Taylor Pendrith admitted there were some down days during his lengthy injury recovery, days when he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to play the way he always had.
Battling through a torn tendon in his elbow, a torn ligament in his wrist and a torn muscle in his palm gave him lots of time to ponder the possibilities, both good and bad.
“You can’t golf the way you know you can and you can’t practice the way you want to,” he admitted of the ailments.
But there was never any plan B. He always believed he would make it as a golf professional.
On Sunday at the Edmonton Country Club, the Richmond Hill, Ont., product put any worries about his recovery to rest by posting a course-record 62 to win the 1932byBateman Open on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada.
Pendrith’s victory makes him the first Canadian since 2016 to win on the northerly tour and pushed him into fourth spot on the Order of Merit. At the end of the season, the top five receive an exemption onto next year’s Korn Ferry Tour.
With four tournaments remaining on the circuit’s schedule, he’s put himself in great position to move up a rung in the PGA Tour’s hierarchy.
Pendrith started the final round four back of leader Will Gordon, but lit up the front nine with four birdies. He added three more birdies on the back side and stood on the tee of the par-5 17th thinking he still needed to take advantage of the hole.
“I thought about hitting 3-wood, but I decided that I had been hitting driver great all week, so I stuck with it and hit a really good drive, the best of the week there for sure,” he said.
A wedge to 10 feet and then a nasty putt that just caught the lip and dropped in gave Pendrith an eagle and a three-shot lead that was good enough for this first victory on the Mackenzie Tour.
It’s been a good season for the hulking player who has a second- and third-place finishes on his record. This win, however, provides him with an extra boost of confidence that he hopes will carry him through the end of the season.
“There were times the last couple of years when I struggled,” admitted the 28-year-old, “but I always had the belief that I’d make it. This win means a lot.”
Pendrith was viewed as a can’t-miss prospect coming out of Kent State where he was a roommate of Corey Conners. His mammoth drives were jaw-dropping and when his short game warmed up, he was able to post low scores with ease. He finished inside the top five in 2015 and rose up to play the Korn Ferry Tour a year later. But the injuries limited his talent and he missed the cut in 14 of 20 starts. He played sparingly the next year and only now is fully healthy.
Pendrith has momentum on his side and no doubts about his abilities. If there is one benefit to having spent several seasons playing the Mackenzie Tour, it’s that he is familiar with the courses he’ll play over the next few weeks. He’ll tee it up in Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal and then play the season finale, the Canada Life Championship, in London, Ont., at Highland Country Club. That, he said, is one of his favourite courses on the tour.
It’s setting up for a big finish to the season for Pendrith and if he continues to play as he has, he should be on the move for next year.
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August 05, 2019 at 09:23PM
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