The 2023 Canadian Open was a match for the ages.

Nick Taylor drained a 72-foot eagle putt on the fourth playoff gap to defeat Tommy Fleetwood of England.

In doing so, Taylor gave Canada its first Canadian champion since 1954.

On the flip facet, Fleetwood confirmed large class and admiration for Taylor within the loss.

“Good second for Nick [Taylor] and the followers right here,” Fleetwood mentioned after the spherical. “It’s nice to be part of that [on] Sunday and [to be in] that playoff. I had my probabilities, actually. It wasn’t to be this time. However, yeah, congratulations to him.”

Fleetwood has by no means gained a PGA Tour occasion however has six victories on the DP World Tour.

The 4 playoff holes between Taylor and Fleetwood created a Ryder Cup-like environment: Canada pitted in opposition to England, a match hardly ever occurring in sport, not to mention in golf.

Justin Rose, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Tyrell Hatton stayed round to help Fleetwood—their fellow countryman, whereas Mike Weir, Corey Conners, Adam Hadwin, and everybody else on the Oakdale Golf & Nation Membership property rooted on their fellow Canadian.

When Taylor’s putt dropped, it appeared as if all of Canada gained the golf match, because the Toronto crowd erupted right into a frenzy.

And withstanding all of it was Fleetwood, who got here up simply brief but once more. He then took to Twitter and confirmed a degree of sophistication.

Since 2015, Fleetwood has completed within the top-five 20 occasions on the PGA Tour, probably the most of any participant who has not recorded a victory throughout that span, per Golf Digest.

Fleetwood presently ranks because the twenty first participant on the earth, in line with the Official World Golf Rating. He has been within the high ten earlier than, as excessive as ninth in 2019.

He additionally has recorded 4 top-five finishes in main championships since 2017.

“I simply should hold practising, hold enjoying,” Fleetwood added after his spherical. “I used to be actually happy with how I performed over the weekend. I performed nice in the present day, regardless of lacking some probabilities on these playoff holes. It was shut. I simply should take the positives from it and begin practising tomorrow. I acquired a significant subsequent week. So can’t dwell on it an excessive amount of.”

Certainly, the U.S. Open will happen on the Los Angeles Nation Membership’s North Course this week.

Fleetwood completed fourth on the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills after which second to Brooks Koepka at Shinnecock Hills in 2018. Fleetwood fired a final-round 63 in brutally harsh U.S. Open situations at Shinnecock, ending one stroke behind Koepka.

Maybe Fleetwood places the Canadian Open behind him and wins in Southern California, giving England back-to-back U.S. Open champions for the primary time ever.