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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 21, 2015

Nick Taylor

OAKVILLE, ONTARIO

THE MODERATOR: Welcome Nick Taylor to the Shaw Media Center. Nick, not your first Canadian Open, but your first since becoming a PGA TOUR member and winner on the PGA TOUR of the Sanderson Farms Championship earlier this year. So if you can tell us what it's like to be here now as a full member of the PGA TOUR and what it's like to compete under that flag here this week?

NICK TAYLOR: Better tee times, that's first off. I started with Adam earlier, and it's nice to have 2:30, 9:30 tee times. Yeah, it's really nice. I haven't played the last couple years. I haven't earned a spot into here, so it's nice to be back and be a member and know I'm going to be here for a long time. So it's another event where I've actually played this golf course twice. That hasn't happened very often this year, so that is another bonus for sure. I'm excited to be back here. I know I'm going to be here for the next couple years for sure, so that's a nice, nice bonus.

Q. Your ability to get a better tee time is due to your win earlier this year, and it's been kind of a quick progression for you going from being a member on the Mackenzie Tour to PGA TOUR winner in under 14 months. So just being able to exploit that path so quickly, how big was that for you in your career, and kind of to expedite the process and get to the PGA TOUR as quickly as really it can be done?
NICK TAYLOR: Yeah, obviously it was huge for my career. It took me a few years to kind of get comfortable on the Canadian Tour, and I played really well. The Web.com Tour, I had a pretty good start last year, and had a rough stretch in the middle, kind of got it together and really played well at the right time. It was one of those where I expected to take a couple years to feel comfortable and move on. But everything happened really fast, and just played well at the right time, and just let it keep happening. So it's obviously been huge for my career to go from the Canadian Tour or Mackenzie Tour all the way to the PGA TOUR in that close of a time was huge. I wouldn't change anything for it.

Q. Since the win, you talked about tee times changing, but that can't be the only thing that's evolved as you've gone through the year. Highs and lows? How would you describe the year so far?
NICK TAYLOR: The high, obviously, to win was obviously a high this year. Had some good events through three rounds. Had an outside chance of winning other tournaments. Had a really good Sunday, but didn't play great. So instead of Top 10, top 15 finishes, they've been in the 20s. But I felt like I've been playing better than I've been scoring. It's just kind of getting used to some of the golf courses and knowing where to miss. I feel like the last few weeks my misses have been terrible. I haven't been hitting that bad of shots, just in spots where I can't get up and down or save any kind of par. You know, tournaments that I wouldn't dream of playing in my first year at THE PLAYERS. PGA is coming up in a couple weeks, Hyundai, just tournaments like that to have in your rookie year has been special. So those are the highs for sure.

Q. Did you play here just after you turned pro? Was that the first Canadian Open you played?
NICK TAYLOR: No, I played in '08-'09. So when I became amateur that was my first.

Q. What is your take on Glen Abbey then having been around it a couple times?
NICK TAYLOR: I didn't remember the greens being this small, so that's been, just from memory. I haven't played here for six years. But the two years I played here there were Rivers coming down the 18th fairways, that's how much rain was coming down. So it was so soft, scores were crazy low. That's all I remember. That's what it was the two years I played. The last couple days it was firm and playing pretty fast. Today 18 was downwind and I hit wedge into par-5, so it's playing shorter than I've ever played it. So that's been a difference. But other than that, I remember all the holes. All the lines are slightly different just because the balls actually rolling, but it's a course I like, that's for sure.

Q. It's rolling like 30 yards?
NICK TAYLOR: Probably, yeah. Especially the downwind holes, for sure.

Q. Not too long ago your good buddy Kevin Spooner won on the Mackenzie Tour, and I know you were really jazzed about that. And I ask it because I recently spoke with Kevin, but I'm just wondering, I know you keep in touch with guys who are still playing in Canada, and you were there not too long ago. What do you tell them about being a professional and trying to work their way up the ladder, the rather steep ladder that is professional golf?
NICK TAYLOR: Oh, if I tell them anything necessarily, these are the guys I play with every day, say we're in Arizona in the off-season or I spent a lot of time with Kevin for years. He's stayed a lot with me in Arizona and we've played a lot of golf together. Like they'll pick my brain, but it's not like I'm telling them any advice. I think they know what it takes and they know the level is not that much separation between the Canadian Tour and PGA TOUR. They play with me. It's not like I'm beating them by ten shots every round. They'll beat me most of the time. We'll play games and it's not like the gap is that big. I think they know a lot of it is mental, kind of getting over the leap of feeling comfortable, especially at the next level, Web.com Tour and moving up to the PGA TOUR. But if they'll ask me, I'll help them. But it's more, I think they learn more from just watching us practice I and coming to events and kind of seeing what we do.

Q. Adam had win was in here earlier, and he had a really interesting comment about getting used to or accepting all the privileges that come with being a PGA TOUR member. Like he talked about how just being able to eat for free and get a courtesy car and all this stuff. He felt at times he didn't even deserve it, and he had to get over that hump. I know you're a winner pretty quickly, but was that something that took a little while for you to get used to as well, sort of all the luxuries that come with playing on the PGA TOUR?
NICK TAYLOR: Yeah, for sure. It's a different life out here for sure. It's a lot more secluded. The age difference between some of the rookies and guys that have been out here for 20 years. Socially you're not going to hang out with them much outside of the golf course because they have their families and their teams around them. So when you look back to the Mackenzie Tour when I was out there, everyone's staying in the same hotel, everyone's together, and you kind of miss that friendship that you have out there. On the road out there, it's more like college. Out here it's definitely different. So when you're by yourself trying to get used to all that stuff, it's great all the perks we get. It is a learning curve to kind of learn how to take advantage of so many things that we find out every week. Oh, I get that for free. Cool. But it's not like you get it for sure, but it's amazing how much stuff we do get at some sort of discount or whatever. But it's perks that if you take advantage of, it can really help you, but you have to find out. Not be shy.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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