This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.
There are so many Taylors on the PGA Tour these days it's hard to keep track. Heck, you'd half-expect Travis Kelce to show up. There's Taylor Montgomery, Taylor Moore and Taylor Pendrith, plus Nick Taylor and Ben Taylor. Then there's Taylor Dickson, who recently won on the Korn Ferry Tour, meaning he could add to the logjam next season. And don't forget about Tyler Duncan and Tyson Alexander. (But there's definitely no Talor Gooch.)
Not only are there a lot of them, they keep winning. We mentioned Dickson. Moore won last year. Nick Taylor won the past two years. And now Pendrith has joined them.
The Canadian captured THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson on Sunday for his first career PGA Tour title, one that was completed only after Ben Kohles lost his composure and then his lead in a hard-to-watch 72nd hole implosion.
Likewise, Pendrith was not in the best frame of mind the night before, even though he had the 54-hole lead. It had nothing to do with golf. His beloved Toronto Maple Leafs lost in excruciating fashion, as they usually do to their long time nemesis Boston Bruins, in overtime in Game 7.
After shooting a 63 on Saturday, Pendrith told reporters he would be "glued to the TV."
But on Sunday evening after winning, he told an inquiring reporter at TPC Craight Ranch: "I slept pretty good. I was a little disappointed that the Toronto Maple Leafs lost last night, so that was mostly on my mind."
(If Leafs fans didn't get any sleep after every soul-crushing loss, they'd never get any sleep.)
Anyhoo, the 32-year-old Pendrith found more than a little solace in his maiden victory coming in his 74th Tour event. His previous best had been a shared runner-up at the 2022 Rocket Mortgage Classic, but in that one Tony Finau was five shots clear.
This year had been pretty bad for Pendrith. He had made only five cuts in 11 starts, and one of those was last week at the Zurich Classic team event. He had two top-10s in January at the Sony and Farmers, then fell into a three-month funk.
Pendrith was ranked 17th on Tour in SG: Putting, the only part of his game that had been anywhere near better than mediocre. At the Nelson, he did everything better, which is kind of required if you're gonna get to 23-under.
"I feel like my game has been close the last few weeks," he said. "Starting to feel better physically after a long time.
"Have not been driving the ball well this year statistically and feel like it's coming along. This week really clicked. I felt super confident with the driver in my hand. I was swinging hard. Ball speed was how it used to be. All my distances were back to what I'm used to.
"But, yeah, it's been a grind for the last little bit. I got off to a great start in the year with two top-10s and missed a bunch of cuts. Wasn't playing great. Mentally wasn't really having fun.
"And then the last couple weeks was a good prep for here, I guess, and everything kind of clicked this week. I think all aspects of my game were very solid. Yeah, so it gives me tons of confidence moving forward."
Pendrith will have to wait almost a year to get into the Masters, the key perk of winning a Tour title, but he'll also be in this week's Wells Fargo Signature Event, via the Aon Swing 5, then the PGA Championship the week after. Another golf perk Pendrith has his eye on, but hasn't secured yet, is a spot on the International team for the Presidents Cup, which will be played in his native Canada later this year.
He's probably behind Nick Taylor, Corey Conners and Adam Hadwin among the Canadians for captain Mike Weir, and maybe also in back of Mackenzie Hughes and Adam Svensson. That's just among Canadians.
By the way, every one of those Canucks has at least one PGA Tour title.
Which is a lot more than we can say for Pendrith's favorite hockey team.
MONDAY BACKSPIN
Ben Kohles
We see athletes lose in cringeworthy fashion all the time. Add Kohles to the list. Having overtaken Pendrith and holding a one-shot lead heading to the par-5 18th, he flubbed a greenside chip and then was left with a 5 ½-footer just to make par and force a playoff. He missed. He can console himself with knowing that he climbed into the Aon Swing 5 and thus will be in this week's no-cut Wells Fargo Signature Event. That's a decent consolation prize for last year's top player on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Alex Noren
Noren came into the week with great stats -- 15th on Tour in SG: Tee-to-Green and an amazing 6th in SG: Total -- yet had very little to show for it. He had had only one top-10 all season. At the Nelson, he finally matched his scoring with his stats to finish solo third. And that got him into the Wells Fargo via the Aon Swing 5.
S.H. Kim
So many guys on Tour rely on a few good weeks to make their whole year – and maybe their next year. Guys like Kim. The 25-year-old Korean shot 64 on Sunday to move into a tie for fourth. That's by far his best showing of the season and lifted him from 115th in the FedEx Cup standings to 86th. While still a little early but not as early as we might think, Kim may have secured his card for next season with this one very good week.
Byeong Hun An
Like Kohles, An was relegated to the Korn Ferry Tour a couple of years ago. He's made it back to the PGA Tour and is now thriving. He tied for fourth, giving him three top-10s and seven top-25s in his bounceback season. His putting, which somehow was very good at the beginning of the season, has returned to being not very good. That will make it hard to win but the rest of his game is pretty solid.
