By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor is an equipment free agent.

Taylor, who has played TaylorMade clubs since turning pro in 2010, chose not to renew his longstanding deal and is trying out clubs from a variety of manufacturers.

“TaylorMade has been an amazing partner and were keen to continue to support Nick,” Taylor’s agent, Chris Armstrong of Wasserman Media, said in a telephone interview from Torrey Pines, where Taylor tied for 30th at the Farmers Insurance Open.

“I think for Nick it was about the opportunity for him in the first time in his career to answer some unanswered questions for himself about what the best set-up top to bottom for him is. There are some areas of his game he wasn’t quite fully satisfied with and he wanted to make sure he could answer the questions on equipment.”

Armstrong doesn’t think Taylor is in a rush to sign a new equipment deal.

“Right now he is playing a mixed bag and playing pretty solid,” Armstrong said. “For now, it is just a chance for him to kind of step back after many years on Tour and say  maybe I should scratch this itch and answer all these questions for myself and then whatever I do moving forward I can be completely sure that’s the best for me in the next chapter.”

At Torrey Pines, Taylor played with a Ping driver, Titleist irons and a Scotty Cameron putter. He was carrying a Titleist bag. “TaylorMade and specifically TaylorMade Canada have been amazing and I know it was a very difficult decision for Nick to kind of put that on pause,” Armstrong said. Taylor continues to wear Adidas apparel and was sporting  an Adidas hat at Torrey Pines.

Taylor birdied his final three holes for a one-under 71 in Saturday’s final round on Torrey Pines’ difficult South Course. He finished the event at eight-under par, seven shots behind winner Luke List, and made $53,760.

Surrey’s Adam Svensson finished 79th at 10-over after a rough weekend and took home $15,708. Three other British Columbians -- Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, Jared du Toit of Kimberley and Victoria resident Max Sear -- missed the cut.

Taylor, Svensson and Hadwin are all in the field for this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on California’s Monterey Peninsula. Taylor won that event in 2020.

MONDAY CHALLENGES: Du Toit and Sear both Monday qualified into the Farmers, which started on Wednesday to avoid competing against the two NFL conference championship games on Sunday. That made it impossible for du Toit and Sear to play both the North and South Courses before the first round.

“It was a whirlwind for sure,” said Sear, an Ontario native who now plays out of Royal Colwood in Victoria. “I got there Monday night. As soon as I knew I was in I rushed out to the course, got my credentials and ended up playing five holes on the North Course Monday night. On Tuesday I had set up a game with fellow Canadian Taylor Pendrith. So I got 18 holes in on Tuesday and then just got thrown right into the thick of it on Wednesday starting on 10 on the South Course.”

Du Toit played his lone practice round on Tuesday with world No. 1 Jon Rahm, a former teammate of his at Arizona State University.

Sear got off to a tough start on the South Course on Wednesday. He needed 42 strokes to complete the front nine, but settled down on the back side. He eagled his final hole to shoot 79. “The whole atmosphere was so different from anything I had ever experienced before,” said Sear, who was playing his first PGA TOUR event. “10, 11 and 12 on the South, that’s a  tough start. . .to make an eagle and get it under 80 was pretty funny. I saw my name on the scoreboard and I thought, 'uh-oh, I think I am 156th.' I put a couple of good swings on it and dribbled one in for three on the last.”

Sear rebounded nicely in the second round, shooting a two-under 70 on the North Course. “That two-under on Thursday helped a lot,” he said. “The main thing is I showed myself that I can do it, I can play out here.”

SOLID START: Du Toit was playing his second straight Farmers after also Monday qualifying for the event last year. He started his first round quite nicely on the South Course. The former B.C. Amateur champion was two-under through his first six holes before his struggles began. He shot a five-over 77 in the first round and followed that up with a two-over 74 on the North Course in his second round.

Du Toit was disappointed with his play, but managed to retain his sense of humour.

“It’s nice packing a week’s worth of clothes to a Monday qualifier and having to use most of them,” du Toit said on his Twitter account. “Still had two shirts for the weekend, but unfortunately they never saw any game action. I was so excited to get into the event . . .and was absolutely humbled by Torrey South. That place is a monster.”

SEASON STARTED: Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald tied for 57th in his season-debut on the Korn Ferry Tour. Macdonald finished The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at one-under par. That was 17 shots behind winner Brandon Harkins of Scottsdale, Ariz., who beat Zecheng Dao of China in a playoff. The Korn Ferry Tour resumes this week with the Panama Championship. 

NEW SPONSOR: Royal Beach is the new title sponsor of Victoria’s annual PGA Tour Canada stop. The tournament will be known as the Royal Beach Victoria Open for the next three years. Royal Beach is a large-scale mixed-use seaside community in Greater Victoria that is being developed jointly by Reliance Properties and Seacliff Properties. Last year, Reliance joined the Victoria Open as co-title sponsor.

Longtime tournament chair Keith Dagg said having a full title sponsor is a godsend for the event. “I have been doing this since 1981 and since Payless went away we have been fighting to get a long-term title sponsor,” Dagg said. “You can’t live without a title. When I started this thing in1981 we played at Glen Meadows and it was the Labatt’s Open and it cost $50,000 to put on. Now it’s $650,000. It’s just a whole different world.” This year’s tournament is scheduled for June 2-5 at Uplands Golf Club in Victoria.

AMATEUR HOUR: Seymour Golf & Country Club in North Vancouver will join Point Grey Golf & Country Club in Vancouver as co-host of this summer’s Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship. Competitors will play each course once during the first two rounds and those making the 36-hole cut will play the final two rounds at Point Grey. The tournament, won last year by Max Sekulic of Rycroft, Alta.,  goes Aug. 1-4.

CHIP SHOTS: Duncan’s Tristan Mandur finished third at the Sand Hill Resort Amateur in Utah. The 2020 B.C. Amateur champion who is now in his senior year at the University of Utah opened the 36-hole event with an eight-under 64 that included a hole-in-one and a 29 on the front nine. . .Two Metro Vancouver pros were among the winners at the PGA of Canada’s national awards show. Christine Wong of University Golf Club was named female player of the year and Shaughnessy Golf Club’s Tim Wilson was named teacher of the year. . .Did Luke List’s caddie at Torrey Pines look familiar? That’s probably because Jeff Willett was carrying Nick Taylor’s bag when Taylor won at Pebble Beach two years ago.