Alex Elias
In Taylor Montgomery's rookie season, in ten total events, the Korn Ferry Tour graduate has made all ten cuts and has finished in the Top-15 in eight, four of which were Top-10 finishes including a third-place finish in the Fortinet Championship and a solo fifth at last week’s The American Express.
Currently, 8th in the FedEx Cup Standings, much of Montgomery's immediate success can be attributed to his superb putting.
Montgomery has gained more strokes putting through his first career 40 starts than anyone in the ShotLink Era. Currently, Montgomery ranks 4th in SG: Total. Jon Sinclair, Montgomery's coach, said, "His putting is just him being Taylor. This is the way he putted all along. Anyone that knows him, knows this is just how he putts. He is a great putter."
Recently, Montgomery told Golf Digest, "There’s nobody in the world as bad a driver as I was." Recalling the number of strokes lost during his career at UNLV, Montgomery said, "Here I am in college, with an up-and-down rate of about 90 percent playing our home course and yet I’m shooting in the 80s." Now, Montgomery ranks 37th in SG: Off-The-Tee. Sinclair said, "We have put a lot of time in working on his tee shots. This was the goal from Day 1. This was an issue for him in college and he has clearly improved into one of the best drivers of the ball in the world." Sinclair continued, "I know the clubs he hits off the tee so I would say that the 37th ranking doesn't really do him justice. I believe he is even higher that that." As Montgomery has soared from 146th in the OWGR to 52nd in ten events, Sinclair isn't surprised, saying, "I have just seen a carry over from the success on the Korn Ferry Tour. He has been playing consistent for sometime. It is a testament to his work ethic."
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Alex Elias Harry Hillier is no stranger to low rounds, as he posted a scoring average of 69.73 as a Senior at Kansas, but even for Hillier a round of 59 is a moment that Hillier described as one that "you never know if it will happen again." Playing alongside his Dad, Brother, and his family friend, Murray, at Te Puke Golf Club (New Zealand), Hillier knew before the turn that something special was taking place before his eyes, saying, "I first realized around the 8th hole when I made eagle to go -8 thru 8 and my Dad started chirping me." When Hillier was asked if his routine changed throughout the round, Hillier responded, "The mood didn’t change at all. Really, there was just more chirping going on. It was Charlier (My Brother) and I vs. my Dad and Murray." Hillier continued, "My routine always stays the same. I’m a pretty fast player so I just have to keep an eye on not getting too fast. We carted so we had music playing." A closing birdie on No. 18, Hillier described the final putt as, "a sigh of relief." Hillier said, "No. 18 is a Par-5 and my second shot hit in the bunker so the chirping was in full effect knowing I had to get it up and down. The putt was about 3.5 feet so just enough to make you a little uncomfortable."
With a round of 59 in the books, Hillier immediately turned his attention to the New Zealand Open, saying, "It is a positive step to moving in the right direction before I play in the New Zealand open in early March." Alex Elias Justin Thomas' Scotty Cameron Newport Circle T, a putter he first put into play in middle school but hasn’t used in competition since college is set to make a return at The Sentry Tournament of Champions. Having previously used a Scotty Cameron T5 Proto, Thomas' Putting Coach, John Graham, said, "The improvements to Justin's stroke tendencies are significant from our two years together. There was a clear bias toward hitting a push when we met. As his skills have improved, the need for using a putter that reduced the likelihood of his tendency have diminished. This now allows him to use a putter that he can best learn from and control speed with." Graham continued, "The putter he is using this week isn’t new to him and in his training and practice time he’s felt that this putter accomplished both goals best. He can control his distance intent with it better and he can learn from it better. It measured out very well when in the past it did not. His ability to square the clubface has improved enough that even though this putter tends to rotate open more in late backswing, he can recover and get back to square repeatedly."
Last season, Thomas ranked 85th on the PGA Tour in SG: Putting, his best finish since the 2017-18 season. Thomas told Golf.com, "Since I’ve been working with John, my mechanics are like, night-and-day different." As Thomas eyes to continue his improvements on the green in 2023, Graham said, "The next improvement in Justin’s putting is going to be Justin led as he is in a place now where his stroke is owned by him and he can fine tune things based on feel and art." |
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