Nick Taylor on heading to Sunday with PGA Championship win in sight

Taylor is tied for second place, two strokes back of solo leader Alex Smalley.

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Published May 16, 2026  •  Last updated 25 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

Canadian golfers Nick Taylor (right) and Corey Conners walk off the fourth hole tee box during the third round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on May 16, 2026 in Newtown, Pa. Photo by Jamie Squire /Getty Images

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — It began as one of the most relaxing rounds of golf Nick Taylor can have. It ended with the Canadian looking squarely at a Sunday chance to join Mike Weir as his country’s only men’s major champion.

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On Saturday at the PGA Championship, Taylor was paired at Aronimink Golf Club with fellow Canadian Corey Conners, a good friend he has played countless rounds of golf with.

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Beginning the day tied for 30th at one-over par, neither player was quite in contention, nor were they out of it. The Canadians came out firing, shooting matching three-under 32s on the front nine to jump up the leaderboard.

“I felt like Corey and I had a lot of momentum on those first 10 or 12 holes and it was just a relaxing day,” Taylor told Postmedia after his round.

There hadn’t been many moments to relax for anyone in the field through two rounds, as Aronimink surprised everyone by providing a PGA Championship that looked more like a U.S. Open challenge.

The mix of cool temperatures, strong winds, thick rough, severely undulating greens and dastardly pin locations had turned a course many thought might get exposed by the world’s best players into one that had them mumbling to themselves.

Unlike most players, Taylor has looked confident handling the complicated green complexes of the Donald Ross-designed parkland course outside Philadelphia, ranking first in scrambling and sixth in putting.

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On Saturday, the Abbotsford, B.C., native put it all together, shooting a bogey-free 65 to walk off the golf course at four-under par, tied for second place, two strokes back of solo leader Alex Smalley.

“It’s been a strength this year, so it’s nice to lean on — especially in events where you know we’re probably going to miss more greens,” Taylor said of his short game. “The up-and-downs on par 5s were great for me today.”

Taylor will be in the second-to-last group on Sunday paired with Spaniard Jon Rahm. Taylor and Rahm are joined in second place at four-under by Ludvid Aberg, Matti Schmid and Aaron Rai.

Taylor birdied both par 5s on Saturday. As good as his chipping and putting has been here at the season’s second major, he said the biggest improvement over the past few months has been his driving.

His swing coach Mark McCann has said for more than a year that the five-time PGA Tour winner Taylor is ready to break through at the game’s highest level.

After mercifully ending a confounding streak of nine straight major missed cuts last April at the Masters, Taylor is beginning to play the biggest tournaments like the man enjoying a late-30s career renaissance that he is.

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“It’s probably multiple factors,” Taylor, 38, said of why he might be ready to take the final step at majors. “Self-belief would be one of them; feeling like my game is good enough in these tournaments.”

“A lot of these majors are on such big golf courses, and in the past I’ve probably just emphasized too much that on these golf courses I have to be perfect,” said Taylor, who isn’t a bomber by any stretch of the imagination.

“This place is playing probably favourable for someone that doesn’t hit it as long. You’ve got to keep it in the fairways to be able to hit it close. It’s been nice to take advantage of that.”

Saturday’s mutual momentum with his pal took an unexpected turn when the uber-consistent Conners hooked a fairway wood over an out-of-bounds fence left of the green at the drivable par-4 13th hole.

“It was uncharacteristic of him to hit that one out of bounds, but that’s really not that far left,” Taylor said of Conners’ miscue.

The OB tee shot led to Conners’ second bogey in a row, and the Listowel, Ont. native’s round completely spiralled from there. He stunningly dropped shots on six of his final seven holes to fall completely off the leaderboard with a two-over 72. He will begin Sunday tied for 52nd place at three-over par, two shots behind the third Canadian who made the cut, Taylor Pendrith, who shot a three-under 67 early on Saturday.

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Conners is about as good-natured as an athlete could be, but Saturday’s feel-good pairing had a different dynamic on the back nine.

“You stay in your own world. It’s so easy to happen. He really didn’t have that many poor shots,” Taylor said of Conners’ round. “It’s just so tough chipping around these greens. It’s not fun to watch one of your good buddies not finish well.”

The pair might have left the golf course heading in different directions, but there will be time for a full de-briefing on Saturday night because Taylor is sharing a house with Conners and his wife Malory this week.

“My host family this week, the Conners, have been very nice,” Taylor said with a grin. “We’ll have another dinner together hopefully, and then yeah, we’ll both be playing golf tomorrow.”

One for professional pride. One chasing history.

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   Canadian Corey Conners one back at PGA Championship leaderboard logjam

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