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Even most knowledgeable golf fans aren’t familiar with the name Taylor Montgomery. He has made only seven PGA Tour starts since turning pro in 2017, so there is a reason he has gone unnoticed.
But quietly, Montgomery is tracking to become one of the most exciting young players in the game. Data Golf has the 27-year-old as the No. 15 American in its strokes gained-based rankings, a sign that Montgomery has a realistic shot to play his way onto next year’s U.S. Ryder Cup squad if this trend continues.
For those interested in more traditional evidence, Montgomery came into the week at No. 5 in the FedEx Cup standings through the early fall season. He has also ascended nearly 300 spots in the Official World Golf Ranking since the beginning of this year, working his way to No. 74 – on the cusp of qualifying for majors.
The stats show that he is on a path eerily similar to recent emerging talents such as Will Zalatoris, Cameron Young and Sahith Theegala.
So, who is this guy?
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Montgomery is a born-and-raised Las Vegas resident. His father, Monte Montgomery, played golf at UNLV and earned second-team All-American honors in the early ’90s before later becoming the general manager at Shadow Creek Golf Course. Taylor also stayed at home and played for the Rebels, authoring a confounding career that started strong before taking a disastrous turn as he went from contending for tournament titles to barely making the team. In his later college years, he sometimes would play with only a 2-iron off the tee because of a disobedient driver.
Despite a lack of collegiate success, the younger Montgomery gave professional golf an earnest try and has remained patient over a long and slow development. His first full-time gig on the Korn Ferry Tour was the elongated 2020-21 campaign when he finished No. 26 in the regular-season standings, falling one position short of a PGA Tour card. He didn’t get through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, either, so Montgomery headed back last season for another go in 2022.
This time, there was no doubt. Montgomery had nine top-10 finishes and ranked No. 5 in the regular season points race despite not winning an event. Starting in April, he embarked on a ridiculous run of 12 top-15 finishes in a 17-event span, including the opening three PGA Tour events of this current season. One of the two events in which he didn’t finish in the top 15 was the U.S. Open, for which he qualified through sectionals.
Montgomery stands out for a couple reasons. One is that he relies on putting as the strength of his game. He ranked No. 3 on the Korn Ferry Tour for putting average last season, and he is No. 2 in strokes gained putting on the PGA Tour early in this new season. He uses a TaylorMade Spider Tour putter with a SuperStroke Traxion Pistol GT Tour grip. As for that once horrid driving, Montgomery has worked diligently with instructor Jon Sinclair so that it is no longer a liability. He uses a 9-degree SIM2 off the tee and has a nearly full bag of TaylorMade clubs, including a 15-degree Stealth 3-wood, P750 Tour Proto irons and MG3 wedges.
When asked to describe why he is a good putter, Montgomery didn’t give a throwaway response. He showed some of the personality that has shined through in some of his early media sessions.
“I have a dad who is probably one of the worst putters,” Montgomery said last week during the Shriners Children’s Open. “So he’s really pushed that aspect of the game on me. I’ve seen how much it affected him in his career in golf. I just felt like I needed to make that my strong point.”
OK, but give us one positive about your dad, just to make it even.
“He’s a very good iron player,” Montgomery said. “But his work ethic has been slacking lately.”
Sean Fairholm