John Chidley-Hill/ Canadian Press
Nick Taylor is blissful to be getting a Mulligan on his first Masters look.
The Abbotsford, B.C., native made his one and solely look at Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership in 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Masters was held in November that yr, there have been no followers and gamers might solely have one individual within the bubble with them on the course.
Taylor will tee it up on the first main of the boys’s golf season on Thursday however, this time, his complete household will likely be there and he’ll be capable to soak within the “true” Augusta expertise.
“Lots of my early experiences of watching golf, like Mike Weir successful the Masters in 2003, I watched that with my dad and my brother within the basement,” mentioned Taylor from his residence in Arizona. “The Masters all the time felt like the beginning of the golf yr again residence in Canada.
“So for everybody to be on the Masters will likely be very, very, very particular.”
Taylor was significantly excited to have his kids take part within the Par 3 contest, a Masters custom the place the golfers play the brief course with their households and their get children decked out in Augusta’s distinctive all-white caddie coveralls. His four-year-old son Charlie and 11-month-old daughter Harper had already been fitted for theirs.
“I feel simply the entire expertise of the week, to be there and have or not it’s a quote-unquote regular Masters will likely be one thing I’ve clearly seemed ahead to ever since I started taking part in golf,” mentioned Taylor. “After 2020 was a type of the place I hoped it wasn’t my solely expertise however, clearly, you by no means know, so with the ability to say that I’ve had two very distinctly completely different Masters experiences will likely be fairly cool.”
One other spotlight of the Masters expertise is attending to play alongside Weir, from Brights Grove, Ont., the one Canadian to win the Masters or any males’s main.
They have been grouped collectively in 2020 and performed a apply spherical along with Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., and Adam Hadwin, additionally from Abbotsford. Canada’s PGA Tour gamers usually apply collectively earlier than occasions and, as common, it turned an East vs. West occasion on Tuesday.
Weir reported that the Ontarian pairing of he and Conners beat out the Abbotsford boys.
“We had a good time. All the time enjoyable for me to meet up with the blokes. I solely get to see them a pair instances a yr,” mentioned Weir, who’s the Worldwide Group’s captain for this yr’s Presidents Cup. “I’ll see them slightly bit extra now as a result of I’m travelling out to some extra occasions, however yeah, all the time enjoyable.”
One other factor that has modified since Taylor’s final Masters look is Taylor’s FedEx Cup rating. He certified in 2020 after successful the AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional-Am in February of that yr, however has moved means up the standings because of successful the RBC Canadian Open in June and the WM Phoenix Open in February.
He’s now the top-ranked Canadian on the PGA Tour, sitting thirteenth within the FedEx Cup standings.
“I might say early in 2020, my recreation was rounding into very nice type, after successful Pebble and getting some confidence going,” mentioned Taylor. “It’s straightforward to see years later, however you already know, the COVID stretch the place I used to be quarantined a bit again in Canada, bouncing forwards and backwards, my recreation sort of deteriorated over that point and took a while to claw my means again.
“I do really feel like now I’m higher than ever. I really feel like I’m a distinct participant than I used to be three and a half years in the past after I was there.”
