Nick Taylor has been the most dramatic winner on the PGA Tour the last three seasons, with each of his triumphs since 2023 coming in playoffs.
But before he headed to the Sony Open in Hawaii to defend his 2025 title, Taylor told Sportsnet.ca it’s been his consistency of which he’s most proud.
“It’s certainly something I never take for granted,” Taylor said by phone before beginning his 2026 campaign on Thursday in Oahu, Hawaii. “It’s pretty wild to look back at the last three years, and to win each year has been pretty remarkable.”
Taylor defeated Nico Echavarria on the second extra hole last year at the Sony Open after chipping in for eagle on the par-5 18th in regulation to force the playoff. His Sony Open triumph was his fifth win on the PGA Tour — far and away the most among this generation of Canadian male stars.
Waialae Country Club has been a happy hunting ground for Taylor, who has now gone T7-T7-win in his last three spins around the storied venue, one of the PGA Tour’s longest-standing host clubs.
Although Taylor had just three top-10 finishes in 2025 on Tour, the other two high finishes came in signature events. He also finished just one shot back of another top 10 at the RBC Canadian Open.
For the second time in three years, Taylor also made it to the season-ending Tour Championship, where just the top 30 on the FedExCup standings get to tee it up.
“It’s close to the top of the pyramid when it comes to reflecting a great year and a consistent year,” Taylor said of earning his way into the season finale. “To keep up the consistent play and make it to the Tour Championship, it’s a feeling of satisfaction because it’s just the 30 top guys on the PGA Tour.
“It’s the cherry on top of the season knowing you put together a nice body of work from the entire 12 months.”
If there was one point of negativity on Taylor’s resume over the last half-decade, it has been his performance at the major championships. He made the cut at the 2020 Masters (the one played in November) but went on to miss eight major cuts in a row before finding the weekend again at the Masters last spring.
Taylor then missed the cut at the PGA Championship but finished T23 at the U.S. Open at Oakmont, his best-ever major result.
“It wasn’t amazing, but breaking the streak of missed cuts was Step 1 and I felt like I was borderline competitive at the U.S. Open. There were a lot of steps in the right direction, but each major I’ve played there were slightly higher comfort levels, which is important,” Taylor said. “They are difficult golf tournaments with tough fields. I’m going to enjoy them and go in with the goal to win.”
Another thing that’s back on Taylor’s radar is the potential to make the Presidents Cup team for the International side, with this year’s competition taking place at Medinah Country Club in Chicago. Taylor won early in 2024, but he struggled through the balance of the year — including missing the cut in his title defence at the Canadian Open — and was ultimately left off the team that played in Montreal and was captained by Mike Weir.
He said his motivation to play well at the majors and ultimately try to make the Presidents Cup team this time around is high.
The start of 2026, however, has been odd from a regular-routine perspective. With the regular season opener, the Sentry, cancelled due to course conditions and the ensuing extra week of winter-time holidays, this may be the latest Taylor has started his PGA Tour season, he said. It’s been a nice extended break, however. In 2025, he said, his family left for the first event of the year just three days after Christmas.
Taylor played two events in the four months following the Tour Championship last August — he missed the cut at the World Wide Technology Championship before notching a top-20 finish at the Nedbank Golf Challenge on the DP World Tour — and admitted this long time away has been “a bit foreign” to most of the guys on the PGA Tour since they’re used to being on all the time.
“It feels like a long summer break from school,” Taylor said with a laugh.
Taylor said one thing he’s eager to do again is get a few updated temperature checks about the goings on of the PGA Tour — and there will be plenty to say when the first full-field event of the year starts up Thursday. The Tour just reinstated Brooks Koepka — returning after three years with LIV Golf — and there has been plenty of smoke around what the new-look PGA Tour will be starting in 2027 under the new CEO leadership of Brian Rolapp.
“The 2027 season (will have) some pretty significant changes. I’m curious, but I can only control what I can control. If I get back to what I’m doing and if I keep playing as well as I am, I’ll be on the right side of it,” Taylor said. “But it’s not something I’m going to tune out because there is too much noise. I like to gossip about the Tour like the next person.”
This year, though, begins anew Thursday with the Canadian the first defending champion of the season. Taylor is a veteran now, and he said it’ll be nice to get his band back together and back into the same kind of routine he’s had for the last decade and a half.
He’s made a habit of winning lately, too. And he’d like nothing more than for that trend to continue.
Perhaps, however, with a little less drama.
from Sportsnet.ca
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