Canadian Taylor Pendrith will join the heavy hitters on the PGA Tour, including a Kent State reunion

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This article was published 28/04/2021 (1984 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s not often Taylor Pendrith gets outdriven on the golf course. But it’s also not often he plays with someone who hit 630 home runs, either.

The Canadian played a recent pro-am round in Las Vegas with childhood idol Ken Griffey Jr. who, at 51, has a ball speed of 123 m.p.h. — which would be good enough for third on the PGA Tour.

Pendrith, who very nearly went to college in the United States for baseball rather than golf, said they had a fun day. But it wasn’t as much fun as last Sunday in Texas, where Pendrith — after a tie for 15th at the Veritex Bank Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour — earned a PGA Tour card for the 2021-22 season. It was a lifelong dream, achieved.

The top 25 on the Korn Ferry points list, with a threshold of 1,700, earn PGA cards for the following season. Pendrith sits third with 1,748.

The Richmond Hill golfer has suffered myriad injuries over the last three seasons, including to his palm. He qualified for the Korn Ferry Tour in 2016, but struggled. After nearly four years on the third-tier Mackenzie Tour/PGA Tour Canada, the 29-year-old found his stride last summer in a stretch of four events: tie for third, second, tie for second, tie for second.

Usually a run like that would be enough to earn a tour card. But with the COVID-19 pandemic crunching the PGA Tour schedule, the Korn Ferry Tour went to a wraparound season for the first time.

It took a little longer than Pendrith would have liked, and it isn’t official until the second-tier season ends in mid-August in Nebraska, but — as confirmed by the Korn Ferry Tour on Sunday — there will be at least one more Canadian flag on PGA leaderboards starting this fall.

“It is a weird feeling because I kind of knew I couldn’t get bumped out of the top 25, like, six months ago,” Pendrith says with a laugh. “It’s always been a dream of mine and to accomplish that goal feels awesome, but I’ll be celebrating once the final event is over.”

For now, he’s focused on finishing No. 1 on the points list (he’s 141 points back). Top spot earns extra perks, the most important being full PGA Tour status.

Even with his collection of injuries the last half-decade, Pendrith says getting to this point has been more of a mental grind. He credits resiliency for helping him get where he is now.

“You start questioning yourself,” Pendrith says, “especially (after) losing your status on the Korn Ferry Tour and going back to the Mackenzie Tour and proving myself again for the second time down there.

“I’ve been focusing on competing. It doesn’t matter what tour you’re on … I’ve just been competing and trying to move up.”

Pendrith lives with PGA Tour winner Corey Conners and his wife Malory in their south Florida home. Pendrith, Conners and Mackenzie Hughes, also a PGA winner, went to Kent State University together after years on Golf Canada’s national team.

It’s taken Pendrith longer to break through, but he says he’s “OK with that,” adding with a laugh that playing PGA events will be a throwback to their Kent State days.

Pendrith and fiancée Megan Beirnes, a nurse at Hamilton General Hospital, were introduced by Conners and his wife, who are from the same hometown as Beirnes. They’re set to be married in October.

Beirnes says she’s been most impressed by Pendrith’s patience through the ups and downs of the last few seasons.

“We both knew he was super-capable of this,” Beirnes says. “Together we had to wait to see how things work out, but it’s obviously been super exciting. I’ve always been proud no matter what level (of golf) he’s been playing and what kind of success he’s had.”

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Pendrith’s success over the last 18 months has been consistent and exceptional, and he’s about to be rewarded for it. But how do you prepare for a finish line that you’ve been racing toward half your life?

He says he’s ready, and excited to play on PGA courses that suit his game: built from a home-run swing like his boyhood idol, Griffey Jr.

“Driving is a premium,” says Pendrith, “and I feel like my game is suited pretty well for the PGA Tour.”

He’ll get the chance to prove it this fall.

• The Korn Ferry Tour is in Huntsville, Ala. for the Huntsville Championship, starting Thursday. Pendrith is in the field along with Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Stuart Macdonald of Vancouver and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C. Svensson has a win this season and sits 13th on the points list, about 500 away from the threshold to qualify for the PGA Tour along with Pendrith.

• There will be seven Canadians in the field at the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship, which starts Thursday in Palm Harbor, Fla. That contingent is led by Adam Hadwin, the 2017 winner.

Adam Stanley is a freelance golf writer based in Ottawa