Published: December 08, 2008 in the Abbotsford News

Nick Taylor has been recognized as men’s player of the year by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA).

The Ledgeview golfer’s sensational season featured a third-place finish at the Pacific Coast Amateur; a runner-up result at the World Amateur Championship; second place in the NCAA West Regional; and second at the NCAA National Championship. Taylor was also the sectional medalist in qualifying for the U.S. Open, made the Round of 32 at the U.S. Amateur, and was the low amateur in the PGA Tour’s Canadian Open.

The PNGA player of the year candidates are nominated by the various state and provincial golf associations that comprise the PNGA (Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington), and are selected by a vote of the Championship Committee and members of the Northwest Golf Media Association.

Taylor, a junior at the University of Washington, also brought home the second collegiate title of his career recently. He shot rounds of 71-71-70 and birdied three of his final four holes at the CordeValle Collegiate Tournament in San Martin, Calif. last month to share medalist honours with USC’s Tim Sluiter. Taylor’s Washington Huskies finished fourth overall.

“I’m really excited for Nick,” Huskies coach Matt Thurmond said in a news release. “We’ve been giving him a hard time lately because he does so well in these big tournaments and he just got back from the World Amateur and we were saying, ‘Why don’t you do that in a season college tournament.’”

Taylor’s only previous collegiate title was the 2006 UBC Invitiational.