The playoff contested between Tommy Fleetwood and Nick Taylor for the RBC Canadian Open title was anything but a bog-standard affair.
There was the sheer intensity of it, as the duo couldn’t be separated over the first three holes despite multiple errors from both players giving ample opportunities for each to close out the victory.
There was also the incredible atmosphere. The crowd created something more akin to the Ryder Cup than the PGA Tour as the majority willed Taylor to finally break the 69-year run without a Canadian winning the trophy.
Then there was the unforgettable moment Taylor granted their wishes courtesy of an outrageous 72-foot putt on the fourth playoff hole to spark bedlam on the 18th at Oakdale Golf and Country Club.
Among all the chaos, one more extraordinary moment was about to come to pass. Following Taylor’s mammoth putt that handed him his third PGA Tour win, fellow Canadian Adam Hadwin – who tied for 12th in the tournament - decided to join in the celebrations by running onto the green and spraying the victor with champagne.
He would have managed it, too, if he hadn’t been wrestled to the putting surface by a security guard using a technique that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the NFL!
Security is TOIGHT at the Canadian Open 😩 pic.twitter.com/6cS38bQiYkJune 11, 2023
Clearly, Hadwin had been mistaken for a fan rather than a player with a PGA Tour win and two Presidents Cup appearances to his name.
Of course, it is to be hoped Hadwin was not hurt in the mix-up. If anything, though, the incident seemed almost fitting among the general pandemonium of an occasion that anyone present is unlikely to forget.
