Temper Expectations
… of rising Canadian Stars
Just as quickly as Matt Hill of Bright’s Grove, On., and Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C. got in Canadians’ faces with their recent successes, many of those Canadian fans and media were suddenly expecting them to be the next great homebrews on the PGA Tour, even if both were strangers to these bold prognosticators.
That obsession with the tour and its position as the only true measuring stick of success for a rising player tends to cloud the vision of some and blur details such as the fact that Hill is only 20 and Taylor, just 21.
Hill was a sophomore at North Carolina State when he won the NCAA individual championship,
while Taylor, who tied for ninth at the NCAAs, had just finished his junior year at Washington when he won sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open, where he tied for 36th for low amateur honours at Bethpage Black.
There’s still some college left for both players, just as there was for many of us at that age as we worked towards our chosen profession with no guarantees, even if we did ace the odd exam just as Hill and Taylor passed some tough tests of golf with their recent play.
The thing about golf is there are always more tough tests to come.
When I talked with both Hill and Taylor earlier this year, they were both keeping an eye on one another through a friendship established on the Royal Canadian Golf Association’s national amateur team. Both
had hot hands at the time as Hill compiled eight college wins, while Taylor had four.
It’s a good thing that they were paying attention even if they were across the United States from one another because most Canadians seemed oblivious at the time to their winning ways despite the fact that Taylor had played in last year’s U.S. Open, where he missed the cut at Torrey Pines.
National team personnel and some media were also watching the growing number of wins from both prospects, but again, the fascination with the PGA Tour kept both players in the shadows for most Canadians until Hill and Taylor set off their recent fireworks.
Despite the anonymity of both players earlier this year, they are suddenly seen by some who have never seen them play as the next Canadian hopes for the tour, which isn’t an outlandish expectation considering their skills and maturity, but one that needs to be tempered given the stage they’re at in their careers.
Instead of placing expectations on them, why not just enjoy the moment and watch what they do in a summer full of high-calibre amateur events and with their exemptions into the RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey?
At the Abbey, they will be joined by another promising Canadian in Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask. At 27, DeLaet is older than Hill or Taylor, but he wrapped Canadian Tour wins in Calgary and Montreal around a remarkable run through South Africa earlier this year where he had a couple of runner-up finishes.
A winner of 10 collegiate titles at Boise State, DeLaet is enjoying a breakthrough year as a pro, just as Hill and Taylor are in amateur golf, but breakthrough years tend to be deceptive. DeLaet looks ready for the next step in his career, but there are obstacles getting in his way, just as there are for Hill and
Taylor once they decide to turn pro.
First of all, they may need to play mini-tours or the Canadian Tour, as DeLaet is doing now, to help adjust to life on tour. There are various stages on the stepladder to the PGA Tour and one of those steps will likely be the Nationwide Tour for a couple of years.
Each step of the way, they will be forced to adjust to new golf courses and new cities as they progress, which is an important consideration if you talk to professional players.
There is that monster known as qualifying school, which can easily derail any grandiose plans for an entire year if you shoot a bad round. At Q-school, a bogey can mean the difference between the PGA
Tour and the Nationwide Tour or conditional and exempt status on either tour.
Q-school is one of several potential disappointments faced by developing pros and how they deal with it is an important factor in how soon they succeed, if they succeed at all. Let’s not forget that injuries can slow down a developing player as well, so it’s too easy to just automatically predict success for a young guy.
Recent memory brings up Ricky Barnes, the 2002 U.S. Amateur champ who became low amateur at the Masters the next year, where he even looked good playing with Tiger Woods. Barnes seemed to vanish
into the haze afterwards, until his recent tie for second at this year’s U.S. Open.
How often do you hear about Ty Tryon anymore, despite the headlines he made when he turned pro at 16, became the youngest person to make the cut in a PGA Tour event and the youngest to make it through Q-School?
The list of talented players, including many Canadians, who have been down that bumpy road and blew out their tires is a long one. Hill, for one, is showing remarkable patience with his progress, which is a good sign of the maturity that he’ll need when he does turn pro.
“I’ve competed against a lot of college players that have gone on to do pretty well in pro golf and I feel like I’m ready to compete against that level, but I still feel like I can get better. I’m looking forward to (turning pro) in the future, but I still feel I can get better at NC State the next couple of years,” he said.
Now, if he can only convince people who are older and allegedly wiser that patience is a virtue and watching someone develop is more fulfilling than putting unrealistic expectations on them.
May Also be of Interest:
- The Media Has Just Gone …
- A Page from the Black
- Notebook : Adam Hadwin
- Enough with HYPE-ocrisy
- There is Much to be Said For Timing
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