Canada's Taylor beats Fleetwood in playoff to win Canadian Open

Nick Taylor enjoyed an inspired performance on home soil, beating Tommy Fleetwood in a marathon four-hole playoff to take the Canadian Open on Sunday.

The pair traded birdies on the first playoff hole and pars on the second and third. However, Taylor pulled ahead with a massive 72-foot eagle putt - the longest of his career - on the fourth hole.

"That putt, that's one in a million," a smiling Taylor told TSN moments after his victory. "I don't even know what to say to that."

Taylor is the first Canadian to win the event since Pat Fletcher in 1954.

*Won on fourth playoff hole

Fellow Canadians Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners, and Mike Weir stuck around to watch Taylor pull out the win and rushed to celebrate with him afterward.

"I'm speechless," Taylor said. "This is for all the guys that are here. This is for my family at home. ... This is the most incredible feeling ever."

Weir fell to Vijay Singh in a three-hole playoff at the Canadian Open in 2004.

Fleetwood had victory in his sights after he birdied the 16th and 17th holes to tie Taylor for the lead, but he recorded a par on No. 18.

It was both players' first playoff on the PGA TOUR.

Taylor shot a course-record 9-under 63 on Saturday.

Fletcher's son, Ted, said his family is "thrilled" for Taylor.

"My dad would have been so excited to see this, especially the dramatic way he did it," he said, according to TSN's Gord Miller.

He added, "The thrill of winning the Canadian Open was the highlight of my father's career, and we are so happy that Nick Taylor broke through and could experience the same exhilaration that my father experienced 69 years ago."

The victory was Taylor's third on TOUR. Taylor, who was born in Manitoba but grew up in British Columbia, also won the Sanderson Farms Championship in 2014 and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 2020.