By Lorne Robenstein,
in the Globe & Mail,
Tuesday, Jun. 23, 2009

The world's No. 1-ranked amateur had driven into a bunker so steep it was difficult to see him from across the 18th fairway at Bethpage State Park's Black course yesterday. It was the last hole of the third round for Nick Taylor, of Abbotsford, B.C., and he was at four-over par for the afternoon.

Taylor, 21, had taken a couple of practice swings with the club he'd picked from the carry bag his older brother, Josh, also an accomplished amateur, was lugging for him. He practised swinging on a steep downward angle, trying to get the feel of the shot he would have to play from the cavernous bunker. The ball came out high enough, but didn't carry far enough to reach the elevated green.

The ball finished in a front right bunker, and Taylor had some 60 feet back to the hole. The ball carried deep into the sticky, soggy green and finished 15 feet left of the hole.

He and his brother studied the line of the putt, then Taylor made his smooth stroke. The ball took the left to right break, but didn't drop. It finished directly behind the hole, and he tapped in for a closing bogey and a round of 75 to stand at three-over-par 213 for the championship, with more holes to play before darkness when fourth-round play began.

Taylor got in 10 more holes and was three over for those, pushing him to six over for tournament before play today.

"Too much sand and not enough ball," Taylor said of his shot from the fairway bunker. He added he had hit some bad shots, which would explain the 10-shot difference between yesterday's 75 and his second-round 65 on Saturday that had tied the lowest score in the U.S. Open by an amateur.

The score wasn't what Taylor was looking for, but he had already accomplished a lot at Bethpage, in his second U.S. Open. Taylor, who will enter his senior year in the fall at the University of Washington, has learned he can compete against the best in the game. He's young and has a lot to learn, but he's already making a strong impression on experienced players.

Taylor played the third round with Sean O'Hair, a three-time PGA Tour winner. O'Hair is only 26, and he's risen quickly in the game. He won the Quail Hollow Championship this year in Charlotte. It's one of the top PGA events, after the majors.

"Nick had some of the same issues I did today in the fairways, in that he got some mud balls and hit some squirters," O'Hair said after shooting 71 to stand at one-under-par 209 after 54 holes. "He's a really good player."

That's a strong statement from O'Hair. It indicates Canadians have reason to believe they'll have more fellow citizens than Mike Weir and Stephen Ames to follow in coming years.

Taylor won't turn pro until he finishes college, and he'll surely win more amateur events before then. Maybe he can even contend at the RBC Canadian Open next month at the Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont.

In addition to Taylor at Bethpage, Andrew Parr of London, Ont., also showed he has the game to get out on the PGA Tour. He shot 74-72 to miss the cut by a couple of shots, but he was by no means satisfied just because he'd played in his first major. Parr, 26, felt the same sort of pain Weir used to feel in his early years when he missed cuts. The disappointments made Weir work harder, as did the taste of golf at the highest level.

Observing Taylor, one becomes aware he's not too impressed with where he is, even as an amateur. When somebody suggested he hadn't played that bad a round - this was the U.S. Open, after all - he agreed that if he looked at it from that perspective, well, it wasn't bad. But that's not the way he wanted to look at the 75 he had shot. He wanted to get into contention for the trophy, not only to play four rounds.

"He's good off the tee, and he has a nice short game," O'Hair said of Taylor. "He's a good putter, and he has a great attitude. The guy's got it all."

That's been apparent throughout this long slog of a U.S. Open, this bizarre championship when nothing has been starting or finishing according to the planned schedule.

Wherever Taylor finishes in the end, one thing is clear: His ability is such that he should be headed toward a terrific career. The young man is a player.

rube@sympatico.ca