Of the many congratulatory messages Nick Taylor received after his fifth PGA Tour win, there was one from Canadian golf legend Mike Weir.

Weir was the Presidents Cup captain who omitted Taylor from the International Team last September, instead picking fellow Canadians Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor Pendrith to play at Royal Montreal Golf Club.

“There’s certainly no ill will there,” Taylor said in a media conference on Tuesday after winning the Sony Open in dramatic fashion on the weekend. “I’m sure there are people saying things about it, but no. Mike’s always has been great, and it was very nice for him to reach out.”

The 36-year-old Taylor claimed victory on the second event of the season in Waialae, Hawaii on Sunday, winning on the second playoff hole with a birdie against Colombia’s Nico Echavarria.

Taylor drilled home a 60-foot pitch shot for a 72nd-hole eagle to get into a playoff.

A chip-in eagle to tie the lead!@NTaylorGolf59 comes up clutch at the last @SonyOpenHawaii. pic.twitter.com/tNeTa9xQKM

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 13, 2025

“Mike sent me a nice message of congratulations, and we talked a bit about the pitches,” Taylor said.

Taylor didn’t do himself any favours in his bid to make the International team. After he captured the Waste Management Phoenix Open last February, Taylor checked in with only one top-10 result, and that was a tie for 10th with fellow Canadian Adam Hadwin in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event.

But this was the third year in a row the Abbotsford, B.C.-raised golfer has won on the PGA Tour with a playoff. Taylor joins an elite group, as Bubba Watson (2010-12), Ernie Els (2002-04), Phil Mickelson (2000-02) and Tiger Woods (1999-01) are the only others to accomplish the feat.

In his latest three wins, Taylor has demonstrated a flair for the dramatic. Before his clutch chip-in eagle on Sunday, Taylor finished with three birdies in the final four holes and then birdied the first two holes of the playoff to defeat Charley Hoffman on Super Bowl Sunday in Phoenix last year.

The playoff run began with his 72-foot eagle putt on the fourth extra hole of the 2023 RBC Canadian Open to prevail over Tommy Fleetwood.

“For whatever reason, I see the shot I want to hit and trust it,” Taylor said. “It’s something I’m trying to figure out to be more consistent to get in those situations more often and pull off the shots I want to do.”

The Sony Open victory was the first with his parents in attendance and sets up Taylor nicely as he will play two more courses he’s had success on before the Players Championship in March and the Masters in April.

The Phoenix stop is three weeks away, preceded by the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Taylor won at Pebble Beach in 2020.

“There are a lot of golf courses in the next few months that are on top of my favourites’ list,” said Taylor, who will play in this week’s American Express in La Quinta, Calif.

“Hopefully, I keep playing great and the putts keep rolling in to set up the rest of the year. It’s always nice to get off to a good start in a new season, especially this year with the win.”

Taylor hopes to employ last week’s good vibrations as inspiration to play better in the four majors. He’s missed the cut in his past nine major starts, seven in a row dating back to the 2023 U.S. Open.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” he said. “Seven in a row missed isn’t that great.

“A lot has been missing the cut by a shot or two. Two shots can make a big difference in those big events. So yeah, I’m not going to go in thinking too much. I’m trying to get a little bit better and more comfortable in those situations.”

HONOLULU — Nick Taylor never looked more clutch than when he birdied the 18th hole three times in the WM Phoenix Open, first to force a playoff and the last to win it. 

And then he went 23 starts over 11 months without a top 10.

Who can forget that 70-foot eagle putt to win the Canadian Open before a delirious home crowd? During the next seven months and 12 tournaments, he had only one top 10.

The trade-off for the 36-year-old Canadian are the trophies — one in each of the last three years and five overall.

The latest came Sunday when he least expected it. Taylor chipped in from 60 feet for eagle on the last hole, made a 10-foot birdie putt to stay in the game and won it with a perfectly clipped wedge to just inside 3 feet for birdie to beat Nico Echavarria in a playoff.

And no, he wouldn’t trade them.

“I really love the trophies,” Taylor said. “But I would also love to be more consistent.”

Taylor, from Abbotsford, B.C., plays practice rounds often with another Canadian, Corey Conners, and their history oddly runs deep. Conners played with him in the weekday rounds when Taylor won in Canada and Hawaii, and Taylor played with Conners the opening two rounds when Conners won in Texas.

