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Playoff maestro Nick Taylor feeling good ahead of Phoenix title defence
It was a rough season for Nick Taylor after winning the WM Phoenix Open last year. But fresh off a win in Hawaii, he enters his title defence this week full of confidence, writes Sportsnet’s Adam Stanley.
With a laugh, Nick Taylor says he can’t believe he never played TPC Scottsdale better in his career before things finally clicked two years ago.
Taylor, who is the defending champion this week at the WM Phoenix Open, had — in his own words — a “bad” stretch at this event prior to 2023 despite living in the area. In his previous eight starts, he had missed four cuts, including two in a row coming into 2023, and his best result had been a tie for 49th. He said when he first played TPC Scottsdale with his new caddie, Dave Markle, in 2022, Markle saw something a little different on the greens.
That turned out to be the big difference.
The duo has been off to the races ever since, with Taylor finishing runner-up in 2023 and then winning in a playoff in 2024 after he fired a course-record-tying 11-under 60 in the first round.
“I think it probably was beyond frustration because I live here. I should see these greens, I should know them like the back of my hand,” Taylor said.
With a fresh outlook on golf, and life, through the early part of 2025 — and a trophy added to the closet, too, after capturing the Sony Open in Hawaii earlier in January, also in a playoff — the Canadian comes to this week and his title defence feeling as good as ever.
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Taylor did figure out the greens at TPC Scottsdale a year ago — he was first in strokes gained: putting for the week — and at the time it seemed like a foregone conclusion he would represent both Canada at the Olympics in Paris and also the International Team at the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal. Only the former, however, came to fruition. Taylor missed the cut at each of the major championships (and in his title defence at the RBC Canadian Open) and, essentially, played himself out of consideration for Mike Weir’s International squad.
When the calendar turned, however, there was no extra noise. There was nothing left for Taylor to do except get back to just trying to play good golf — and see where the chips fall.
So far, they’ve landed in his favour.
Taylor backed up his Sony Open triumph with a top-15 result the very next week at The American Express. He sits an impressive 23rd in total strokes gained on the season.
“Last year when I was looking at the last half (of the season), I was getting into that ‘protection mode’ thinking about where I was in the standings and it was not a good place to step on the tee and defend something, necessarily, or try to chase something,” Taylor told Canadian media Tuesday from TPC Scottsdale.
“When I’m focused on what I’m doing and I don’t care what anyone else is doing, that’s been the biggest reset this year and trying to make me as good as I can be and not worry about the outside stuff.
“When Jan 1 hit, I wasn’t trying to qualify for anything. I was just going to do what’s been best for me and my team and it’s been nice to have those results.”
The WM Phoenix Open has long been a special week for Taylor despite his less-than-stellar record. He says there are a lot of Canadians who come down to try to quash the mid-winter blues, while the event stands on its own on the PGA Tour schedule in terms of, well, fan excitement. Despite being a five-time winner on Tour (he’s tilted the same number of trophies as Rickie Fowler, for example) Taylor still runs under the radar — until he finished runner-up two years ago.
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Unlike his title defence at the RBC Canadian Open, which changed courses in 2024 versus 2023, TPC Scottsdale hasn’t changed much, if at all, since Taylor started his career. That includes the ruckus atmosphere of the par-3 16th hole, which holds the same number of people (upwards of 20,000) around its 160-yard layout as, essentially, the number of people who attend a full day at the Canadian Open.
“This tournament is different. It’s a standalone,” Taylor said. “Finishing second definitely helps being recognized and then winning the next year, that’s changed the most for me at this tournament. It comes along with having success and it’s what we’re working for.
“To start the year playing well and then coming into this event, it definitely gives me confidence.”
Taylor, now ranked No. 29 in the world and highest amongst Canadians, comes into this week with a new reputation, too — as a playoff maestro. His last three wins on the PGA Tour have all come in extra holes and he’s had no issue rising to the occasion when the dramatics call for it. At last year’s WM Phoenix Open, Taylor birdied three of his final four holes in regulation and then birdied the 18th hole twice in the playoff to win.
Taylor is chuffed to have been on the winning side of each of those playoffs — his career, he admits, would be a “different story” had he fallen short each time — and there’s no denying when he’s found himself in those situations, he’s thrived.
“I just feel like I have more clarity when I’m trying to win,” Taylor said. “It’s not necessarily I’m stepping on the tee expecting to win or be there in the last few holes. But just get back to the simple things of the process, and I’ve done a really good job when I get in those moments.”
He’s hoping a successful title defence at the WM Phoenix Open will garner another one of those moments.
