Taylor Pendrith’s dream of playing on the PGA TOUR is close

The summer before high school is full of equal parts anxious excitement for the next big phase of life and wistful nostalgia for youthful innocence. Taylor Pendrith, after getting a mountain bike as an eight-grade graduation gift, spent it ripping around a local park with his friends.

One day, his father, Darrel, came by to watch. He was quickly told to stand in a particular spot in a little ravine. Next came a big whoosh – aggressive and startling. It was Taylor, flying over him.

“Oh yeah, I jumped right over him. He was probably losing his mind,” said Taylor. “It was pretty scary, but it was pretty fun.”

Pendrith, then, was never afraid to take leaps. One could even argue that the life of a professional golfer is pretty scary, but pretty fun too.

The 29-year-old had thoughts of doubt creep into his head in recent years, especially after a debilitating and, frankly, weird, palm injury kept him on the sidelines for months. That was followed by a wrist injury. Then a shoulder injury that caused him to not swing a club for a full 90 days during the Korn Ferry Tour’s 2020 COVID-19 break, after returning to Canada.

But since Pendrith returned to action, he has not only been one of the hottest players on the Korn Ferry Tour, but the whole of the golfing world. A win still eludes him, but after winning twice on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada in 2019 to finally get his big break, it seems as if Pendrith is finally on track to join his fellow Kent State and Team Canada alums Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners on the PGA TOUR – and in the TOUR’s winner’s circle as well.

It’s a big leap getting to the PGA TOUR, but Pendrith has been taking big leaps his whole life.

And he’s never been alone.

This is the story of the support system of a former no-fear mountain biker, high-level hockey player, nearly-made-it baseball player, and ‘certified beauty’ that has helped Taylor Pendrith get ever-so-close to achieving his dream of joining the PGA TOUR.

THE COACH

“A lot of people would have quit,” Derek Ingram said.

Ingram has been the head coach of the men’s national team for Golf Canada – the national sport organization for golf in the country, akin to the United States Golf Association – for nearly a decade. He’s worked with basically all of Canada’s top male golfers.

Pendrith, however, was special. He showed just how special as he navigating a series of injuries that what would have been a career-ender for most people.

“It was almost like his palm exploded,” Ingram explained of Pendrith’s freak injury from a couple of seasons ago. “He couldn’t hold a club. He couldn’t hold anything. Then there was an injury to his wrist and his hand and his elbow … there was no let-go at all.”

Ingram said Pendrith never really played “bad” but he was just injured. He could never play at 100 percent. Although Pendrith admits now he’ll probably never get to be 100 percent, the golf world has been put on notice with how good he can be even when he’s close to all-there.

“It just became a roller coaster of really bad luck and unfortunate situations,” said Ingram.

When the two first met, Ingram said, yes, Pendrith could hit the ball further than most anyone on the planet (he was routinely banging it 300-plus yards even as a 15-year-old) but what impressed Ingram the most was how tight he was around the green.

“He could shoot in the 80s and then the 60s in back-to-back days. But he had this very unique skill-set where the guy could just pound the ball and then he’s got a wicked short game too,” said Ingram.

Pendrith himself said Ingram isn’t just a good coach, but a great friend as well.

“When I was younger, I didn’t realize how good I was, and I’m starting to realize that and trust my swing and my thoughts and know now I can compete with the best. He’s just ingrained that in my memory,” said Pendrith. “He basically encourages me to be the best version of myself.”

Ingram said Pendrith’s game has rounded into something super consistent.

He drives it long and straight now. His putting has turned into a strength. His swing is more efficient. His short game, which was always solid, has become much improved. And his laid-back attitude can’t be beat.

“His game,” said Ingram, “is built for the PGA TOUR. I told him he’s going to be a TOUR winner, and he’s probably going to have the ability to win every year.”

THE BEST FRIENDS

“He would outdrive me by 50-60 yards on average, for sure,” Corey Conners said.

Since Conners and Pendrith met 10 years ago, they’ve become almost inseparable – except for off the tee. Conners, as a scrawny 18-year-old, averaged about 260 yards with his driver, while Pendrith was comfortably flying it 300.

The pair grew up playing in tournaments in the greater Toronto area after Pendrith dropped all the other sports to focus on golf. They were both recruited to Kent State by fellow Canadian and longtime Kent State coach Herb Page. At college, they lived together for all four years. They were also a part of Golf Canada’s national team for a number of years.

Although Conners has pressed the gas pedal on his career, having now won a PGA TOUR event, he is rooting hard for his friend to join him on the biggest stage in the sport – plus they’re roommates still, at Conners’ home in south Florida.

“He’s just worked so hard,” said Conners of Pendrith’s recent successes. “I always knew his game was well suited to perform well in pro golf, so I couldn’t be happier to see his results this year. His game has matured a lot and we do have a great group of Canadians on TOUR right now, but to add another one to the list is going to be awesome.”

