RBC CANADIAN OPEN

June 4, 2025

Taylor Pendrith

TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley (North Course)

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome to the interview room Taylor Pendrith at the 2025 RBC Canadian Open. You've had the pro-am out there in the windy conditions. Just talk about your thoughts on the golf course. I know you've been here before and played a couple of competitions. If you can give us your views on this course.

TAYLOR PENDRITH: Yeah, the golf course is great. It's firming up. I think the fairways have some run to it. It's going to be a good test. The greens are really pure, poa annua greens, got some speed to them, and I think today is going to be really windy so I expect them to get a little bit quicker but I'm excited for the week.

The golf course is in perfect condition and I think it's going to be a good test.

Q. Can you elaborate on the experience you've had here in the past?

TAYLOR PENDRITH: Yeah, I've played two Mackenzie TOUR events here, had a chance to win on the Mackenzie TOUR here, so I feel really comfortable here. Also played numerous rounds here with my friends from home in carts and music, so I feel pretty comfortable on the grounds.

But it's changed a little bit with some recent renovations, and just trying to learn kind of the new holes, where to -- got to try and find my lines. I think we've done a good job of that the last couple days, and I'm excited for the week. It feels like a very similar golf course to what I've known for the last 10 years, so I feel good here and looking forward to the week.

Q. I want to touch on your season so far. How would you assess it? Top 5 at the PGA Championship recently.

TAYLOR PENDRITH: Yeah, it's been good. I feel like I've been playing really nice golf for the last couple months and haven't had really many great results to show for it until the PGA. It's been a little frustrating at times for sure.

Just kind of thinking with myself and my caddie and my coach what I need to do better, and just need to get a little bit better at everything each day and continue doing what I've been doing.

So to have a good week at the PGA felt really good, and rolled it into last week. Had another good week at the Memorial, so the game feels like it's in a good spot, and the results are coming.

Q. How much harder do you think this golf course will play after all of the changes they've made since you played here back on PGA TOUR Canada events?

TAYLOR PENDRITH: Yeah, I think they've added a lot of length to the course. Where some of the holes, like 9, for example, used to be a 3-iron and a wedge up the hill, now you've got to hit driver, and if you can fly the bunker you might have a wedge if it's downwind. But it's a totally different hole now.

15 is another good one where you used to drive the green or just short of the green, and now you've got to hit it pretty solid to the corner and keep it short of those bunkers and you still have a wedge in, but it's not a drivable hole anymore. Maybe they'll use the up tee box one day. I'm not sure.

So there's a few changes. I don't know exactly how much yardage they've added, but it's a great track. It's really fun to play, and I think with the renovations, it's made it definitely more difficult, adding the bunkers that seem to be perfectly placed in the fairways with the prevailing wind.

It's a good test.

Q. You mentioned that it was starting to firm up. Can you try to quantify, not just here but any TOUR course, how much more difficult a course is if it's playing firm versus when it's soft?

TAYLOR PENDRITH: Yeah, I think when the fairways are soft, it just makes them wider. Here there's a few holes, quite a few holes actually, that the fairways are sloped left to right. I thought I hit a couple good drives today that just kind of kicked right and kicked forward and kind of rolled a foot into the rough.

You've got to really tighten up the through lines and make sure you keep it short of the through bunker or just plan for some release in the fairways. It makes it more exciting.

I enjoy when it is soft because it makes the fairways bigger and I can carry the ball pretty far, so that is an advantage for me. But it makes it more exciting when it's firm, I think, and you can hit some big drives and get some shorter clubs in your hands when it is firm. It seems to be firming up.

It's really windy right now, as you can probably hear, and I think it'll -- hopefully no rain. If it doesn't rain, it'll be in really, really good shape.

Q. I'm curious about how you manage your flow in a week like this. Obviously your Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday scheduling for the RBC Canadian Open has been pretty similar for the last five years or so. Do you feel like you're better suited for preparing for the event itself on Thursday versus maybe when you were just starting out?

TAYLOR PENDRITH: Yeah, for sure. It's a busy week for the Canadians this week. I feel like having a lot of experience at this golf course has made my Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday a little less -- not stressful, but it's made it easier for me to kind of prepare how I want to.

I played 18 holes Monday in the pro-am here, so that was nice to see the full course on Monday, and just played nine today. I've seen it. I am really familiar with it and just trying to acknowledge the changes and figure out my lines off the tee.

The greens are the same, I would say, for the most part. But yeah, having played here a lot, it's nice to kind of ease into the week a little bit.

Q. Obviously you're in an all-Canadian group the first two rounds. How does it feel to be playing alongside two guys you know really well at the national open?

