Nick Taylor - Canada's 1st Mark H. McCormack Winner

Another first has been achieved by Abbotsford, British Columbia's Nick Taylor who has become the third recipient and the first Canadian to receive the Mark H. McCormack Medal, awarded by the R&A annually to the top-ranked golfer on the World Amateur Golf Ranking following the European and US Amateur Championships.

For the past 13 weeks, Taylor, a member at Abbotsford's Ledgeview Golf and Country Club, has held the number one ranking as the world's top amateur player.

RCGA Release

Team Canada's Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C. became the third recipient of the Mark H. McCormack Medal, awarded at the end of the 2008-2009 amateur season, following the European and US Amateur Championships. The award is given by the R&A annually to the top-ranked golfer on the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

The 22-year-old National Amateur Team member has had a truly outstanding season. Taylor ascended five places to the top of the ranking in June after finishing first at the US Open sectional qualifying. In the thirteen weeks following the win, Taylor has remained on top on the ranking thanks to several stellar performances including his win at the Sahalee Player's Championship, runner-up finish at the US Amateur Public Links and joint third place finish at the Canadian Men's Amateur.

Taylor has also competed in two PGA TOUR events this season, the RBC Canadian Open and the US Open. Taylor's impressive 36th-place finish at the US Open made him low amateur for the event and his second-round 65, the joint-lowest score by an amateur in the Championship's history, put him in the Championship's record book.

Taylor also competed in the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational in Columbus, Ohio where he made the cut and finished T34th.

Taylor, who has only just finished his junior year at the University of Washington, has already rewritten the school's record book after becoming Washington's first Pac-10 Player of the Year, registering the most collegiate victories in a single year (4), carding the lowest 54-hole total (198) and carding the lowest third-round score (63).

For details on the R&A's World Amateur Golf Rankings visit: http://wagr.randa.org/

ABOUT THE RCGA NATIONAL TEAM PROGRAM
The RCGA National Team Program incorporates advanced coaching, sport science expertise, training camps and world-class competition. The RCGA allocates over $1 million of its resources annually to the National Team program, encompassing strength and conditioning, sports psychology, nutrition, biomechanics and technique development. Players who are selected to the National Amateur and National Developmental Teams represent Canada at six to 10 internationally-sanctioned golf competitions throughout the year. The intent of this comprehensive program is to aid Canada's top up-and-coming amateur players in all areas of their development, helping Canada produce the best golfers in the world.

Team Canada, the pinnacle of the RCGA's High Performance Program, provides access to world class resources including coaching, nutrition, sport science, mental management, equipment, elite competitive opportunities and builds on the support that team members have received in their development years from their family, member clubs, personal coaches, university programs and provincial golf associations.