“Terrific Trio” of Pendrith, Hughes, and Taylor put on sparkling display on drizzly day at RBC Canadian Open

June 12, 2025 · 0 Comments

By Jim Stewart

One thing became evident during this week’s coverage of The RBC Canadian Open in northwest Caledon: It’s the Golden Age of Canadian golf.

During Rounds 1 and 2, 24 Canadians teed it up at the sprawling and picturesque North Course of TPC Toronto Osprey Valley.

After play on Friday, eight Canadians—Nick Taylor, Richard T. Lee, Taylor Pendrith, Mackenzie Hughes, Adam Hadwin, Matthew Anderson, Corey Conners, and Ben Silverman – made the cut at -3 and matched the record set in 2023 at Oakdale GCC and Hamilton GCC in 2024.

Just missing the cut by one stroke were Matthew Scobie and Ashton McColloch.

Mike Weir, Roger Sloan, AJ Ewart, Cougar Collins, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Brett Webster, Adam Swensson, Wes Hofferman, Mark Hoffman, and David Hearn missed the cut, but received much adulation from the thousands of Canadian fans assembled.

Of the dozens of Canadian golfers competing in Caledon, one trio was grouped conveniently for Canadian golf fans on Thursday and Friday. “The Terrific Triumvirate” of Pendrith, Hughes, and 2023 Canadian Open champ Taylor engaged the crowds and gave the congregants much to cheer about over their 36 holes of play together.

As the trio came off the 18th tee and ascended the 1st Hole tee block to start their back nine on Thursday, they were surrounded by an appreciative and patriotic pro-Canadian gallery that braved the opening round’s soggy conditions.

An ambulatory group of 500, that cheered the trio’s drives on the 1st hole, swelled to a gallery of 2,000 on the 6th hole, arranged two-to-three deep along the rope barriers from tee block to green. The colorful collection of folks, bedecked in Team Canada and Edmonton Oilers jerseys, maple leaf-patterned Bermuda shorts with mini-maple leaf flags in golf caps, cheered Pendrith, Taylor, and Hughes to strong opening rounds of -5,-4, and-2, respectively.

Taylor—of Abbotsford, BC—set the tone for the group’s back nine with a birdie on the 1st green. The 2023 champ credited the vociferous fans as a contributor to the trio’s success on Thursday.

“I thought the crowd was great. They built over time once the rain went away, so that was fun and we got off to a decent start. After the turn, we really picked it up. It was fun to feed off each other. Everyone played well.”

All three members were dialed in during the back nine.

Despite the mushy and misty conditions, the Canadian Contingent rolled our red scores and brightened a gloomy day with their stellar play. Pendrith, who shot a 65, rolled in four birdies on the back nine on Thursday, much to the delight of the gallery. The native of Richmond Hill enjoyed the support of the crowd.

“It was great out there. The crowd really filled in on the back nine. Nick was making some birdies and Mack holed a six-iron on 5, so it was a lot of fun and the crowd was into it. It was nice to see a lot of people here on a rainy day. We had a blast out there and we all played well out there, too.”

As Pendrith noted, the trio’s shot of the day was Mackenzie Hughes’s eagle on the fifth hole. After booming a 297-yard drive on to the right side of the fairway, the Dundas, ON, native banged a 194-yard 6-iron that holed out after rolling back into the hole. When Hughes’s approach spun on to the green and rolled back two feet into the hole, a thunderous ovation served as a congratulatory backdrop for the mid-fairway celebration by Hughes, Pendrith, and Taylor.

By the time Hughes took the 6th tee, the gallery had swelled to a group that could fill a junior hockey arena and boisterous cheers of “Elbows Up” pushed the trio to sustained success.

Much to the crowd’s delight, Pendrith kept pace and treated the crowd to a skillful birdie on the undulating and damp sixth green.

Taylor pleased the red and white gallery when he dropped an eighteen-foot putt on the ninth green after going to school on Pendrith and Hughes’ prior putts. Taylor’s climactic birdie elicited whoops from the gallery as he dropped to -4 for the day.

The highlight of the trio’s second day together on the links was the thunderous ovation they received on Friday afternoon at “The Rink”. There was a surge of recognition of the three by the fans wrapped around the tee block and subsequent cheers by the thousands of fans ringing the 14th hole Par 3. Pendrith, Hughes, and Taylor were serenaded to a rousing rendition of “O Canada” as they ascended the tee block. As Taylor took his place between the tee blocks, he had pulled into second place in the tournament with a stellar -10. The three beloved native sons came up a wee bit short on their valiant birdie attempts on the very tricky 14th green that yielded few birdies on either day. Each of their narrow misses elicited empathetic groans from the thousands of fans around and above the green in the grandstand.

Nonetheless, The Terrific Triumvirate was sent off to the 15th tee by the boisterous crowd with an encouraging round of applause and supportive shouts. Former tournament champ Taylor finished the second round at -9 while Pendrith and Hughes rolled out scores of -7 and -6, respectively.

It was a golden good time following The Terrific Triumvirate on Thursday and Friday at TPC Toronto as Taylor, Pendrith, and Hughes played brilliantly to their appreciative and supportive fans.

Elbows up, indeed.