TAYLOR PENDRITH: Yeah, it's going to be really fun. We were all at the same event yesterday when the tee times came out and there was group chat. We were all fired up. I don't think I've played with Mackenzie on the PGA TOUR, not that I can remember, so that'll be fun.

And Nick, I mean, legend of the tournament in Canada, so that'll be really fun. There will be a lot of people out there. I think we're wedged right in front or behind Rory. Yeah, it'll be a good atmosphere, and we're all super excited.

Q. You just mentioned the word "atmosphere." This whole tournament now being kind of a sports and entertainment property, you have the fairway, you have the concert, you have other activations going on for kids and all that kind of stuff; does that make it cool for you as a Canadian to see what's happened with this event in that regard from basically about 2018 on?

TAYLOR PENDRITH: Totally, yeah. It's an event that we as Canadians really look forward to. It's a big week for us. It's a really important week for us. To see what it's become, it's amazing.

I think with the rink hole, as well, especially this year, is going to provide a really good atmosphere. It's on a shorter par-3 and there's a couple pin locations where you could see a 1 and hopefully a lot of birdies and give the fans something to cheer for and get loud for.

But yeah, with the concerts and this year the piece of property that this place has is incredible and can hold a lot of people and provide a lot of different aspects of the tournament, I think it'll be a great place for the Canadian Open, and I'm excited to get going.

Q. What's your game plan for the 18th hole, and how do you describe the unique kind of venue of that hole and the challenge it presents?

TAYLOR PENDRITH: Yeah, I think it's a really good closing hole. They've changed it a little bit. The front of the green used to be rough. There might have been a bunker there, but now it's all shaved.

So anything that's short will -- depending on where it lands, could come back into the water. There's a bit of a bail-out area to the right, but the tee shot, I guess, if it's downwind you can cover all the bunkers and it lands kind of in a speed slot and it can go all the way down there.

I had 9-iron in on Monday, so if you hit a good one, you can have a 9-, 8-, 7-iron. But the second shot is really difficult. The bail-out right is okay, but long right is really tricky, and the back bunkers are tough because the green slopes from back to front.

Like I said, there's that shaved part in front, so you've got to be very precise there. Yeah, you could see a lot of 3s there or you could get a little too aggressive and hit it in the water.

It's a good finishing hole. I think it will provide some excitement and you could have a reversal on that hole.

Q. What's one thing that you like about yourself?

TAYLOR PENDRITH: One thing I like about myself? Geez. I don't know. I think I'm a friendly person.

Q. In terms of positive self-talk, what's your take on the importance of being nice to yourself on the course, and is that something that is naturally easy to you or something you've had to work on throughout your career?

TAYLOR PENDRITH: I would say early in my career, it was something that was easy for me, and now it's something that I have to work on. I feel like just kind of accepting -- golf is so hard, and it's really hard on the PGA TOUR. You're going to hit bad shots. You're going to have bad results. It's just the way it goes. You just have to learn to forgive yourself and move on. Everybody out here hits bad shots and goes through stuff like that. It's something that I've worked on the last year and a half, I'd say, to try and forgive myself and really stay in the present and not beat myself up too much.

Q. We saw you walking and talking out there today quite a bit with Ian Andrew, the guy who brought a lot of the new changes to the course. What kind of secrets was he able to share with you about how to play the new changes that he's made?

TAYLOR PENDRITH: Yeah, it was really cool to walk with him and get to pick his brain about certain things he wanted or certain things he saw. I think it was cool for him to see me play the front nine and to see where I was hitting the ball and if the bunkers that he created came into play.

On the first hole I hit a mini-driver right against the lip of the bunkers, and he was fired up for that. I was not, but he could tell he was like, yeah, I got him. He was right there.

Yeah, it was neat to talk with him and kind of see what was going through his mind in the renovation of this place, and we had a good day.

Q. Just to bring you back to the all-Canadian group, you, Nick and Mac are obviously excited to play golf. How much did you give Corey the gears that he's left out?

TAYLOR PENDRITH: Corey has got a good group. He'll be fine. But yeah, I was expecting to hopefully play with one of my fellow Canadians this week because it's a cool week for us, and to get a full group of them is -- it'll be a blast.

But Corey will be all right. He'll have lots of fan support. He's got a good group, as well.

Q. As we were driving in we saw your wife Meg. She's out here today but wasn't watching you play. Talk about what she's doing today.

TAYLOR PENDRITH: Yeah, if you see her out there, she's in a volunteer shirt, a blue shirt, black pants, got the volunteer hat on. She's working the tournament today on the medical team volunteering. She needs some hours to keep her nursing license going, and this was a great opportunity, and she was really excited.

I drove her here today. She was supposed to start at 7:00 and I was running a few minutes late and she was getting a little rattled that I was making her late for her work day today.

Yeah, she's out here all day today, 7:00 to 7:00. They're putting her to work.