Taylor goes wire to wire at Pebble to deny Mickelson records
Pebble Beach Pro-Am report: What happened?
Nick Taylor denied Phil Mickelson a record sixth victory at Pebble Beach while becoming the first Canadian in PGA Tour history to go wire to wire.
He finished with a total of 19-under, four shots ahead of Kevin Streelman and five ahead of Mickelson after stumbling his way over the finish line with a final round of 70.
Taylor held the 54-hole lead for the first time in his PGA Tour career and was 4-under through six for his round thanks to two birdies and a holed bunker shot for eagle.
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🦅@ntaylorgolf59 leads by two.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/m2uv1428d8— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 9, 2020
His back nine was considerably untidier and, as the wind strengthened, dropped shots became a regular occurrence but, thankfully for Taylor, they also did for Mickelson.
After a double-bogey at 14 Taylor appeared to be struggling but a timely chip-in birdie at the next, after another poor approach, to restore a three-shot cushion.
+4 in his last 4 holes. Then THIS. 🎯@NTaylorGolf59 stepping up in the clutch!#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/Oye51pZfMm
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 9, 2020
He all but sealed the deal with a birdie at the short 17th and closed it out with a sensible par. He becomes just the fourth winner of this event from outside the United States and the first since Vijay Singh in 2004.
- Related: What’s in Taylor’s bag?
- Related: What’s in Mickelson’s bag?
Had Mickelson secured the win he would have broken the record for the longest period between a first PGA Tour victory and the most recent. There would have been 29 years and 30 days between PGA win No. 1 and what would have been No. 45.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Mickelson on the records front though – this result means that he has now recorded a top 10 finish in 30 consecutive seasons, the third longest streak of all time.
History for @PhilMickelson.
A top 10 in every season from 1991-2020.
That's the third-most in a row of all time. pic.twitter.com/JJ2fBkkss9
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 9, 2020
So who is Nick Taylor?
Taylor is now 31 years old and turned professional after a glittering amateur career in which he was ranked the No. 1 amateur for 20 weeks.
He took the professional plunge in 2010 and played his way onto the PGA Tour after competing on the PGA Tour Canada and the Korn Ferry Tour.
His first professional win came in his rookie year at the Sanderson Farms Championship and he has been a full-time member of the tour ever since but has never been able to crack the world’s top 100.
While most pros seem to opt for the slimmest of blades Taylor is a little different. In fact he plays game-improvement irons…
Kevin Streelman and his partner Larry Fitzgerald won the Pro-Am for the second time with a score of 33-under.
Pebble Beach Pro-Am leaderboard
-19 Nick Taylor
-15 Kevin Streelman
-14 Phil Mickelson
-11 Jason Day
-9 Maverick McNealy, Daniel Berger, Matt Jones, Charl Schwartzel
Pebble Beach Pro-Am talking points
Jason Day was in contention heading into the final day at Pebble Beach but as we all know, things haven’t been so great for the Australian recently.
He has struggled for some time with injuries to his back and this has seen him almost drop out of the world’s top 50.
This week he revealed that he has considered the possibility of an early retirement despite only being 32 years of age. Mark Townsend has the full story.
Meanwhile Jordan Spieth shot the lowest round of the day on Sunday to get inside the top 10 and subsequently should head back into the world’s top 50 and qualify for WGC-Mexico.
Ranks for @JordanSpieth in Round 4:
1st in Scrambling (6/6)
1st in SG: Tee-to-Green (+6.366)
1st in SG: Approach (+4.469)
1st in SG: Around the Green (+2.984)
1st in SG: Total (+7.407) pic.twitter.com/VgpNJe56xR— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 9, 2020
Joe Hughes
Tour editor covering men's golf, women's golf and anything else that involves the word golf, really. The talk is far better than the game, but the work has begun to change that.
