Who’s the top Canadian contender at the 2025 PGA Championship? With the major taking place at Quail Hollow, all eyes are on Mackenzie Hughes, Corey Conners, Nick Taylor, Taylor Pendrith and Adam Hadwin to see who can break through.
🏌️♂️ Mackenzie Hughes is a member at Quail Hollow and nearly grabbed a win last week, losing in a playoff.
⛳ Corey Conners has quietly put together a consistent season and could be due for a major moment.
🇨🇦 Nick Taylor has already notched a win this year, but can he finally contend on a major stage?
Adam Scully, Bob Weeks and Mark Zecchino break down:
🇨🇦 Each Canadian’s current form and stats
⛳️ How their games fit Quail Hollow
👀 Who has the best shot at making history this week
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Here’s a look at the five Canadians in the field this week at Quail Hollow. Great to see some good Canadian finishes as of late, too, including Mackenzie Hughes last week in Myrtle Beach. But Bob, of the five Canucks, who do you think has the best chance to contend this week? Well, as I always like to say, I could make a case for any five of the Canadians in the field of why they would be the best one to win this tournament, but I think it really does come down to two at this point. It’s either McKenzie Hughes or it’s Cory Connors. And I’m going to go with Cory Connors. best Matt came off that uh playoff loss, second place finish last week. But I think if you look at Cory’s record, Cory’s play this year, uh five of his last seven starts have been inside the top 11. And the one key that I think we’re sort of can overlook with Cory is his putting improvement. Now, if you look at the last four or five years, his putting he was 181st, 112th, 136th, 128th, 128th in strokes gain putting. This year, he’s 91st. That doesn’t sound like a huge improvement, but he is on the positive side for the first time in his recent career. If Cory Connors can putt well, the rest of his game will follow. He’s also, of course, been in the hunt in major championships. He was very close at OILL a few years ago after one bad break when his ball went under the lip of the bunker. He’s been in the Masters hunt before. So, he’s felt that heat, what it feels like to come on Sunday. Hasn’t performed all that well in those opportunities, but every time you learn from those, so he carries that forward. So, I think Cory Connors is my pick, but as I say, any one of these guys could make a run. We’ve seen that happen before, and a few of them are on a cusp of good play. M Hughes is playing well. I think Adam Hadwin is sneaky trying to get his game around, but for me, I would pick Cory Connors. Okay, Mark. So, Bob really likes Cory Connors as the top Canadian this week at the PGA Championship. Who do you like? You know, all signs would point to Taylor Penrith because I am going to pick people all week that are dominant in strokes gained off the tea. And from a Canadian perspective, Taylor Penrith is the best strokes gained off the tea. But he’s struggling right now with the putter. The putter that we thought would come back hasn’t come back yet. So, here comes the Mark Zakino contradict himself moment of the show. I’m gonna go with Nick Taylor. Even though the weakest part of Nick’s game is strokes getting off the tea and that is a to me that’s the biggest part of the puzzle here here at Coil Hollow. Nick Taylor goes as his putter goes and this year on the PGA Tour strokes game putting he’s just outside 70th at least 71st right now on the season. What happened this week at the truest on a good golf course against a signature event field? Nick Taylor played exceptionally well and was 15th in strokes game putting hole opened up for Nick Taylor this week. Four days in Philadelphia. Think he’s found a little momentum. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he has a really good tournament the well at excuse me at the PGA championship. So you like Taylor, Bob likes Cory Connors. I’ll go with Taylor Pendr solely because of that strokes gained off the tea. Number six in the PGA tour in strokes gained off the tea. has three top 10s already this season. I think Taylor Pendendrick could surprise this week. Now, before we move on from the Canadians, we got to talk about McKenzie Hughes, Mark, because he had a really close call last week where we were in Myrtle Beach, losing in a playoff now. Three top 10s in his last four starts. Mackenzie Hughes playing some good golf. Yeah. and he will a have to answer the same question that Nick Taylor will answer this week that Taylor Pendrith will not or Corey Connors will not have to answer uh which is can you patch it together around Quail Hollow. Can you struggle a little off the tea? We saw some you know key misses off the tea from McKenzie Hughes that likely cost him that golf tournament this weekend in Myrtle Beach. Can you kind of patch it together and hold on and then just do what you do well? Mckenzie use be that guy inside 100 yards that is as good as anybody on the PGA Tour. Make those putts that you’re not supposed to make. Is that enough to get your way around Coil Hollow in such a, you know, a big championship ballpark? And Nick Taylor is going to be answering those same questions. You know, can can I just drive it good enough? It’s weird how we have these these stories amongst our Canadians, Adam, where Nick Taylor and McKenzie Hughes are trying to like, you know, patch it together a little bit off the tea and and find that iron game so that they can show themselves in a shining light that this is what I do well around the greens where Cory Connors and Taylor Penners are the complete opposite. We know that Ta Green, they are likely going to have the recipe to play well, but can they get up and down when it counts? Can they make a 20footer when it means something? Can they save par, make a sevenfooter to keep momentum going? We have two polar opposite stories going on for team Canada here when we talk about those four players. As for Mackenzie Hughes, he moves to 37th on the PGA Tour in the FedEx Cup standings right now. Three top 10s in his last four starts. A close call in Myrtle Beach for McKenzie Hughes.