Conners has been a greater model of consistency, with only one win since 2020.

“I’ve played with Corey a lot in practice rounds and tournaments. He’s somebody I aspire to be with his consistency. He’s phenomenal,” Taylor said. “That being said, I really enjoy being in moments and being able to close the deal and to win tournaments is ultimately what we’re trying to do. Again, yeah, consistency. I would love to get there to his level.”

Last year was particularly discouraging because so much was at stake — battling for a spot in the Olympics, and the Presidents Cup being held at Royal Montreal with Canadian Mike Weir as the International captain.

Taylor looked like a shoo-in when he won the Phoenix Open, only to go into a funk — only one finish in the top 20 (tie for 12th at Bay Hill), missed cuts in all four majors and a disappointing phone call when Weir left him off the team.

He also failed to finish in the top 50 in the FedEx Cup, which would have assured Taylor played in all the $20 million signature events.

“Not making top 50 I knew would make the next year just not where I wanted to be. Not making the Presidents Cup definitely hurt,” Taylor said. “I had more myself to blame. I felt like I put Mike in a tough situation. On top of that, I had to play more in the fall than I had originally planned and be away from family a few times.”

Taylor put in some work in the short off-season — and was eager to start a West Coast that featured some of his favourite courses and three signature events at least staying (barely) in the top 60 in the FedEx Cup.

Now he can bank on a return to the Masters and a spot in all the signature events. 

“To have this good of a start is awesome,” he said.

So was the finish.

Taylor was two shots behind when he missed 4-foot birdie putts on the 15th and 16th holes and figured that was his last chance.

But then he chipped in for eagle, the leaders behind him — Stephan Jaeger and J.J. Spaun — each dropped a shot and failed to birdie the 18th. That left Taylor and Echavarria, a promising Chilean who has been on a tear recently.

Echavarria, who had some clutch moments of his own on the closing four holes, had the upper hand in the playoff until Taylor made a touch pitch up a steep slope and made a 10-foot birdie. Echavarria again had the advantage on the second playoff hole, 40 feet away on the fringe, while Taylor was back in the fairway 46 yards away.

The pitch was perfect by Taylor. The putt by Echavarria came off soft, stopped 7 feet away and he missed the birdie putt.

Taylor’s last three PGA Tour victories were all in a playoff — four extra holes in Canada, two in Phoenix, two in Hawaii.

“I think I enjoy being in those moments. For whatever reason my mind gets clear in those situations of the shot I’m just trying to hit,” he said. “I’ve worked on that the last couple years, why in those situation am I good and the other situations where I’m not consistent if I’m in 30th or something. We’ll work on that. But nice start to the year, obviously.”

PGA TOUR

Nick Taylor chipped in from 60 feet out for eagle on the final hole in regulation and then made a three-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole to defeat Nico Echavarria and win the Sony Open in Hawaii. It is his fifth career win with the last three all coming in a playoff including the memorable four-hole playoff to win the 2023 RBC Canadian Open when he made a 70-foot eagle putt. The five victories leaves him second all-time among Canadian men, behind only George Knudson (8) and Mike Weir (8). Taylor is the fifth player in the last six years to win the tournament coming from behind on the final day. Of greater importance, the win earns him an invitation to the Masters and extends his exemption on the PGA Tour through 2027. Taylor was two off the lead after missing back-to-back four-foot putts on Nos. 15 and 16 before his final hole heroics. His approach shot into the 18th green ended up against the grandstand and after getting relief, his 60-foot chip shot from just off the green found the centre of the hole. Taylor then made a 10-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole and Echavarria matched him to force a second playoff hole. Playing from the fairway bunker on his approach, Taylor came up 46 yards short of the cup but his pitch was nearly perfect finishing three feet from the hole. Echavarria Stephan Jaeger and J.J. Spaun finished tied for third. Both looked to be in contention of the win until Jaeger bogeyed No. 16 and Spaun bogeyed No. 17. …Adam Svensson equalled his finish from a year ago at the Sony Open. …Corey Conners missed the cut for the first time since June 2023 (U.S. Open), ending his streak of 32 starts without missing a cut.

NEXT EVENT: The American Express (Jan 16)
CANADIANS ENTERED: Adam Hadwin, Mackenzie Hughes, Ben Silverman, Adam Svensson, Nick Taylor

HONOLULU — Nick Taylor delivered another theatrical finish Sunday, this time chipping in for eagle on the 18th hole to get into a playoff at the Sony Open and winning with a superb pitch that set up birdie to defeat Nico Echavarria.

