Nick Taylor

Childhood

Nick Taylor’s family moved from Winnipeg to Abbotsford, BC, when he was three years old. As a child, he played a variety of sports, including baseball and hockey. His love of golf bloomed during middle school. When he was a preteen, Taylor joined Ledgeview Golf Club. He attended Yale Secondary School, where he led his varsity golf team to back-to-back provincial championships.

Amateur Career

Nick Taylor’s first major victory came at the 2006 BC Junior Championship. That same year, he won his first national title and did so in convincing fashion; he led wire-to-wire (winning all four rounds that comprise a tournament) to capture the Canadian Junior Boys Championship by a record-setting 11 strokes.

At the age of 19, Taylor won the 2007 Canadian Amateur Championship at Riverside Country Club in Saskatoon. That same year, he finished in the top eight at the US Amateur at Pinehurst Resort and Country Club in North Carolina. In 2009, he won the Sahalee Players Championship and spent 21 weeks at No. 1 in the Amateur Golf Rankings.

At the 2009 US Open, Taylor recorded the lowest score by an amateur in the tournament’s history, shooting 65 in the second round. He finished the event tied for 36th place and won the low amateur medal.

Team Canada

Nick Taylor is a graduate of Golf Canada’s National Team program. He represented Canada both as an amateur (at the 2008 World Amateur Championship and the 2009 Four Nations Cup) and as a professional (at the 2018 World Cup of Golf, where he teamed with PGA Tour mate Adam Hadwin to finish in fourth place).

College Golf Star (2006–10)

Nick Taylor attended the University of Washington on a golf scholarship. During his four-year collegiate career, he was a two-time first-team All American and two-time Co Pac-10 Player of the Year. In his sophomore year, Taylor shared individual runner-up honours at the 2008 NCAA championships. In his senior season, he won the Ben Hogan award as the top collegiate golfer in the US — the first Huskie to do so.

Early Professional Career

Nick Taylor turned professional in 2010 after graduating with an economics degree. His first ever event as a pro was the Brewing VCT Championship on the Vancouver Golf Tour. From 2011 to 2013, he played on the Canadian Tour, where he achieved 10 Top 10 finishes in 25 events. By finishing seventh on the Tour’s Order of Merit at the end of the 2013 season, he earned an exemption into the final stage of the Web.com Tour qualifying school, where he finished 11th to earn status for the following year. In 2014, Taylor finished 23rd in the Web.com finals to earn his PGA Tour card for the 2014–15 season.

PGA Tour Career, 2014–Present

Once he joined the PGA Tour, Nick Taylor wasted no time making his presence known. He won his very first tournament in his rookie season. On 9 November 2014, he overcame a four-shot deficit to win the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi. In his final round, Taylor shot a 6-under 66 to win by two shots. With the victory, he became the first Canadian-born winner on the PGA Tour since Mike Weir in 2007.

Six years later, Taylor won a second PGA Tour trophy at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He shot a 19 under par total to hold off defending champion (and five-time winner of the event) Phil Mickelson, with whom he was paired in the final round. Speaking about this special win, Taylor told SCOREGolf: “To be able to win (at Pebble Beach) is incredible. Along with it being such an amazing course, I think it fits my game almost better than any out here.” Taylor also became the first Canadian to secure a wire-to-wire win in the modern PGA Tour era.

2023 RBC Canadian Open

On 11 June 2023, Nick Taylor made golf history at the RBC Canadian Open at Toronto’s Oakdale Golf and Country Club. He became the first Canadian since Pat Fletcher in 1954 to win the Canadian Open. Taylor took the RBC Canadian Open Trophy from Englishman Tommy Fleetwood in dramatic fashion, sinking a 72-foot eagle putt on the fourth playoff hole. The putt was the longest Taylor had ever made in his PGA Tour career. Golfweek named the epic stroke the Shot of the Year. “The Putt,” as it has come to be known, became so iconic so quickly that the RBC Canadian Open changed its logo to include a silhouette of Taylor triumphantly tossing his putter as the I in Canadian.

2024 WM Phoenix Open

Nick Taylor’s fourth PGA Tour title came at the 2024 Waste Management Open in Phoenix, Arizona. He opened the tournament with a course record-tying 60 and held a five-shot lead. On Super Bowl Sunday, Taylor held off defending champion Scottie Scheffler (to whom he finished runner-up at this event in 2023) and defeated Charley Hoffman by sinking an 11-foot birdie putt on the second sudden-death playoff hole.

Just to get into a playoff was a feat; Taylor was three shots back with four holes to play. With this victory, Taylor became the fifth Canadian in the history of the PGA Tour (joining Mike Weir, Stephen Ames, Al Balding and George Knudson) to amass at least four tournament victories.

Paris Olympics

At the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris, Nick Taylor and fellow Canadian Corey Conners qualified for the men’s individual stroke-play golf event. It was Taylor’s first Olympic Games. At the tournament held at Le Golf National, Taylor finished in 30th place with a four-round total of 4 under par, 15 shots behind gold medal winner Scottie Scheffler. Conners finished tied for ninth with a four-round total of 12 under par.

Philanthropy

In 2017, Nick Taylor founded the Nick Taylor Charity Pro-Am presented by the University of the Fraser Valley. It raises money in support of the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades Men's and Women's Golf programs, as well as local charities. Since its inception, the tournament has raised more than $1 million, some of which goes to student endowment scholarships.

Personal Life

Nick Taylor carried the Olympic torch in his hometown of Abbotsford, BC, in the lead-up to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. Taylor is married to his high school sweetheart, Andie Taylor (née Dodd). The pair met in Grade 12 and have two children, son Charlie (born in 2019) and daughter Harper Mae (born May 2024). The couple have homes in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Abbotsford. When he is home in Abbotsford, Taylor often practices with and mentors the University of the Fraser Valley golf team.

PGA Tour Victories

• 9 November 2014 Sanderson Farms Championship
• 9 February 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
• 11 June 2023 RBC Canadian Open
• 12 February 2024 Waste Management Phoenix Open

Honours and Awards

• Mark H. McCormack Medal for Amateur Golf No. 1 ranking (2009)
• Low Amateur (2009 U.S. Open)
• Ben Hogan award for Top Collegiate Golfer (2010)
• Best of B.C. Award (2024)
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of the Fraser Valley (2024)