Pendrith drops playoff but moves up FedEx Cup standings

In golf, winning a playoff is extremely rewarding, while losing can be crushing. There’s not much in between. But for Taylor Pendrith, dropping a three-hole extension at the ISCO Championship to Steven Fisk on Sunday was undoubtedly frustrating, but it wasn’t all gloom.

Pendrith failed to capitalize on an opportunity to log his second PGA Tour victory, missing a 10-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole that would have won it. After both he and Fisk made pars the second time around, the Canadian drove into a greenside bunker and wasn’t able to reach the green on his second. A pitch and two putts later opened the door for Fisk to log the victory with a par.

“It’s not a super comfortable tee ball for me and that right bunker’s not ideal,” Pendrith admitted. “I was there in Round 2 maybe and hit kind of the same shot. Just No. 1 thing is to get it over the lip, and I missed my spot on the pitch shot, thought I hit a good putt.”

There is a silver lining for Pendrith however. The Richmond Hill, Ont., product moved up 18 spots in the FedEx Cup standings and sits 79th. That gives him some security as the PGA Tour winds down its season.

The top 100 players will retain their playing privileges for next year and Pendrith seems to have all but locked that up. He has also given himself an opportunity to make it into the FedEx Cup playoffs. The top 70 golfers play in the first round of that series which takes place at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tenn.

“I really haven’t had a great year results wise,” said Pendrith after his playoff loss. “Felt like I’ve been doing some good stuff the last couple months and felt like most parts of my game have been pretty strong, just haven’t got the results. It’s been quite frustrating, but this week is a really good sign. Felt really comfortable out there today. Me and my caddie did a good job out there.”

Pendrith wasn’t the only Canadian up near the top of the leaderboard. Ben Silverman finished tied for third, equalling his best PGA Tour finish, while Mackenzie Hughes ended up tied for 10th.

There are four weeks left prior to the playoffs. Pendrith will tee it up this week in the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic. He will be joined there by fellow Canadians Hughes, Silverman, Adam Hadwin, Adam Svensson and A.J. Ewart.

Nick Taylor and Corey Conners are in the field at the year’s last major, the Open Championship, being played at Royal Birkdale.

Sudarshan Yellamaraju is off this week.

Canadian FedEx Cup standings: