Canada’s Taylor rockets to top

Sizzling 8-under 63 to start off in Las Vegas

The only fairway Nick Taylor missed on Thursday at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open was at the short par-4 15th. That’s because he drove the green on the 315-yard hole and made a five-foot eagle putt.

It was that kind of day for Taylor, who shot a sizzling 8-under 63 at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas to take the clubhouse lead, with the afternoon wave of players beginning their rounds.

“It’s going to be hard to top today’s round tomorrow,” said Taylor, of Abbotsford, B.C.

For the record, driving the green on the 15th hole counts a hit fairway, so the 31-yearold Canadian finished 14-of14 in fairways hit.

Taylor came to Vegas hot, finishing tied for 10th last week at the Safeway Open in Napa, Calif., where four Canadians finished inside the top-15. Taylor says his game has been steadily progressing over the past year and the results are finally beginning to catch up with how good he feels he is playing.

“Not much I’m not comfortable with right now which is always a good thing,” Taylor said. “Been driving it great and putting solid. Again, if I hit it on the greens, I’ve been able to manage pars, capitalize on birdies, so overall been relatively easy.”

Taylor didn’t miss a single putt inside 12 feet on Thursday. He made two perfect shots on the par-5 ninth hole — his last of the day — and gave himself a 15-foot putt for a second eagle. That putt narrowly missed, forcing Taylor to settle for a six-birdie, one eagle bogey-free 63.

After four holes on Thursday at the Shriners Open, Graham DeLaet was 5-over par. And he was happy.

It’s been a long and painful road back. This week in Las Vegas, the 37-year-old golfer made his return to competitive golf after nearly two years off with an injured back that has required two surgeries and stem cell injections. He told Postmedia News earlier this week that, in all honesty, he didn’t know if he was ready.

The first shot of his comeback went 318 yards down the middle of the fairway. Great. The second shot was a bladed wedge that flew over the green. Not so great.

After a bogey on the first hole, he followed it with a triple bogey at third, and another dropped shot at the fourth. Curious onlookers were a little worried.

Turns out, DeLaet wasn’t. “It kind of put things into perspective,” he said after his round. “Like, I’m over par so much early, and I wasn’t even mad. I was out there having fun. I’m out here on the PGA Tour again.”

After nearly two years at home, waking up with the family and taking the kids to school each day, he admits it’s going to take a while to get back into the swing of things on the PGA Tour. This week he forgot to change the time zone on his iPad, so the alarm he set on Wednesday night for 4:15 a.m. was actually 3:15 a.m. And then he woke up 30 minutes early at 2:45 a.m. for his 7 a.m. tee time.

“I’ve been awake a long time,” he said. “I don’t even have a routine right now. I don’t know what I’m doing out here.”

It doesn’t matter. The beard is back, and the man was smiling.

Postmedia News

Nick Taylor