For the second straight year, the RBC Canadian Open was being played while most of the conversation within the golf world was about the drama surrounding LIV Golf. Last year’s event was played the same week Dustin Johnson and the first full LIV field got announced, while this year’s was being played the week of the stunning news of a new partnership between the PGA Tour, LIV, and the DP World Tour.
However, much like Rory McIlroy’s win a year ago, this year’s tournament delivered in a big way on the course to steal headlines back from the boardroom dealings going on elsewhere in golf. Canadian Nick Taylor found himself in position to snap a 69-year drought of Canadians winning their national open, as he fired a weekend 63-66 to vault to -17 for the tournament, taking a clubhouse lead with just a few players left on the course. Tommy Fleetwood was among them, and a birdie on 17 tied him with Taylor for the tournament lead. He was unable to birdie the par-5 18th, setting up a playoff that required four extra holes to determine a winner.
On that fourth extra hole, as they returned to 18, Taylor found himself with a 72-foot eagle putt for the win and delivered an all-time moment in Canadian golf.
ARE YOU SERIOUS?!
@ntaylorgolf59 drains a 72-footer for the win! @RBCCanadianOpen pic.twitter.com/IK3onFkYa6
— Golf on CBS
(@GolfonCBS) June 11, 2023
During the chaos on the 18th green, a number of fellow Canadian golfers were there to celebrate with Taylor, but security apparently didn’t have a good idea of who was among Taylor’s PGA Tour colleagues, as Adam Hadwin got [extreme Tom Jackson voice] JACKED UP by a security guard as he ran onto the green to spray Taylor with champagne.
Security is TOIGHT at the Canadian Open
pic.twitter.com/6cS38bQiYk
— Kayla Grey (@Kayla_Grey) June 11, 2023
Adam Hadwin runs onto the 18th to spray Nick Taylor with champagne and security tackles him like Ray Lewis pic.twitter.com/8wNKxWOeHK
— Crier Media (@thecriermedia) June 11, 2023
The security guy is just trying to do his job and, had it been a random fan running onto the green, it would’ve been an incredible job to show that burst and bring him down with a form tackle. Unfortunately, that was not a drunk fan darting onto the green but another PGA Tour pro who is allowed to be out there (again, hard to tell when they’ve changed into a hoodie), and hopefully his tackle didn’t end up injuring Hadwin.