NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — It was certainly not the finish Nick Taylor was looking for Sunday at the PGA Championship after shooting a 4-over 74 in the final round at Aronimink Golf Club.
But if there was some semblance of a silver lining, some of the parts of his game he had struggled with so far in 2026 turned the corner this week just outside Philadelphia.
And for the first time in his career, he was in the arena late on Sunday at a major championship.
“There were nerves like any tournament you’re in contention. Sleep was average at best for me. Appetite is not really there. But I felt good early on. It was tough again. The birdies were hard to come by,” Taylor said.
Taylor, who played in the penultimate pairing at the PGA Championship alongside multi-time major winner Jon Rahm, was 1 under for his first nine holes. He had missed birdie tries from 11 and 13 feet early, before knocking his tee ball on the par-3 5th to just inches. He had a 17-foot birdie try just slide by on No. 9 before it all came unravelled after that.
Taylor bogeyed No. 10 and then had to roll in a slippery par-saver on No. 11. He then bogeyed Nos. 13-15 and Nos. 17 and 18 — missing par putts from five and 10 feet, respectively, to stumble into the house.
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“Just got a little bit loose on that second nine. Some shots left. Kind of stopped trusting what I was doing a little bit there and even some of my better shots just didn’t pan out. Frustrating second nine. A shame, really,” Taylor said.
He didn’t even, when it was all said and done, notch his best career finish at a major despite playing 63 holes of spectacular golf this week. He ended up tied for 26th — his best major finish coming at last year’s U.S. Open, where he finished tied for 23rd.
“It’s good to know that I had a chance with nine to go, but I don’t feel like I had to press necessarily. It was just a few shots left that I’ve fought for the year and they crept up a little bit. Missing a few short putts, compounding a few errors led to all those bogeys,” Taylor said.
This week did mark a massive turnaround on the greens for Taylor. He is 100th on the PGA Tour for the season in strokes gained: putting but was 15th in that statistic this week. Although he fought some of the same misses with the driver on Sunday especially, he was otherwise steady tee-to-green and knows he can apply that to the balance of his 2026 campaign.
“There will be some positives. I don’t really see them, currently but I’ll have some time off to look back on that and reflect,” Taylor said.
Taylor Pendrith shot a 1-over 71 Sunday to finish tied for 44th while Corey Conners shot an even-par 70 to end up tied for 55th.
Aaron Rai won the PGA Championship by three shots over Jon Rahm and 54-hole leader Alex Smalley after an incredible 5-under 65, the round of the day. It was Rai’s first major victory.