‘Steady’ round vaults Canada’s Nick Taylor into contention at PGA Championship

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – Nick Taylor’s coach gave his pupil a singular thought for Saturday at the PGA Championship – just commit to the shots he needed to hit. Taylor’s ball-striking has long been elite and there was no sense, now, in waffling on anything.

Kudos to Taylor, who must be a tremendous listener.

He ended up gaining more than four shots to the field in both the approach-the-green and tee-to-green ball-striking statistics on Saturday, specifically and thanks to a bogey-free 65 in the third round at Aronimink Golf Club. Taylor’s the only golfer in the top 10 of the leaderboard whose scorecard was free of blemishes on Saturday, and the Canadian is firmly in the mix at the PGA Championship.

Taylor sits at 4 under for the tournament and as the final group made the turn, Taylor was just one shot back of the lead heading into Sunday’s finale.

With a knowing look, Mark McCann – Taylor’s coach – told Sportsnet “we all know” what happens when Taylor gets close to the lead late on Sunday. Indeed, Taylor’s last three victories on the PGA Tour have come in playoffs including the epic 2023 triumph at the RBC Canadian Open.

There’s been a bit of beloved nostalgia through May for Taylor, who three weeks ago switched back to the same putter he used to win in Canada. Since the change, he’s notched two top-15 finishes in a row on the PGA Tour and this week at Aronimink he sits fourth in strokes gained: putting.

The day for Taylor started spectacularly even before the first shot was hit as he was paired with fellow Canadian Corey Conners for the third round. Taylor is sharing a home with Conners this week, they had breakfast together and drove into the course together. Why not?

They both had it going early, with Conners making four birdies in a row on Nos. 3-6 and adding another on the par-4 10th. The train fell off the tracks quickly for Conners through the back nine – he gave all those birdies back with four bogeys in a row on Nos. 12-15 and then stumbled into the house with two more bogeys on Nos. 17 and 18 to shoot a 2-over 72.

Taylor Pendrith, the other Canadian who made the cut, shot a 3-under 67 and currently leads the field in birdies.

Taylor, however, was able to stay in his own steady bubble while Conners was struggling late.

“Everything was very good today,” Taylor said. “The iron game was definitely kind of back to myself, in a sense, where it’s the strength of my game, and today gave myself a lot of opportunities. Just hit a lot of greens, gave myself relatively routine pars. It was a steady day. It was comfortable pairing with Corey.

“Bogey-free round around here is no easy task, so I’m proud of that today.”

Taylor was seemingly quick to praise all aspects of his game Saturday – which was completely valid considering that he trotted around Aronimink without a square on his scorecard. Driving, he explained, was another thing he’d worked hard on the last few weeks after a realization at the Cadillac Championship two weeks ago.

He was in contention there, a signature event on the PGA Tour, but just “didn’t drive it well enough” to keep climbing the leaderboard.

“To compete at events where it was a little more penal off the tee with rough, (I) worked hard on that the last couple of weeks. I feel like it’s gotten better every day and that’s definitely been a key this week,” Taylor said.

Taylor got into the clubhouse at 4 under alongside Matti Schmid and Jon Rahm, while Rory McIlroy was amongst the group just one further back at 3 under. McIlroy was tied for 105th after his 4-over 74 on Thursday and no one has come from further back after the first round in major championship history to eventually hoist the trophy Sunday night.

In 14 of the last 15 PGA Championships, the eventual winner was either leading or within two shots of the lead at the end of the third round.

“I think it’s just setting yourself little targets,” McIlroy said of his focused effort to climb out of the hole he dug after Thursday. “(On Friday) I set myself a target of getting back to even-par for the tournament, didn’t quite get there, was one shy. Again today, set myself a target of if I could get to 5-under par, one better than the leaders going out (again) didn’t quite get there, but I think just setting yourself these little targets, it helps you just lock in and focus on yourself and not really think about anything else that’s going on.”

There was plenty of volatility in the leaderboard Saturday at the PGA Championship and while there are some big names within shouting distance of the top of the leaderboard, there’s a Canadian with a tremendous chance to win the whole thing.

“Luckily I’ll have a chance tomorrow, whatever that will be,” Taylor said, “and we’ll kind of take it from there.”