Taylor, from Abbotsford, B.C., never looked like a winner at Waialae, especially after missing two short birdie chances down the stretch. That changed all so suddenly when his eagle chip from 60 feet rolled in on the par-5 closing hole for a 5-under 65.

Echavarria joined him with a great bunker shot for a tap-in birdie on the 18th and a 65. They finished at 16-under 264.

Taylor has five PGA Tour titles and won the last three in a playoff. He had to hole a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th to stay alive. Playing the 18th again, Taylor went from a fairway bunker to 46 yards short of the cup. His pitch was close to perfect, landing on the front of the green and rolling with the grain and wind to just inside 3 feet.

Echavarria was just on the collar at the back of the green, but his 40-foot eagle putt came up 7 feet short and he missed the birdie putt.

The victory sends Taylor to the Masters again, a big perk after a dismal end to last season. He had won the Phoenix Open with clutch putts in a playoff last year. His best playoff win was at home in the RBC Canadian Open in 2023 when he made a 70-foot eagle putt.

Stephan Jaeger and J.J. Spaun both left Waialae with plenty of regrets. From the time they made the turn, it looked like a duel between them to decide the winner, and they put on a great show until the final three holes.

Jaeger holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the 14th to catch Spaun, who then followed by making a par putt from just inside 30 feet to stay tied for the lead.

Jaeger didn’t hit a fairway on the back nine except for an iron off the 15th tee, and it finally caught up with him at the end. He hit driver to cut off the dogleg on the 16th but it went so far left that it was never found, presumed to be out-of-bounds.

“The one on 16 I would like to have back. Wrong hole to hit that shot,” Jaeger said.

Jaeger did well to made bogey off a provisional ball to stay only one behind — Spaun missed a 10-foot birdie putt that would have given him a cushion. And then Spaun made bogey from the bunker on the 17th.

All the while, Echavarria and Taylor rallied in improbable ways. Echavarria made a 15-foot par save on the 15th, a 12-foot birdie on the 16th, saved par from a bunker on the 17th and then hit a splendid bunker shot across the 18th birdie to get up-and-down for birdie.

Taylor looked like he had lost his chances by missing a pair of 4-foot birdie putts. He was two behind when he holed his 60-foot chip for eagle on the 18th hole.

Jaeger and Spaun needed birdie on the par-5 closing hole to join the playoff. Jaeger hit 3-wood off the tee and didn’t clear the bunker, and his second shot hit the lip and left him in the rough some 178 yards away. He went over the green and made par for a 67.

Spaun from the 18th fairway missed to the right, the worst place to be because the pin was cut to the right with the wind at his back. He did well to get it to 10 feet, and then missed the birdie putt and shot 68.

On a day when 15 players were separated by three shots at the start, those four were the only ones who seriously threatened at the end.

Hideki Matsuyama, who won with a PGA Tour record 35-under par last week at Kapalua, closed with a 66 and finished at 11 under and tied for 16th in his bid to become only the third player to sweep Hawaii.

It’s not often Corey Conners is excited with a PGA Tour result where he finished 11 shots back of the eventual winner. 

But at The Sentry, the Tour’s season-opening event, no one was going to beat Hideki Matsuyama — who set an all-time, 72-hole PGA Tour scoring record at 35-under 257 — and Conners’ tie for fifth still marked his best result since his win at the Valero Texas Open in 2023.

Conners, from Listowel, Ontario, ranked first in putting in Maui, a big improvement in an area he’s worked hard to improve.

Despite the scoreline, Conners couldn’t have been more thrilled with his 2025 opener

“It was nowhere near winning with how Hideki ended up playing — and I saw that up close on Saturday — but I’m still happy with the week. I got off to a solid start, I got myself within striking distance. Hideki ultimately was unreachable but definitely some positives,” Conners said by phone from Honolulu, the site of this week’s event, the Sony Open in Hawaii. 

If there has been one part of Conners’ methodical approach that’s come under scrutiny over the last half-decade, it’s been his effort on the greens.

He ranked 128th on the PGA Tour in putting strokes gained in each of the last two seasons. He moved into the top 50 in the second half of 2024. Last week? He was the best putter on the course.

