Nick Taylor Breaking Records For The UW Huskies

For Taylor, a UW junior and a leading contender for the time honoured Ben Hogan Award, presented annually to the top male collegiate golfer in the U.S., this was his fourth victory of the 2008/2009 collegiate season, breaking his own record for victories in a single season and tying him with Brock MacKenzie for most wins in a UW career.

Coming into the final round trailing by five shots, Taylor shot a career-low, bogey-free 7-under par 70 for a 54-hole total of (69-66-63) 198, setting a new school record for a single round and tying the UW record for the best three-round score with another Ledgeview Golf Club member James Lepp, who carded a 198 in 2005.

Sharing the record for a low single round of 63 was Wallace, who finished second in medalist honours at (67-69-63) 199.

"This is for sure the most impressive victory we've had," said UW head coach Matt Thurmond. "Whenever you can take an eight-stroke lead into the final round and just about double it, that is an amazing feat."

The Huskies shot a collective (267-270-367) 804 to win their fourth tournament title this season, putting them just one behind the 2001-02 team that won the most titles in one season with five. But the total number of tournaments won isn't the only impressive feat the Huskies accomplished; there's also the domineering manner in which they won. In terms of a team's single-round score, first- and third-round scores and 54-hole scores, Sunday's group of five put on the preeminent performance in Husky golf history.

The group, consisting of medalist Taylor, Wallace, Tze Huang Choo, Chris Killmer and Richard Lee, not only broke the 2007 squad's record for lowest single team round at 268, but did so on both the first and third rounds at Stanford Golf Course. Those five also shattered the lowest tournament score by any Husky team. This week's 804 bested the previous mark (816) set in 2005 by 12 strokes.

"It's amazing -- I can't even say anything more," Thurmond said. "I think just about every record has been broken this week for us."

Taylor wasn't the only one to set individual records. Choo, a sophomore, set the mark for the best combined score for the first and second rounds, as he finished the first day 10-under (140) after two rounds.

"This was a great wedge-scoring course, and that is really a strength of ours," Thurmond said. "But more than that I think we were able to get everybody playing well and show what this team is capable of."

The Huskies had the top three finishers in a tournament that featured six teams ranked in the top 25, as well as 13 of the top 50 golfers in the country. Taylor was immediately followed in the standings by Wallace at 199 and Choo (65-65-70 200). Killmer followed those three in the Husky ranks with a tie for 40th (72-70-71 213) and Richard Lee tied for 56th place (66-73-78 217).

Such a record-setting win would give any team confidence heading into the conference championship, but the Huskies faced all but one of the other Pac-10 teams this week. And the Dawgs have a home-course advantage, as the Pac-10 Championship will be held a mere 15 miles from UW's campus at the Seattle Golf Club April 27-29.

Taylor's golfing resumé also includes his first collegiate victory at the University of British Columbia's Men's Invitational, shooting 2-over 218 as a member of the Husky JV team in 2006-07. Last summer he earned a spot in the 2008 U.S. Open after winning a sectional qualifier.

"It was unbelievable," he said of the U.S. Open, which was held at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, Calif. "The crowd, the organization; everything about it was crazy. It was surreal."

Back home in Abbotsford, Taylor was inducted into the Abbotsford Hall of Fame in 2006.

"That was kind of a shock," Taylor said. "I'm only 20 years old, so it was pretty cool for them to honor me for golf."

"My ultimate goal is to be on the PGA Tour," says Taylor. "But that's not really on my mind right now."

With the upcoming Pac-10 championships and NCAA championships, he has a chance to establish himself as one of the nation's top collegiate golfers.

"I'm just trying to play solid to give our guys a chance of doing well. Being at home for the Pac-10 championships, we have a good chance of winning."