CALEDON, Ont. — It’s ironic that this is the only week of the year the Canadian golfers who are often near the top of PGA Tour leaderboards don’t get a chance to play together in a Tuesday practice round.
Instead, at the RBC Canadian Open this week at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, the PGA Tour did a few of them a solid and grouped Nick Taylor, Taylor Pendrith, and Mackenzie Hughes together for the first two rounds.
And the good vibes from the trio parlayed into some great play.
Through the morning wave at the 2025 Canadian Open Pendrith was tied for the lead while Taylor, after a final-hole bogey, was just a shot back at 4 under. Hughes had the shot of the day — an eagle hole out from 194 yards on the par-4 5th (Hughes’ longest-such hole out in his PGA Tour career) and finished with a 2-under 68.
“It was great out there,” Pendrith said. “I felt like the crowd really filled in on the back nine. Nick was making some birdies, and I was making some birdies. Mack holed a 6-iron. So, it was a lot of fun. The crowd was into it. Nice to see a lot of people out here on a rainy day.
“We had a blast out there, and we all played pretty well.”
With the afternoon wave of golfers just underway, Pendrith was in a three-way tie for the lead with Alex Smalley and Paul Peterson.
It was a wet opener at TPC Toronto, with nearly an inch of rain falling overnight and more misty rain through Thursday morning. Pendrith, with a laugh, said he took his rain jacket on and off ten times. Taylor said he felt bad for his caddie, Dave Markle, as his bag “probably weighed 60 pounds” on Thursday.
Pendrith said the wet conditions meant the greens were awfully soft, and the key was to control the spin on the ball with wedges and being smart with where you had to land the ball. Taylor pointed to how, on back pins, he couldn’t hit a normal “stock” wedge shot since it would spin back about 20 feet — he said it was a challenge to manage that spin and the need to take “some off” with different shots.
He was 1 under after his first nine holes (the back nine) before making the turn and pressing the gas. He made four birdies in a seven-hole stretch including roasting a 5-iron from 226 yards on the par-3 7th to just five feet for a tidy “bonus” birdie, he said.
Taylor, who came into the week after a fourth-place finish at the Memorial Tournament last week, continued his impressive run with his putter. He’s struggled so far this season with the flatstick, but these last two weeks Taylor has worked on his set up with his coach, Gareth Raflewski, and has calibrated his eyes so they are seeing straighter — which allows Taylor the most freedom to react and be athletic.
Taylor was fifth in strokes gained: putting last week at the Memorial and was sixth in that stat through the early part of Thursday at the Canadian Open.
A handful of nice putts, a bunch of birdies, and some laughs with pals — and now there’s some of the Canadian contingent firmly in the mix at their national open once again.
“It was a fun, kind of calm energy all day, which was nice,” Taylor said.
“It’s nice to play in a group with those guys and have all the fans supporting us,” Pendrith added. “It’s the week that we look forward to every year. So, it was a lot of fun.”