Conners was happy to watch putts fall early and often. And even the putts he missed had good chances to drop. 

“It’s something I’ve been focusing on in my game the last number of years, really, but definitely the last six months. It’s an area that’s very important for scoring,” Conners said. “I started the week with a lot of freedom and picked up a few thoughts, nothing too technical, over the off-season on the green. A few keys that I leaned on and it paid off.”

Conners entered 2025 as Canada’s top-ranked male golfer and jumped seven spots in the Official World Golf Ranking with his top-five finish at Sunday. He’s now No. 33 in the world. 

As one of the world’s top-ranked golfers, Conners earned spots on both the Canadian Olympic team and the 2024 Presidents Cup team, which was played at Royal Montreal Golf Club with fellow Canadian Mike Weir as captain of the International side. 

With both events now in the rear-view mirror, Conners says it’s time to focus on finding even more success at the biggest tournaments on the PGA Tour.

In 2025, eight Signature Events boast purses of US$20 million or more, in addition to the four major championships. Conners was the only Canadian to achieve a top-10 finish at a major championship in 2024 and believes his next goal is to consistently contend at these top-tier events.”

“Against the top players in the world you see a lot of the same names up there at the top of the leaderboard and I want to throw my name into the mix as much as I can,” Conners said. 

Conners missed out on the Tour Championship season finale last year for the first time in three seasons and is eager to return to the elite 30-person field in August. 

“I had a bit of a slow start last year. Played well in the summer but wanted to get off to a good start and carry that momentum through,” Conners said. “I’ve had a bunch of successful years but there’s room for improvement. There’s another level I can get to and that’s definitely the goal.” 

Conners looks to continue his fine start to the year this week at the Sony Open, where there are six other Canadians in the field. 

Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor, of Abbotsford, B.C., and Taylor Pendrith, of Richmond Hill, Ont., make the Hawaiian island hop from Maui to Honolulu while Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., Adam Svensson of Surrey. B.C., and Ben Silverman, of Thornhill, Ont. make their 2025 PGA Tour debuts.

As 2024 draws to a close, Golf Canada reflects on the stories that captivated our readers throughout the year. Here are the top 10 most-read articles that highlighted significant moments and achievements in Canadian golf:

1. Final Field released for the 2024 RBC Canadian Open

2. Pendrith, Conners, Hughes named to International Team for upcoming Presidents Cup

3. Golf Canada announces professional athletes named to 2024 Team Canada

4. Golf Canada releases 2024 championship schedule

5. Golf Canada announces amateur athletes named to 2025 Team Canada

6. LaunchPad Golf expands across Canada with six new locations

7. Built For This: TPC Toronto to host RBC Canadian Open in 2025

8. Canada’s Nick Taylor wins Phoenix Open on second playoff hole

9. Two women golfers announced to Canadian Olympic Team for Paris 2024

10. Mississaugua Golf and Country Club to host 2025 CPKC Women’s Open

As the year comes to a close, we want to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude to our readers and the incredible Golf Canada community. Thank you for your passion, engagement, and unwavering support throughout the year. Your love for the game inspires everything we do, and we’re honoured to share these stories with you.

Here’s to another year of unforgettable moments on the course and beyond. Thank you for being an essential part of the Golf Canada family—see you in 2025!

Old friends Corey Conners and Brooke Henderson usually have to keep tabs on each other from afar, but this week they’ll get to see one another up close.

Conners and Henderson will team up once again at the Grant Thornton Invitational, a unique event where some of the best golfers from the PGA and LPGA Tours compete as pairs. The tournament is quickly becoming an annual reunion for the two graduates of Golf Canada’s junior program.

“Since turning professional, our careers have gone separate ways, and we haven’t been able to cross paths too much,” said Conners, who finished the men’s season 39th on the FedEx Cup standings. “I’m always cheering her on from afar, and always have my eye on the LPGA Tour leaderboard when she’s playing.”

Henderson, likewise, has been keeping tabs on Conners’s exploits.

“It’s just been really fun to watch his career and cheer him on,” said Henderson, who finished 13th in the women’s tour’s rankings. “I think this event has reconnected us, in a way, and it’s been really special and great to be able to know his family and just to watch this game and be his partner here is really cool.”

Both were on Team Canada back in 2013 when they won the Copa de las Americas along with Albin Choi and Augusta James.

