Weekend Roundup: Taylor makes history at Canadian Open, Brooks surfs to world championship silver
Team Canada’s weekend was headlined by home nation hero Nick Taylor and his flair for the dramatic. His 72-foot eagle putt captivated the entire country on Sunday as he ended a nearly seven decade title drought at the RBC Canadian Open.
But he wasn’t the only Canadian who made history last week. Teenage phenom Erin Brooks made everyone take notice with her remarkable run to the podium at the World Surfing Games. Meanwhile, Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Fernandez made new breakthroughs at the French Open.
Here’s a quick look at what else you might have missed:
Golf: Canadian Open title drought ends with Taylor’s putt for the ages
Nick Taylor became the improbable champion of the RBC Canadian Open on Sunday — the first Canadian to hoist the trophy of the national open since Pat Fletcher in 1954.
READ: Nick Taylor wins RBC Canadian Open, breaks 69-year drought
Taylor was far from contention after shooting an opening round 75 (3-over par) on Thursday, but he moved his way up to the top of the leaderboard by Sunday with three impressive rounds of 67 on Friday, 63 on Saturday (breaking the course record at Oakdale Golf and Country Club), and 66 in Sunday’s final round.
It left him tied with England’s Tommy Fleetwood at 17-under after 72 holes. Neither would budge on the first three tense playoff holes, setting up the dramatics as they returned to the 18th. When Taylor landed his ball on the green, it was 72 feet from the hole. With the longest putt of his career, Taylor sent the partisan Canadian crowd into hysteria. It is Taylor’s third career PGA Tour victory.
Tennis: Fernandez and Andreescu each reach doubles finals at French Open
First Bianca Andreescu and then Leylah Fernandez became the only Canadians to play in at least one Grand Slam final in both singles and doubles.
Andreescu had advanced to the mixed doubles final at Roland Garros with partner Michael Venus of New Zealand. The pair were beaten by first-time Grand Slam champions Miyu Kato of Japan and Tim Puetz of Germany 4-6, 6-4, 10-6.
Fernandez made it to the women’s doubles final with American partner Taylor Townsend. They unfortunately fell in three sets of 6-1, 6-7 (7), 1-6 to Chinese Taipei’s Su-Wei Hsieh and China’s Xinyu Wang on Sunday.
The Canadian-American duo, seeded 10th, had an impressive showing in Paris. Most notably, they took just 64 minutes to take down No. 2 seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula of the U.S. in their semifinal match. Fernandez and Townsend first teamed up at Indian Wells in March and after achieving their Grand Slam final together now boast a record of 14-5.
Surfing: Brooks surfs to world championship silver
At just 15 years old, Erin Brooks earned a silver medal at the World Surfing Games in El Salvador. After being eliminated from the main draw in the second round, Brooks fought her way through 11 repechage rounds to get into the final. She held the lead until the last few minutes of that last half-hour heat. The podium finish comes just six years after she started surfing.
READ: Teenage phenom Erin Brooks surfs to world championship silver medal
Athletics: Arop just shy of personal best in Paris
Marco Arop finished second in the men’s 800m at the latest Diamond League stop in Paris. He led the two-lap race heading into the home stretch but was just edged out for the victory at the line by Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi. Arop’s time of 1:43.30 was just 0.04 off his personal best 1:43.26 set in July 2021.
Also in Paris, Ethan Katzberg finished first in a mixed hammer throw event, though it wasn’t officially part of the Diamond League program. He threw 77.93m for the victory, his second-best distance of the season.
Volleyball: Volleyball Nations League finishes week one in nation’s capital
The Canadian men’s volleyball team hoped for a capital advantage as the Volleyball Nations League came to Ottawa for the first week of preliminary play.
Canada opened up with a five-set win over Cuba on Tuesday. But the team then dropped three straight matches against Argentina, the United States, and Germany. The men will now travel to Orléans, France for the second week of competition starting on June 20.
