development programs and we all benefited from that, and it helped us get where we are. But we’re patiently waiting for more and trying to inspire some younger kids.”