International Team Captain Mike Weir likes what he sees in Nick Taylor

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Mike Weir doesn’t normally watch much golf on TV, but he was down with an ear infection last weekend and couched up at home in Sandy, Utah, to watch the WM Phoenix Open.

He liked what he saw.

As captain of the International Team for the Presidents Cup that will take on the U.S. Team at The Royal Montreal Golf Club, Sept. 26-29, Weir was loving it as fellow Canadian Nick Taylor birdied the 18th hole to force a playoff with Charley Hoffman, then birdied the hole twice more to capture his fourth PGA TOUR title.

“You always want guys who are great putters and who step up and show internal fortitude,” Weir said while driving to Naples, Florida, for this week’s Chubb Classic on PGA TOUR Champions. “Nick’s done that a couple of times here lately between the (RBC) Canadian Open and now this. He’s played awesome.”

The word that popped up on social media to describe Taylor was clutch.

“The guy is a killer,” fellow Canadian Graham DeLaet tweeted.

Both the U.S. and International Presidents Cup rosters will be made up of six automatic qualifiers through the end of the BMW Championship, finishing Aug. 24, and six captain’s selections. But while the U.S. side will use a points system, the International team will use the Official World Golf Ranking. Taylor, up to a career-high 28th in the world, is third on that list. At 35, he’s knocking on the door not just to make his first Presidents Cup but also to be part of the Canadian Olympic team that will tee it up in Paris this summer.

“Those are huge goals of mine,” he said Tuesday from The Riviera Country Club, where he said he’s trying to conserve energy for The Genesis Invitational starting Thursday. “But also good golf will take care of that.”

At the risk of oversimplifying it, a big reason for Taylor’s rise has been chipping and putting. At the RBC Canadian Open, he made a 72-foot eagle putt to beat Tommy Fleetwood in a playoff. At the WM Phoenix Open, Taylor, who had finished second at TPC Scottsdale the year before, was uncanny. His scrambling percentage of 92.31 was the highest ever for a WM Phoenix Open winner. He made 460 feet of putts and gained 8.93 shots on the field on the greens, both career bests. His third straight birdie on 18 came from 11 1/2 feet to turn back Hoffman.

“Yeah, it was quite the finish, quite the week, quite the day,” Taylor said. “You know, to shoot a round like that 60 that first day going back to that first round, those rounds don't happen very often.

“You try to stay out of your own way,” he added. “I had a great feeling on the greens all week, but the first and last day is when I pretty much made everything.”

Weir has had plenty of those days. It’s been 20 years since he successfully defended his title at The Genesis Invitational at Riviera, and he recalls getting it done with his short game, including a nifty chip at the last to hold off Shigeki Marumaya. Back then, Weir wasn’t even a year removed from his lone major title at the Masters Tournament. Today, he follows the game’s elite from afar.

Sunday was good for the captain in a few ways. Japan’s Hoshino Rikuya, who could theoretically also play his way onto the International side, won the DP World Tour’s Qatar Masters.

“You look at the way Ludvig Åberg emerged for the European Ryder Cup team, and you never know when a guy like that emerges,” Weir said. “Look at this kid Aldrich Potgieter (of South Africa), who shot 59 last week and is the youngest guy to win on the Korn Ferry Tour. Min Woo Lee had a strong surge at the end of last year.

“Ryan Fox is playing well,” Weir continued. “There are some new names that maybe people haven’t heard, but there’s some guys popping up for the Internationals. Our team looks strong.”

With 2022 Presidents Cup sparkplug Tom Kim leading the potential International qualifiers, and the re-emergence of Jason Day, who is second in the standings, yes, it does. And given how much golf there is to play between now and the Presidents Cup, we’re just getting started.