Get to know Taylor Montgomery in 10 stories

So I barely threw my phone, it was not like a hard throw or anything, to the dash of my car, and it hit the windshield, and all of a sudden it just goes crack, like all over the place, and I called, we have Farmers Insurance, so we called them, and they covered it. So their commercials are pretty good. They’re legit. And then I got the sponsor exemption into the Farmers, so I wanted to share that story during that time.

8. I used to have a problem with the driver, and I fixed the driver and I was driving it pretty well down in the Bahamas (at the first Korn Ferry Tour event of 2022), but the Saturday (tournament starts on Sunday that week), I was on the range with Scott, the TaylorMade guy, and I was hitting some irons, and he’s like, ‘We’ve gotta get you fitted.’ Like, those are some weird numbers, all this stuff. Because the ball spins differently, in my opinion, compared to sea level than in Vegas. Vegas is very dry, and I’ve noticed it a few times, but me, I don’t pay too much attention, even though I probably should, and he’s like, ‘We need to get you fitted as soon as possible, because you’re spinning your irons too much.’

Well, I noticed it that first round. I would hit an iron shot, and the wind would take it off the map, and I ended up shooting 84, and then I got fitted the very next week before Torrey Pines. I got an exemption into that tournament, and so I changed all the shafts. Everything was spinning the same way it did down in Bahamas when I first got there. I probably tried seven different golf shafts and came out with the one that spun it the lowest, and I stuck with it, and it’s been really good since.

I’ve had tournaments; I still don’t hit them as good as I’d like to, but it’s more because of me. But it improved them so much, when I first switched them. The other ones were just pretty brutal, and everyone calls me an idiot for not being fitted. My dad was the first one. He’s like, ‘You’ve been with TaylorMade how long? You might be the dumbest kid that I’ve ever seen.’ Those were exactly his words. I kind of agreed with him, which I typically don’t. Even if he’s right, I usually give him a jab or something.

9. So last year, my caddie Larry was an older guy, super nice guy. I still talk to him today, and he got sick and he was helping his dad, so he couldn’t show up to (The Ascendant) at TPC Colorado, and I know a bunch of people down there, because my parents are from Colorado and it’s just a really great spot. I end up meeting Anthony Knight from Ascendant down there and he’s like, ‘Hey, have DJ caddie for you, he’s a really cool guy,’ and DJ actually played golf with my dad growing up in Colorado, so I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s perfect.’

So DJ carried my clubs for the week, and it was raining one of the rounds, and he left his rain jacket in one of the pockets that I obviously never use, and three months later at the Fortinet Championship in Napa, I didn’t bring any rain gear to northern California, and so I was going to go get a rain jacket from somewhere, and I was like, ‘Ahh, I might as well look through my bag,’ and I looked through every pocket, and sure enough, there’s his rain jacket. I’m like, ‘Perfect, I’ll use this.’

Sunday at Fortinet, when I found that rain jacket, it saved me. Obviously it was going to rain. I had probably the biggest round of my career so far on that day, shot 64 and it put me into third place for that tournament, and everything kind of took place after that. It was one of the biggest weeks of my life.

Right after that, I knew that I would be able to buy the house that I wanted in Vegas and keep that my place (while I) travel, kind of my home.

10. We were on vacation in Colorado last summer, and I was having fun and kind of thought my card was locked up for the TOUR, and my dad’s like, ‘You’re going to be known as Mr. 26 again,’ this and that, he’s always been negative in that aspect, and my mom and I kind of just laugh at him, sometimes.

Then you just see your name fall and fall and fall, and you realize that the points are probably getting closer, and he’s like, ‘Just go play.’ So I end up playing (the Price Cutter Charity Championship) and I finish second, and it ended up securing my card for sure.