COVID pandemic costs Las Vegan Taylor Montgomery PGA Tour card

In a normal year, Taylor Montgomery would have his PGA Tour card and be plotting out his 2021 schedule on golf’s biggest stage.

The Las Vegan finished the year among the top 25 players on the Korn Ferry Tour, which should have earned him an automatic promotion to the big leagues.

But 2020 has been anything but normal.

Because so many events were lost this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, there were no promotions this season. Tour officials decided to roll over all of the 2020 numbers into 2021, meaning Montgomery will have to maintain that top-25 status until August, when the tour cards and promotions will be decided.

“It kind of sucks,” said Montgomery, who attended Foothill High and UNLV. “But at the same time, I can’t control it.”

So Montgomery, 25, will spend the coming months hoping to continue the play that put him in this position.

“We’re only halfway through the season,” he said of his approach to 2021. “Anything can happen. I just need to try to play good golf. If that gets me inside the number, great.”

Montgomery’s first four events of 2020 were nothing special, with a tie for 19th at the season opener in the Bahamas the best finish. But he found something in February at the Suncoast Classic in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, shooting four rounds in the 60s — including a final-round 64 — to finish in third, two shots behind winner Andrew Novak.

But just as he found his game, it was over. Montgomery wouldn’t hit another shot in competition for four months as COVID-19 shut down the Korn Ferry Tour until mid-June.

His return to competition was less than satisfactory, with five missed cuts in seven starts over the summer. But it all changed in late August in Columbus, Ohio, where he tied for second in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship. A bogey on the 72nd hole cost him a chance at a playoff with winner Curtis Luck.

He closed out the season with finishes of 21st, 16th, 10th and 11th to stand 23rd on the season points list. The strong play continued into November when he showed up at the Nevada Open in Mesquite, shot 62 in the first round at Casablanca Golf Club and was never threatened on his way to the title.

“It’s always good to get a win, and the check ($31,350) was nice,” Montgomery said. “I wasn’t feeling my best going into it, but then I went out and shot 10 under the first day.”

Montgomery, who turned pro after leaving UNLV in 2017, had arrived in Mesquite the night before the tournament after spending time in Texas with his swing coach, John Sinclair, whom Montgomery credits with helping him with a lot of little things.

Montgomery considers his short game to be his strength and gives much of the credit to his dad, Monte, the general manager at Shadow Creek Golf Club. Taylor said he would hang around the course as a kid, and his dad would throw balls around the greens for his son to chip and putt. That experience gives him confidence to get up and down from anywhere, he said.

The 2021 Korn Ferry season doesn’t begin until mid-February with one event, then begins in earnest the third week of March. The 20-event schedule includes the new Paiute Las Vegas Championship in April.

“I just want to try to get better,” he said of his goals for 2021, with the PGA Tour card the ultimate prize in August.

Another desire?

“I’d like to get a win,” he said.

That would take care of the tour card.

Chip shots

— Angel Park Golf Club in Summerlin is launching the Heavenly Tour, a yearlong event for players with official USGA handicaps. Golfers will play one Sunday a month in net and gross divisions, alternating between the Mountain and Palm courses. At the end of the season in November, the top 14 players will compete in a Ryder Cup-style event.

— Players representing the Southern Nevada Golf Association beat golfers from the Southern Nevada Chapter PGA in a team competition last week at Las Vegas Country Club. The SNGA team won three of four four-ball matches Thursday and six of eight individual matches Friday for a 9-3 victory.

Greg Robertson is a freelance reporter who covers golf for the Review-Journal. He can be reached at robertsongt@gmail.com.