Pendrith healthy and ready for Mackenzie Tour

Bob Weeks

TSN Senior Reporter

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When Taylor Pendrith hits a golf ball, it can leave others in shock and even stunned disbelief. That’s not just fans, but even seasoned professionals.

After watching him launch a tee shot at the RBC Canadian Open years ago, Adam Hadwin described it as “disturbing.”

Pendrith has been bombing shots and dropping jaws for some time now, as an amateur playing in tournaments around Ontario, at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, where he played on a scholarship, and now in professional events around the world.

He’s easily one of the top talents in Canada not playing on either the Korn Ferry Tour (formerly Web.com Tour) or the PGA Tour. That’s something he’s hoping to change by the end of this year.

After several years of battling injuries, Pendrith is healthy and rounding out his long game with solid performances from his wedges and putter. This year, he’s plying his trade on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada where he sits 35th through the first four tournaments. Next week, he’ll play the Windsor (Ont.) Championship and following that, at the Osprey Valley Open at the TPC Toronto course in Caledon, Ont.

Being from Richmond Hill, that latter event at the 54-hole facility, getting set for its second year, is one Pendrith is looking forward to.

“I’d actually never been out here before I knew there was going to be a tournament here,” said the 28-year-old. “It’s an awesome facility and the tournament was great. I didn’t play overly well but it was run well with lots of support from the community and people in the GTA and I think it’s only going to get better over the years.”

Pendrith’s best finish so far this year was a tie for 10th at the stop in Victoria. While he would have preferred to be closer to the top, it did put him in the hunt again in the final round and that’s a place from which he’s been missing.

In 2015, he suffered a partially torn ligament in his arm as well as a torn muscle in his palm. Those injuries caused him to miss much of the 2016 and ’17 seasons. It also limited his ability to practise and hone his game, setting back his goal of reaching the PGA Tour. But this year, he’s finally healthy.

“It’s great,” he said. “I haven’t felt any pain all year. I’ve been able to practise the way that I want to, like I used to and the game is definitely getting better. I’ve been hitting it well, putting it well so it’s just a matter of time before a couple of good finishes come.”

While the objective of every golfer on the Mackenzie Tour is to get off the circuit as quickly as possible and move up the ranks, Pendrith says there are also lots of learning opportunities and perhaps the chief one of those is how to make birdies in bunches.

“It teaches you how to go low, that’s for sure,” said Pendrith of the northerly circuit. “Last year, every cut was around six under. You’re not really thinking about making the cut but about winning. But the winning scores were all around low- to mid-20 unders so it really teaches you to make birdies and eliminate bogeys."

“A lot of guys out here are hitting driver on every hole, even on the tight courses. For myself, I’ve been driving it well and hitting more drivers this year, sometimes on holes where I’d never even think about hitting driver before. You have to play aggressive, pick your spots obviously, but it’s more of a birdie-fest out here which is good because if prepares you for the next level.”

Pendrith is hoping he join his former university roommate, Corey Conners, on the PGA Tour soon. The two remain friends and Pendrith boarded with Conners at his Florida home last winter. They played and practised together almost every day, and Pendrith said watching his pal win the Valero Texas Open earlier this year was inspiring.

“It’s super exciting to see,” he stated. “I was pumped to see him win and it also gives me motivation to get out there and join him because it would be a lot of fun to be roommates again on the PGA Tour.”

Before that happens, Pendrith will battle his way through the remaining eight stops on the Mackenzie Tour, hoping to end up in the top five on the Order of Merit. That would give him a pass to the Korn Ferry Tour. If he falls short in that effort, he’ll head to the qualifying school and hope to advance through that path.