OverDrive - Taylor on his Sony Open victory, his clutch mentality and the perspective of the massive shots

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

PGA Tour Golfer Nick Taylor joined OverDrive to discuss his victory at the Sony Open in Hawaii, his incredible clutch abilities at the tournament, the perspective of the chip-in eagle on the 18th hole at the tournament, the impactful putting leading to the victory, his mentality in playoff holes in his golfing career, building off a victory on his outlook in the PGA Tour and more.

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Details at iHeartRadio.ca. Five time PGA champ. Yeah, I'm running out of fingers on one hand. That's pretty cool to hear that. It's, uh, yeah, it's, you know, I think when I think about it, take a step back. It's, uh, it's pretty cool to have five it does certainly Maybe not in my wildest dreams when I first got on the PJ tour, but to kind of have a few in the last Three years

It's pretty cool. Yeah, it's it's an incredible run Obviously that you're on and and I'm sure the dust is still settling a little bit considering what happened on Sunday, but when that final putt goes in and you win, does it always feel the same or as you get older and you get more wins, can you separate it in the moment winning a golf tournament? No, I think the feeling of winning never changes. I think that's why I think all of us are out here

working so hard as time goes on think you know that's why I think all of us are out here working so hard as as time goes on because you know what that feeling is and it never changes it's always amazing you know I've I've done in a few different fashions so that one was a little I guess the putt to win was a little less dramatic than the last couple but the nerves are still there and and I think it almost felt like relief or almost a there and and I think it almost felt like relief or almost a bit of surprise I think over what had happened over the last couple hours of that tournament you know missing a couple short putts thinking I was probably out of it you know to chipping in for Eagle getting a

playoff and and pulling off some shots again so there was kind of a rollercoaster ride those couple hours but yeah I was I was, I was, but the feeling never changes of satisfaction. When I got for sure. Absolutely. And you mentioned those putts on 14 and 15 and, and I was watching you, you play the back, I watched you, you know, your approach on 14, you missed that putt and you kind of pushed the putt, I guess. And I know it was windy a little bit.

And then you hit that approach on 15. And I gotta be honest with you, Nick, I flipped over to the football game because I'm like all right he's in that's 15 under he's in the hunt here and I flipped back about 15 minutes later and you're still at 14 under I'm like I can't believe he missed that putt and then you go on you chip in for ego on 18 you end up winning the tournament now that you know the way the rest of the tournament played out how do you look back on those missed putts on 14 and 15? Yeah, actually Dave and I talked a bit about it. I don't even it was still in the tournament

But it was it might have been after regulation, but it was I think on my part There was just a bit of a bit of indecision I think there's so many factors with the wind blowing in in Hawaii at times with the grain on the greens trying to figure out where you think it's actually the slope is and then throwing the wind in there. And the first putt I think I had an initial read and then we added a bit more of what we saw from the other guys. I just probably didn't quite trust it and pushed that one a little bit.

And then, you know, I think I hit my line on the second putt or the second short miss, just hit it way too hard. I think that was probably a bit of indecision as well. In those moments, typically I've been better with clarity and just trusting the line. I just wasn't able to do that in that situation, but was able to regroup after that chip-in and having the opportunity again for the playoffs. I was able to get back into that mode and hit a great putt on the first playoff hole and you know, certainly no gimme for the putt through the wind, but it was nice that it

was inside 3P. Absolutely, we were chatting with Nick Taylor and again, the putts on 14 and 15 doesn't matter because you do what you do on 18 and you know, you get the relief and you end up chipping that ball in and this is the amazing thing about your career and some of the things you've done over the last few years obviously that putt at Oakdale you know that I believe will be the defining moment of your career I mean let's see if you win a major obviously it's open to discussion in the future but that putt is probably the most famous shot on Canadian soil and I can't imagine

anything will ever match it, yet that chip in for Eagle on 18, I mean you keep adding to the, to the, you know, best of and the greatest hits here Nick and I'm sure the plan was to make it, but how realistic is it in the moment when you're setting that shot up? Like how are you reading a putt of that substance? I mean it was a significant one and you probably knew at the time you got to hit it in order to have a chance to win it. Yeah we knew that 16 was going to be the minimum, and we knew that because Nico I was playing with just hit his bunker shot to essentially gimme range to get to 16 under. And Dave did such a great job of, you know, we're reading the putt but you know just emphasizing

to me the, okay where are you trying to land this where's your spot where do you see this going and just gets you in that mode of all I'm trying to do is make this chip and I think at times you can get complacent throughout a golf tournament of you know maybe not trying to hold a chip trying to get it close and we're in kind of that mindset it's just gonna help it a little much more there's obviously no guarantee that it's gonna go in, but it got me in that mind of this is where I'm trying to land it, this is where I see the break going and luckily I executed it correctly and we guessed correctly on the break as well.

So yeah, everything kind of came together there, but Dave definitely helped me set it up and get in that mindset of this is all we're trying to do. Yeah, it was just an incredible chip and then you get up and down in the playoff twice, effectively from the same spot. The first one, the wind kind of just got it and flew by. You hit an amazing putt to push the playoff to a second hole and then, you know, in the second playoff hole you basically chip one into two feet, two and a half feet, which ends up setting you up to win the tournament. But that was your third straight win in a playoff.