Not only has Conners been instrumental in Pendrith’s professional success (“It’s been great to play and practice with him, I mean, he’s a PGA TOUR winner. I was able to go to Augusta with him last year and it just motivated me a little bit seeing his success,” said Pendrith), he also played a pretty important role in his personal success, too.

Meg Beirnes, Pendrith’s now-fiancée, counts Conners’ wife Malory and his twin sister Nicole as her best friends.

“We set them up,” said Conners with a laugh. “But they’re a great match. Meg’s really organized and thinks things through, and that complements Taylor, who flies a little looser at times.

“I’m glad it’s worked out. Both Mal and I thought it would be a good match, but you never know. That’s not part of our skill-set, but it’s worked out and I couldn’t be happier for them.”

And if this couple can navigate such an unprecedented time in the world’s history – Beirnes is a nurse back in Canada and cannot cross the border to visit Pendrith, so it’ll be about six months between in-person visits – then marriage (their wedding is set for next October in Cambridge, Ontario, about an hour west of Toronto) should be a piece of cake.

Beirnes said Pendrith would always come to Listowel, Ontario with Conners when they were home from Kent State (Listowel is a small town just over two hours from Toronto) and Malory, Beirnes said, would always remind her that Pendrith was around and they should chat.

One year there was a trip planned to stay at Conners’ place in Florida over reading week. Pendrith would be there for five of the days.

“That’s when we spent a significant amount of time together and it was kind of a gamble – what happens if it didn’t go well and we were stuck in Florida for a week!” recalled Beirnes with a laugh. “But after that, I went to see him a couple of other times and that was it. The rest is history.”

Beirnes admits she had no real idea how good Pendrith actually was at golf. She had a sense of how good Conners was since they had hung out through high school and on weekends, but he was just her friend. She didn’t get caught up on details.

“Once I started dating him, people would ask me questions about golf and I didn’t know much about it, but I started to put the pieces together,” she said. “I definitely came to realize, ‘OK, he is really good at this.’”

THE PARENTS

“I wasn’t able to attend the first (junior) tournament, but my friend called me up at work, another dad, and said, ‘Hey, Taylor has a one-shot lead,’ and turns out he won that tournament,” said Darrel Pendrith, Taylor’s dad. “That’s when my eyes opened and I realized, ‘Maybe there was something to this.’”

Pendrith’s parents had seen this kind of success before from their son, however. He was a spectacular baseball player – a pitcher with high zip on his fastball and a big hitter to boot – and played hockey at a high level as well.

“Everyone asked us what we fed him,” laughed Jill Pendrith, Taylor’s mom.

A lot of Canadian parents have stories of their kids breaking something in their basement with an errant shot with a hockey stick, and the Pendrith family is typical, in that regard.

“Oh yeah, I broke multiple things down there. Even now if you go to the basement, there are puck marks on the wall,” he said. “I stole some of my mom’s pots and pans and hung them up in the top corner where a net would be and they were all dinged up.”

When Pendrith’s passion pivoted to golf, Darrel helped out any way he could. He set up a roll-down tarp in the backyard, and after digging into the ground he put an upside-down broom in the hole so Pendrith could hit balls off the bristles – a makeshift mat.

“Some of the balls went through the tarp into the neighbors’ yard,” a sheepish Pendrith said, “But I think they’re OK now.”

Pendrith was passionate about all sports – including his little foray into the more ‘extreme’ side of things. He was big into skateboarding along with mountain biking, but that’s when the injuries first started to pile up.

He remembers one summer when he broke his thumb plus two fingers biking, so he was in a cast for two months. Two days after he got that cast off, he broke his other hand while skateboarding.

Even then, as a young teenager, he wasn’t going to let injuries get him down. His parents bared witness to that resiliency early in his life, and even more over the last few years as Pendrith’s status and future became more of an unknown.

Darrel remembers one conversation with his son during a particularly bad run when Taylor said to him, ‘I better start looking for a job.’ Darrel told him he couldn’t quit. He told him he was as good as all the other golfers out there – he had just been dealt a couple of bad hands.

“He trudged on,” said Darrel. “If he needed money, we’d figure it out. But he couldn’t quit.”

“He’s not a quitter, that’s for sure,” added Jill.

That time on the sidelines and navigating a turbulent time, personally and professionally, is now in the rearview.

At this time of the year, usually he’d be celebrating earning a TOUR card, officially, but the Korn Ferry Tour season will wrap into 2021, where it’s likely he’ll earn a TOUR card next summer, instead. Pendrith will play his first major, the U.S. Open, in September. He’ll also earn a few TOUR starts in 2020-21 thanks to his top-10 position on the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Points List.

“I can see the end of the tunnel for him. He’s worked so hard for this ever since he was 15. It’s work and it’s focus,” said Darrel. “And he’s got there.”

All those years ago, it was just Darrel looking up as his son was making a big leap on a mountain bike.

But now it’s Darrel and Jill and Corey and Meg and Derek and pretty much anyone that crosses paths with Taylor Pendrith who gets to see him land on the other side – this time, a leap to the PGA TOUR.

“His dream,” Jill said, “is becoming real.”