Conners and Henderson also represented Canada at the last two Olympics but due to COVID-19 restrictions they didn’t get to interact at the Tokyo Games in 2021. The men’s and women’s tournaments were on different weeks at the Paris Games this past summer.

The two Canadians finished second at the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational last year with a combined score of 25 under, a shot behind New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and Australia’s Jason Day.

“It’s been great to be able to share some experiences like the Olympics and this event last year and spending more time together has been awesome,” said Conners, who is from Listowel, Ont. “She’s this amazing person, amazing golfer, and a fun partner at this event.”

The stacked leaderboard will see 16 pairs tee off on Friday at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla. American Tony Finau withdrew from the event on Wednesday afternoon. He was replaced as top-ranked Nelly Korda’s partner by Daniel Berger.

“I feel like we make a great team, and I’m excited for Friday to tee it up and hopefully make some birdies and be inspired by (Conners’s) great shots,” said Henderson, who is from Smiths Falls, Ont.

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PGA TOUR — Six Canadians are vying for a PGA Tour card at the PGA Tour Q-School this week. Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., Edmonton’s Wil Bateman, Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S., Toronto’s Sebastian Szirmak, as well as Matthew Anderson and Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Mississauga, Ont., will all be in the field at Dye’s Valley Course and Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., this week.

LPGA TOUR — Hamilton’s Alena Sharp and Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., both earned full status on the LPGA Tour for 2025 after solid showings at the final qualifying stage of the Q-Series on Monday. Sharp tied for 21st at 7 under and Leblanc tied for 24th at 6 under. The top 25 finishers in the tournament earned their status.

GOLFZON TOUR — A team of five golfers from the Greater Toronto Area will be competing in the GOLFZON Tour, a golf simulator league that features 12 teams from North America and the United Kingdom. Team Toronto will play its GOLFZON Tour quarterfinal match at a Golfplay location in Waterloo, Ont., on the virtual Old Course at St. Andrews against Team Orlando on Dec. 19. 

Canadian golf star Mike Weir is among those set to be inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame next year.

The Brights Grove, Ont. native will join multi-platinum artists Our Lady Peace, award-winning acress Tonya Williams, Juno-winning guitarist Liona Boyd, pioneering cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Tirone David and War Child Canada founder Dr. Samantha Nutt.

The Walk of Fame, which honours notable Canadians for their exceptional achievements, will celebrate inductees with an awards show in Toronto in June.

Next year’s honourees will join more than 230 Canadians who have been commemorated on Canada’s Walk of Fame.

That includes Dr. Frank J. Hayden, the kinesiology professor whose research sparked the Special Olympics movement, who was this year’s sole inductee.

Additional inductees, along with plans for public events, will be announced next year.

Born in Sarnia, Ont., Weir is best known for his historic victory at the 2003 Masters Tournament, where he became the first Canadian and the first left-handed golfer to win the prestigious event.

Turning professional in 1992, Weir secured eight PGA TOUR victories, solidifying his reputation as one of Canada’s greatest golfers. He has also played key roles in multiple Presidents Cup International Teams, both as a player and assistant captain, and most recently as the captain of the International Team for the 2024 Presidents Cup in Montreal.

Weir continues to compete on the PGA TOUR Champions circuit, where he earned his first win at the 2021 Insperity Invitational.

Recognized for his contributions to the sport, Weir was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2007 and inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 2009. 

Things just didn’t feel right for Adam Hadwin when he missed the cut at the Shriners Children’s Open on Oct. 18, so he went back to the drawing board.

Hadwin, from Abbotsford, B.C., spent the next month working on his swing, making subtle changes to improve his mechanics, and entered in this week’s RSM Classic — the finale of the PGA Tour’s Fall Ball season — to test out his new swing in a competitive environment. He said on Wednesday it all traced back to his disappointing performance at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas and that missed cut.

“It just kind of left a sour taste in my mouth, playing as poorly as I did there,” said Hadwin. “So I’ve been working hard the last two weeks, three weeks or so on, on some things and wanted to end the year on a better note.

“This was kind of the last event remaining. It’s fairly easy to get to (from his home in Wichita, Kan.) and the tournament itself is great.”

Hadwin finished the PGA Tour’s regular season 47th on the FedEx Cup standings, guaranteeing him a spot in all of next season’s signature events, starting with The Sentry at Plantation Course in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii, on Jan. 2. It also meant that he didn’t have to play in the Shriners Children’s Open, the RSM Classic or any of the events on the Fall Ball calendar.