And all of them have been incredible. Again, Tommy Fleetwood at the RBC, Charlie Hoffman at Waste Management, and then Etcheverria on Sunday. Like, what is it about your mindset in a playoff that allows you to play so comfortably and play so well, because you're way under par, you know, over the last three years when it comes to these playoffs,

it's incredible. Yeah, I think, you know, I'm trying to emulate a lot of that into the, you know, the first round of golf tournaments, the second round of golf tournaments, because it's, I think those moments, there's certainly nerves, you know, I know the situation, the pressure's there, but there's a sense of clarity on the shots

I'm trying to hit. The doubt of what could go wrong kind of dissolves for every reason where I think you'd think the opposite could happen more easily. For me, just kind of see the shot, I have trusted my ability and again not that I haven't hit poor shots in those playoffs but I kind of see the lines poor shots in those playoffs, but I Kind of see the lines pretty well in the playoffs. I trusted better than like I did like I said when I missed those two short ones there's some indecision in that that seems to wash away and and I Just try to set myself to hit the best shot possible and luckily it's all my way in those moments

Yeah, it sure has and I I'm curious if your amateur golf career puts you in a position like this, because you won the Canadian Boys Junior Champ, you won the Canadian Amateur when it was still a match play. At one point you were the number one amateur player in the world. You said right afterwards to the telecast, after you won the Sony Open,

that you've always kind of appreciated match play, love match play. And, you know, with, with, with Tommy Fleetwood, with Charlie Hoffman, with Nico on Sunday, like, do you think it would be a little bit different if there were three or four other guys in the playoff? Like, does it help you in terms of a mentality where you can think, okay, this is match play if it's just you versus one other player. Yeah, certainly. I think when we finished, you know, I thought you could ask the ego the same thing. I think we felt fortunate that we were actually even in a playoff because when we had finished, uh, Stephen and JJ, I think we're at 16.

So with the birdie of 18th, you know, we're just hoping to get in the playoff. And then revving to play out and for it just to be us too, you know, a lot of thoughts going through your mind, but you know, we're just hoping to get in the playoff and then prepping to play out and for it just to be us two You know a lot of thoughts going through your mind but you know, even if you lose so a second the heck of a lot better than a three-way tie for second or You know, obviously a lot of thoughts go through your mind but just playing a one-on-one Like I said gets me kind of in that match play mode and I've always enjoyed those moments. So I think that was something that, you know, it was a bit of a break for us to be us too,

but it got me in a good mental state for that as well. How does this set up your season, Nick? Like it's effectively the second tournament of the year. You know, you've been in Hawaii for a couple of weeks, you're in the Amex this week, you're going to go back to Pebble soon where you're a former champion yourself, you're going back to Waste Management where you're a winner, like it's well in advance of the players and the four majors. How does winning early in the year maybe set you up for what you hope to do the rest of the year?

Yeah, it opened up the schedule. You know, I was in the first two signature events through the West Coast Swing and after that there was, you know, I was, I was in the two first two signature events through the West Coast swing. And after that there was, you know, there was tournaments that I wasn't guaranteed to be in majors included. So this certainly opens that up. I'll be in all the signature events for the rest of the season, you know, masters PGA for sure. And hopefully the other two majors as well. So, you know, last year I've tried to kind of take and learn from that didn't have any success in the majors. And,'t want to over emphasize and really step on the ground those weeks and try to play great but just try to get a little bit better, learn from last year, just try to be in a slightly better mental space and not try to do too much and see what

I can do in the majors and kind of go from there but it definitely opens up the schedule and gives me a lot of great momentum to start the year. Absolutely and like you said you don't want to put the cart before the horse and start thinking about tournaments in April and May etc you got a bunch of big tournaments coming up but in terms of what you've proven to yourself and and the golf world for that matter that if you're in contention on Sunday you're likely either gonna close if you're in contention on Sunday You're likely either gonna close or you're certainly gonna be in it And like I look at the waste management last year you look at the way you close the year before you're in a final grouping with

Scheffler and Rom and kind of John Rom kind of faded and you and Scheffler going back and forth all the way up through 16 17 18 Scheffler ends up getting in the end, but you stayed on them Do you feel like you have that mentality where if if you're in contention on a Sunday at a major, you can close it and you're just waiting to get that opportunity? Yeah, you know, the last few years certainly have given me confidence when I get in those situations. There's never a guarantee that it's going to pull off that way, but the more times I do this, stack on, you know, successes on top of each other. When I get in those moments, I have those to kind of lean back on. But yeah, there's a long road and majors particularly that I haven't really experienced though. The major pressure is

definitely a level up from a regular tour event. But again, I can lean back on those things and the goal is to kind of get comfortable, play my game, not try to do anything too special. And I think the more times that I get in these situations, you realize that, certainly I didn't play perfect golf last week. I'm sure I had a few breaks go my way that

that might not happen this week or future, but you don't have to play perfect golf to compete or certainly win. So the more times you do that and realize that, that might not happen this week or future but you don't have to play perfect golf to to compete or certainly win so the more times you do that and realize that that you're just in a better mental state to kind of start the week and just let things play out instead of forcing things. Well it was an amazing scene all week it really was and it was just an awesome Sunday to see you you know stay in the hunt and then do what you did you know down the stretch and into 18 and then those playoff playoff holes were just remarkable and can't thank you enough for

doing this. I know you're busy and I know a lot of people are pulling on you right now and you're getting ready for another tournament at the MX so we appreciate you doing this today. Congrats Nick and good luck this week and we'll do it we'll do it again down the road. Absolutely. Thanks, Brian. There he is, Nick Taylor.