Defending champ’s wife goes skydiving at RBC Canadian Open

ANCASTER, Ontario – Andie Taylor’s keen observations from afar sparked her husband Nick’s historic RBC Canadian Open victory a year ago.

The roles were reversed Wednesday, a day before Taylor begins a historic RBC Canadian Open title defense. Andie Taylor went skydiving from 12,000 feet, landing on an adjacent fairway at Hamilton Golf and Country Club (the club has three nines, one of which is unused for tournament play).

Andie Taylor was joined by Lona Dahmen (wife of Joel) in Wednesday’s skydive in southern Ontario, a tournament tradition in conjunction with the Canadian military. Jessica Hadwin (wife of Adam) was originally scheduled to join Andie in the skydive, but she couldn’t make it at the last minute. Andie recruited Lona, who quickly accepted.

Nick Taylor had completed his pro-am round and was on the scene, observing the landing in real-time (several SkyHawks, members of the Canadian Armed Forces Parachute Team, also participated in the dive). Joel Dahmen followed along during his pro-am round, utilizing binoculars.

Lona joked afterward that she would skydive every day if she could – Andie wasn’t so sure. Nonetheless it was a shared family experience that accents a unique week, as Nick Taylor prepares to defend his historic title. Last year, he became the first Canadian winner of the RBC Canadian Open since Pat Fletcher in 1954, defeating Tommy Fleetwood with a 72-foot eagle on the fourth playoff hole. The victory resonated across the entirety of Canada – stories included farmer Brian Harder in Saskatchewan, so excited that he nearly crashed his tractor while streaming the action. The ‘I” in the “RBC Canadian Open” logo is now a silhouette of Taylor’s instant reaction to the winning putt, tossing his putter in near-bewilderment.

That victory might not have happened without Andie’s keen observation while watching competition from home on the Thursday of last year’s RBC Canadian Open. Taylor made a closing double bogey for an opening 75 at Oakdale Golf & Country Club, and not only was he far from contention, his chances of playing the weekend were slim. (Of the 886 times a player opened a TOUR event in 75 or higher last year, 790 either missed the cut, withdrew or were disqualified. Only five finished in the top 10, and Taylor was the only winner.)

During a phone conversation that evening, Andie told her husband to lighten up a bit. It was his home open, after all. Enjoy it.

“It just looks like you’ve not having fun,” Andie told her husband, who relayed the story Wednesday in Hamilton. “You and (caddie) Dave (Markle) go be yourself tomorrow; cut it out essentially.”

“I knew my game was in a good spot,” Taylor continued. “It was a weird day and weird mindset … it was a bit of a mindset change, really having nothing to lose starting Friday. I knew I needed to shoot at least 4 under to make the cut; I was kind of like, ‘Alright, better play well.’

“(The start) was disappointing in a sense for a lot of reasons, because you want to play well at this event especially. I had really nothing to lose that Friday, and that was a good mindset to be in. Be aggressive.”

Taylor took his wife’s words to heart, and he closed in rounds of 67-63-66 to earn a playoff spot at 17 under, then authored an iconic winning moment as an adoring nation looked on.

Taylor, 36, didn’t stop there. He won this year’s WM Phoenix Open (also in a playoff), further solidifying a clutch gene that was seen 10 years ago, when he carded a final-round 63 at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship to solidify his first PGA TOUR card. He stands No. 32 on the FedExCup and is well positioned to represent Canada in this summer’s Olympic Games and at this fall’s Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal.

Could he also go back-to-back at his national open? Sky’s the limit.