Aaron Rai
Rai is lot a like An in that he's a very good ball striker who can't putt. Again, that makes winning very hard. But he too tied for fourth, ranking third in the field in SG: Approach but 41st in SG: Putting.
Matt Wallace
The former top-25 player's game fell way off a few years ago. He won last year at Puntacana, but he was back in the doldrums entering the Nelson. Wallace had missed five cuts in 11 starts with only one top-25, yet he too tied for fourth. Entering the week at No. 97 in the world rankings, the good finish allowed him to stay inside the top 100 and thus probably get an invite into the PGA Championship in two weeks.
Jake Knapp
The surprise winner at the Mexico Open earlier this year, Knapp was in the final group with Pendrith and Kohles. He couldn't keep up and finished solo eighth. But that's his fourth top-10 on the season. He'll be playing the next two weeks at the Wells Fargo and PGA Championship.
Taiga Semikawa
The 23-year-old Japanese up-and-comer made his fifth PGA Tour start this year thanks to a sponsor invite. He tied for ninth, which was by far his best showing while making four of five cuts. It also gets Semikawa into this week's Myrtle Beach Classic opposite-field event. He entered the week ranked 154th in the OWGR after winning a Japan Tour event last year. He's now 137th.
Rafael Campos
The 36-year-old veteran from Puerto Rico tied for ninth, one of his best finishes ever on the U.S. mainland. Campos has been a staple for years at the Puerto Rico Open and at the tournament in the Dominican Republic. While Campos plays a bunch of tournaments in the U.S., he rarely makes a dent like he did this week.
Daniel Berger
This was the best week by far for Berger since he returned from a back injury that cost him about a year and a half. He tied for 13th. His best showing in eight prior starts this season was T28 at Phoenix. Berger had been able to make much of a dent in his world ranking. But after the Nelson, he moved from No. 621 to No. 465. He might be someone to watch this week at the opposite-field Myrtle Beach Classic.
Si Woo Kim
Such a typical Kim week: ranked fifth in the field in SG: Approach and 54th in SG: Putting to tie for 13th.
Ryo Hisatsune
The 21-year-old burgeoning Japanese star also tied for 13th, which was his second-best finish since becoming a PGA Tour member this season. He had tied for 11th at the Amex.
Adam Schenk
Schenk got off to a slow start in 2024 after his breakthrough 2023. He's starting to turn things around now. Beginning with THE PLAYERS Championship, he has made six straight cuts with three top-15s, including this week's tie for 13th at the Nelson.
Kelly Kraft
Only $6,200 on DraftKings, Kraft resided on the first page of the leaderboard for much of the week. He shot 2-under on Sunday but lost ground as others were going super low, and he leveled off into a tie for 13th. He had made only two other Tour starts all season, at the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open and last week's Zurich Classic team event.
Min Woo Lee
The young Aussie needed at least a top-5 to move into the top 30 in the world (according to noted OWGR expert @VC606 on Twitter), which would've gotten him into the Wells Fargo. He fell well short in a tie for 24th, so we'll see Lee next in two weeks at the PGA Championship. He's now ranked 34th in the OWGR.
Jason Day
The defending champion and highest-ranked player to make the cut after Jordan Spieth trunk-slammed couldn't get anything going all week and he tied for 59th.
Kris Kim
The 16-year-old sensation became the youngest player to make a PGA Tour cut in nine years and is the fifth-youngest ever. (Guan Tianlang, who was 14 when he made the cut at the 2013 Masters, is the youngest.) Kim slumped on the weekend to finish 65th, which was second from the bottom among guys who made the cut. But of course all that is secondary for the youngster.
MISSED CUTS
Jordan Spieth
Spieth has been dealing with a wrist injury for about a year now. Three weeks back at the RBC Heritage he said a tendon "popped out" of his wrist during a bunker shot. He has two top-25s in 11 starts all season. They both happen to be top-10s, but still. Spieth will be going for the career grand slam at the PGA Championship, but he does so having just dropped out of the top-20 in the world rankings for the first time in about three years. It's hard to envision any scenario in which Spieth can win or even contend.
Matt Kuchar
At age 44, Kuchar played his way back into the top 50 last year. This year, his game has just fallen off the rails. He's missed nine cuts in 11 starts and his best showing was a T39 at Pebble Beach. He's outside the top 100 in the world and probably won't get into the PGA Championship -- and just about everybody who's anybody gets into the PGA Championship. Yet late on Sunday, Kuchar was thrown a lifeline in the form of a sponsor invite into this week's Wells Fargo Signature Event (along with Adam Scott). That won't be enough to get him into Valhalla, however, short of winning at Quail Hollow.
