Nick Taylor’s PGA Championship hopes crash and burn at Aronimink

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NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Nick Taylor’s final-round plan was to hang around the lead at the PGA Championship long enough to summon the Sunday evening magic he has become known for.

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His plan only worked for half the day.

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Taylor made six bogeys on the back nine to lose any chance to join Mike Weir as the only Canadian man to win a major championship.

“Yeah, frustrated,” he said minutes after the round. “Just disappointed.”

On a hot Sunday at Aronimink outside of Philadelphia, it was Aaron Rai who ended up becoming a first-time major champion.

Rai made four birdies and an eagle over his final 10 holes to surge away from a leaderboard that had been jam-packed at the top for four straight days.

“Golf is an amazing game,” Rai said after his win. “It teaches you so many things, and it teaches you so much humility and discipline and absolute hard work because nothing is ever given in this game, no matter what level you’re playing, no matter what course you’re playing on.”

Jon Rahm and Alex Smalley finished tied for second place at six-under, three shots back of Rai.

“I played really good golf. That’s the only way to look at it,” Rahm said. “Even so, what Aaron did today, catching him could have been very difficult. I don’t know if it could happen.”

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Heartwarming origin story

Rai was born in England to a working-class family. His father from India, his mother from Kenya, the family sacrificed heavily to support his golf career.

“I have heard consistently there’s very few people that are nicer and kinder human beings than Aaron Rai,” Rahm said of the winner. “Anybody that uses head covers in his irons because he coveted his irons when he was a kid so much that he wanted to respect the equipment so much, and to still do it? It shows a lot about a person.”

Justin Thomas, Ludvig Aberg and Matti Schmid finished at five-under, a shot behind Rahm and Smalley in a tie for fourth place.

Another shot back, at four-under, were a group of major champions: Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Cam Smith.

For the Canadian Taylor, the 38-year-old began his day at four-under-par and tied for second. After making the turn just one stroke back of the lead, a disastrous back nine saw him tumble all the way down to even par and finish in a tie for 26th.

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“Just a tough back nine,” Taylor said. “Lost a few shots left during that back nine. I kind of stopped trusting what I was doing, especially with some trouble left. So there were some decent shots that just didn’t pan out as well, and made bogeys from there. Yeah, it was difficult.”

Bogey-free front nine

Paired with Rahm in the second last group, Taylor kept stride with the Spaniard, playing the front nine in bogey-free one-under 34.

Early in the round, Taylor didn’t get caught up trying to match Rahm’s two quick birdies out of the gate. Instead, Taylor stuck to his plan, playing textbook golf at the confounding Donald Ross designed course outside Philadelphia, missing just one fairway and one green on the front side.

“It’s the first time I’ve been in legit contention,” Taylor said of major championships. “With nine holes to go I had a real chance.”

Taylor’s short game was among the very best in the field all week long, but the Abbotsford, B.C. native told Postmedia on Saturday that it was his improved driving over the past month that has seen his game round into top form.

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Driver went cold

His hot driver went cold at the wrong time, and a week of hard work was lost in the long grass. Beginning at the ninth hole, Taylor missed four of the next five fairways, and Aronimink this week was not a golf course to be played from the rough.

Any positives he will take from the week will have to wait until the sting of Sunday’s back nine fades.

“I’ve got two weeks off to think about it, so right now I’ll just wallow in my pity,” Taylor said.

Contending at major championships was one of the only things missing from Taylor’s impressive career renaissance over the past half-decade. Despite winning tournaments in each of the past three seasons, the five-time PGA Tour winner was mired in an inexplicable nine-tournament streak of missed cuts at majors until he finally made the weekend at last year’s Masters.

He has now made the cut in four of the past six majors.

Corey Conners shot an even-par 70 on Sunday and finished at three-over in a tie for 55th. Taylor Pendrith shot a one-over 71 and finished at two-over, tied for 44th.

Canadian rookie Sudarshan Yellamaraju missed the cut.

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