VERITEX BANK CHAMPIONSHIP

April 15, 2022

Taylor Montgomery

Press Conference

Q. Taylor, bogey-free out there today. Walk me through your round.

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Played solid obviously. Hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens. My lag putting was really good.

It's getting firm out there and some good shots are going 40, 50 feet past the hole, so lag putting has to be good.

Q. Last year, missed the cut here; this year, in contention. What's the biggest difference for you between then and now?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Last year I was just playing so bad like ball striking-wise. My coach and I figured it out for the meantime, and then -- so it's definitely been a better year ball striking-wise.

A lot more fairways, a lot more greens, and it's just been making the game so much easier.

Q. How about the course? Anything out here that you think suits you or fits your game?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: There is some holes where you can hit some big tee shots and get an advantage, and I think that's been a huge part.

But at the end of the day, you got to wedge it close here, and some spots are firm, some are soft; it gets tricky. The fringes are -- or like the fairways and fringe near the green is really firm, and then on the greens you can kind of stop it.

But that's been the tricky part, hitting the wedges close.

Q. On 18 there, that shot was pretty tricky. Walk us through 18.

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Well, my college days came back. I was in the trees on the 18th green. I don't know, just tried to get it out of there and putted it up the hill and got lucky.

Hit it up there a couple feet and walked off with a par. Should have been a bogey. It gets tricky. I hit it down the middle and then it's on like a very firm downhill left-to-right lie and you kind of got to hit it high.

So I've been trying to help it, and I haven't hit the best shots on that hole.

Q. Coming off a missed cut in the last tournament and into this week now in contention, I guess talk about your mindset.

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Kind of the same. It's really nice to have a week off for me, especially coming into a tournament. I mean, you just feel so much better. It's not like -- golf is mentally draining sometimes if you let it be; I let it be a lot. It means a lot to me.

That's the tough thing about this game, is not trying to try so hard.

Q. You hear the cliche about one hole at a time. Anything you learned being in contention, 54 holes, that you didn't really know the last few times and now you realized this is what I need to do differently?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: I haven't really felt good about my game on the Korn Ferry. I've won a lot of mini tour events throughout -- when I got out of college. I don't know, it's just -- the ball striking was there a little bit more so than it has been out here.

But it's been a lot better in the last month. The hardest part is like I used to play basketball and baseball, those sports like you're grinding for two hours and then it's over and you go to the next one.

Golf is over basically a week. You're preparing and then it's a four-day tournament. You got to get your mind off the game as much as you can.

Q. How do you do that?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Well, it depends. I don't know.

Q. What are you doing this week?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: I been watching Breaking Bad actually.

Q. Had you watched it before?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: No. Everybody is, Oh, you got watch it. Yeah, whatever.

Q. What season are you in?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Just in season four. Been grinding.

Q. So you started this week and you're in season four?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Not this week. I started after Savannah, like the week off. Haven't been doing much.

Q. You just said you hadn't really felt great about your game for the year and a half you've been out here.

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Yeah. Just ball striking-wise. I chipped and putted really well last year to kind of give myself a chance.

But the ball striking definitely was nowhere near what it has been the last like four events that I played this year.

Q. On that note, do you feel like when you were in contention before you were trying to convince yourself you were ready, but now you're at a point you feel ready to take the next step?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: I think you're always kind of ready. You just got to go do it. (Laughter.)

Q. What will be the hardest thing about tomorrow in your mind?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Nothing really. It's just another day of golf. Just maybe not thinking about it so much. Gets weird if you make it weird.

I mean, if you think about, Oh, my God I'm in the lead of a tournament, then you're probably -- that's something different and your body is going to react a different way.

So I'm just going to try to go out there and stick to my routine and kind of do what I do best.

Q. How many episodes will you watch tonight do you think?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Depends on my tee time tomorrow, but there could be a few episodes for sure. (Laughter.)