He chose to play in those events, however, to stay sharp.

“Winters in Wichita are probably not ideal for golf,” laughed Hadwin of preparing for the 2025 season. “I’ll just be working away on the technical side of things, making sure that I’m doing the right things leading into Hawaii. 

“Positionally, the things that we wanted to accomplish were accomplished and I’m just putting that work in, making swings over and over.”

The RSM Classic has been good to Canadian golfers in the past decade.

Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., won the event in a five-player playoff in 2016 and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., was the victor in 2022. Hughes was also the runner-up in 2021 and last year.

Hughes and Svensson will join Hadwin in the field on Thursday, as will Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C. The event has players compete on Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course and Plantation Course. Hadwin, Svensson and Sloan will start on the Seaside Course and Hughes will tee off on the Plantation Course.

“It’s two good golf courses on the island,” said Hadwin. “(St. Simons Island, Ga.,) is very laid back and I’ve enjoyed coming here the years that I have had to.

“This year it’s more so just to test out to see where I’m at, where the golf swing’s at, the shots that I’m hitting. Maybe some things to work on next six or seven weeks before going to Hawaii.”

Around the Tours

CME Group Tour Championship — Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., is the lone Canadian in the CME Group Tour Championship, the season finale for the LPGA Tour. It’s her 10th appearance at the elite event. She finished the regular season 14th on the tour’s points list.

Taylor Pendrith took two weeks off after the Presidents Cup and didn’t miss a beat, matching his career-low on the PGA Tour with a 10-under 61 that gave him an early three-shot lead in the Shriners Children’s Open on Thursday.

Pendrith missed only one fairway and one green at the TPC Summerlin, both on the same hole. He pulled his tee shot on the 18th hole — his ninth — had to pitch out sideways, hit wedge to 7 feet and saved his par.

The rest was a steady diet of big drives, a lot of wedges and good putting. His only disappointment was the par-5 ninth, his final hole. He had only 200 yards into the green and knew an eagle would give him a 59.

“Tried to be aggressive and hit a good shot and just didn’t catch all of it, and came up short right in the bunker,” Pendrith, from Richmond Hill, Ont., said.

He blasted out to 12 feet and missed the putt, along with a chance to tie the course record at Summerlin last set by Rod Pampling in 2017.

Pendrith also shot a 61 in the Bermuda Championship three years ago.

Fellow Canadian Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., also started strong with an opening round of 7-under 64, joining a group including Bud Cauley and Matti Schmid. 

Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., opened at 4-under 67, a stroke ahead of Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C. Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., opened at 1-over 72 while Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford had a later tee time. 

Matt McCarty, who won the inaugural Black Desert Championship last week in Utah, played in the afternoon.

Also playing late was Tom Kim, the two-time defending champion. He is trying to become the first player since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic (2009-11) to win the same PGA Tour event three straight times.

Former UNLV player Ryan Moore was among those at 65, while Rickie Fowler posted a 66 — it felt much higher playing alongside Pendrith.

Schmid was coming off a 62 in the final round in Utah to finish fifth, moving him off the bubble at No. 120 to No. 105 in the FedEx Cup Fall. A big part of this stretch of the PGA Tour is for players to finish in the top 125 to secure a full card for 2025.

Pendrith knows that feeling.

He was at No. 123 in the FedEx Cup last year when he came to Las Vegas, and he tied for third to effectively sew up his card for the following season. He went on to win in Dallas at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson for his first PGA Tour title, and he made it to the Tour Championship.

“I know it’s an important time of year for a lot of guys and I’ve been there for sure,” Pendrith said. “It’s stressful. But it’s a different feeling for me, obviously already locked up for next year. It’s a different feeling I guess out there playing. But I really enjoy this place.”

Pendrith also was picked for the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal, posting a 2-3 record and going 2-1 in team play alongside Adam Scott. The plan was to take a short break, but that changed when Hurricane Milton cut across Florida.

“I think I played maybe three times since the Presidents Cup, and then was planning on practising and everything was closed,” Pendrith said. His coach joined him in Las Vegas for some quality work early in the week.

“I feel rested and excited to play,” Pendrith said. “I didn’t really expect a 10 under, I would say. I thought I would be a little bit more rusty than that. Obviously thrilled, just got to keep getting back into the rhythm of things and the next few days.”