1 September 2009, St Andrews, Scotland: Canada’s Nick Taylor will become the third recipient of the Mark H McCormack Medal, the award given by The R&A to the top-ranked golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking at the end of the amateur season and following the European and US Amateur Championships.
The 22-year-old from Abbotsford, British Columbia, has had a truly outstanding season. Taylor ascended five places to the top of the Ranking in June after heading the US Open sectional qualifying at Tumble Creek, Washington, at which the First Team All-American finished two shots clear of the largely professional field, and claimed one of the two places available.
He maintained his form in the US Open itself at the Bethpage State Park. In the process of achieving an impressive 36th-place finish – the low amateur – on Bethpage’s Black Course, Taylor shot a second-round 65, the joint-lowest score by an amateur in the Championship’s history, to make the cut in tied-seventh position.
He followed his Bethpage performance with a win at his next tournament, the Salahee Players Championship in Sammamish, Washington, before finishing runner-up at the US Public Links Championship at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Oklahoma.
Having only just completed his junior year at the University of Washington he has rewritten the school’s record book, becoming Washington’s first Pac-10 Player of the Year, registering the most collegiate victories in a single year (4), the lowest 54-hole total (198) and the lowest third-round score (63).
Taylor has topped the World Amateur Golf Ranking for 13 Weeks.
16-year-old Italian, Matteo Manassero, who this year became the youngest-ever winner of The Amateur Championship as well as becoming an Open Championship Silver Medalist, finished runner-up to Taylor as the world number two.
ENDS
Note to Editors
The Mark H McCormack Medal
The Mark H McCormack Medal is awarded to the player ranked number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking after the European Amateur Championship or US Amateur Championship, whichever concludes the last. The award is named after Mark H McCormack, the late founder of sports marketing company IMG and an avid supporter of amateur golf.
The R&A
Based in St Andrews, The R&A is golf’s governing body and organiser of The Open Championship. The R&A is committed to working for golf and operates with the consent of 136 organisations from the amateur and professional game and on behalf of over thirty million golfers in 123 countries.
Contact:
Malcolm Booth
Assistant Director – Head of Communications
The R&A
Tel: +44 1334 460000
