Abbotsford, B.C.’s Nick Taylor fired an opening-round four-under 68 to vault himself into contention at this week’s Memorial Tournament from Muirfield Village on Thursday.
Taylor opened his day with three birdies across his first five holes to grab a share of the lead as the morning wave made it’s way through the Columbus-area course.
He would encounter trouble on the closing stretch of the front nine with a double-bogey at the par-5 seventh before dropping another shot at the par-3 eighth, erasing his fast start and falling back to even on the day.
At No. 7, Taylor sent his third shot way long of the green on and then failed to scramble his way out of trouble from the greenside rough. He would finally get on the dance floor with his fifth shot, and two-putted for an ugly double.
The five-time PGA Tour winner found himself in trouble once again with his ensuing tee shot at the eighth, missing short and right into the large bunker protecting the right side of the green.
He would chip out of the sand and give himself a chance to get up and down for par, but would scare the hole from 15 feet out to settle for a four.
Taylor got back on track before making the turn by dropping in a birdie putt from just inside 17 feet at the ninth, getting back to red figures for the day.
He steadied himself with three consecutive pars after the turn to stay within striking distance of the leaders, before dropping in birdies at the 13th, 16th, and 18th to grab the clubhouse lead at 4-under into the early afternoon.
Wyndham Clark, J.J. Spaun, Tommy Fleetwood, and Ryan Gerard all came in with matching 5-under 67s later in the day, putting Taylor one shot off the lead heading into Friday.
The Canadian ranked third among the 72-player field with 3.172 Strokes Gained: Approach to Green on Thursday, and was tied for first in greens in regulation at 83.33 per cent (15/18).
He also hit 10/14 fairways while carding nine pars, seven birdies, a bogey, and a double.
Taylor is one of four Canadians in the field this week alongside Taylor Pendrith (-1), Sudarshan Yellamaraju (+1), and Corey Conners (+2) ahead of next week’s Canadian Open from TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley.
