Nick Taylor will be part of an all-Canadian trio at this year's RBC Canadian Open.Peter Power/The Canadian Press
It’s easy to predict where the crowds will be whooping and hollering at the RBC Canadian Open on Thursday and Friday, as a trio of golfers from Canada will be playing together.
Nick Taylor, who famously won the 2023 Canadian Open with an astonishing 72-foot eagle putt, will golf with fellow countrymen Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor Pendrith during the first two rounds as TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley hosts the PGA’s yearly stop in Canada.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun, playing with buddies and being comfortable,” said Taylor.
“All of us, caddies, players, all six of us are Canadian and we just know each other well. Going to be a very comfortable pairing. So hopefully we get some birdies going early, get some energy going our way.”
Taylor tosses his putter after sinking a 72-foot eagle putt to win the 2023 Canadian Open.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Taylor is fresh off a fourth-place finish last week at the Memorial.
He has five PGA Tour career wins, including one earlier this season, the Sony Open in Hawaii. The native of Abbotsford, B.C. has three top 10 finishes this year.
With his win in 2023, Taylor ended the Canadian Open’s 69-year drought without a winner from its home nation. His iconic putter-drop moment from that 2023 victory is now formally immortalized in its logo and has him chuckling when he sees it all our the tournament site.
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There will be 20 Canadians in this year’s field looking to follow in his footsteps. Four of them are currently in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings – Corey Conners (21), Taylor (32), Pendrith (36) and Hughes (50).
“I think we all pull for each other,” said Taylor. “I think it’s been great for five, six years now of us being a close-knit group, playing so often together but also playing so well. It seems like almost every week one of us is competing trying to win on the weekend.”
Taylor Pendrith says he has a group chat with the other two Canadian golfers he will play with on Thursday and Friday.Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images
Pendrith has four top 10 finishes this year – including fifth place at the PGA Championship. The native of Richmond Hill, Ont. is comfortable at the Osprey Valley venue and actually won there on the Mackenzie Tour. He and Hughes are golfing together on the PGA Tour for the first time. Pendrith said the three golfers were bantering together in a group chat as soon as they saw the tee times.
“Nick, I mean, a legend of the tournament in Canada, so that’ll be really fun. There will be a lot of people out there,” said Pendrith. “I think we’re wedged right in front [of] Rory [McIlroy]. Yeah, it’ll be a good atmosphere, and we’re all super excited.”
Hughes has three top-10 finishes in 2025. His hopes at the 2024 Canadian Open looked bright, when he started the final round tied for second, just four shots back of eventual winner Robert MacIntyre. But then the native of Dundas, Ont. stumbled late on Sunday and finished seventh.
Conners was the low countryman at last year’s Canadian Open, finishing sixth. Conners is not in the all-Canadian group, but he’s also playing in a high-profile one, with Ireland’s Shane Lowry and MacIntyre, the defending champ from Scotland.
Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters champion, will compete in his 32nd RBC Canadian Open, tying the record for starts in Canada’s National Open with George Cumming.
Mackenzie Hughes has five PGA Tour career wins.Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Other Canadian PGA Tour winners playing in Caledon this week include Adam Hadwin and Adam Svensson.
The Canadian trio will tee off right before the group with the biggest name in the event – World No.2 McIlroy. The star from Northern Ireland has three wins on the PGA Tour this season, most memorably The Masters, where he completed the grand slam of career victories.
McIlroy won the Canadian Open in 2019 and 2022 and looks to join an elite group who have won it three or more times (Tommy Armour, Sam Snead, Lee Trevino and four-time winner Leo Diegel).
McIlroy noted that his success at the Canadian Open has led to good results afterward at the U.S. Open. When playing in Canada the week before, he’s had six consecutive top 10s at the U.S. Open. He contrasted that with missing the cut at the U.S major from 2016-2018, when the Canadian Open was in a different spot on the PGA calendar.
“Playing in front of the Canadian fans and everything that goes along with that,” said McIlroy. “You guys only get to see this sort of golf once a year, so I think once it does come along, it’s really appreciated.”