WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 23, 2023

Taylor Montgomery

Austin Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Taylor, how would you describe that match? Seemed like a lot of back and forth.

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: There was a lot of back and forth. It was playing tough out there with gusty winds. Putting was very tough. You're planning to putt left edge, then the wind starts gusting, you know the cup -- it's hard to start it on the line with the right speed.

It's just really hard to stay still over the putts today.

Q. That's the first time in a TOUR event you've played with Jordan, correct?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Yeah.

Q. When he does something like he did on 7, kind of a Jordan thing, what's your reaction to that?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Oh, I knew it was coming. I told Lou we need to make this putt and I feel like he's going to make par. Sure enough, he did. Jordan doing Jordan things.

Q. So nothing he did today surprised you?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: No, uh-uh. That's one thing I do is try to expect my opponent to -- once they get on the green, I kind of expect them to make it. I try not to get rattled even though it's hard not to. But match play is really tough.

Q. This will be good experience I would think down the road to know what it's like to have a gallery that wants you to hit it in the water even on holes when there isn't any water.

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Oh, yeah. I love that stuff. I grew up playing basketball. I was the away team quite a bit, so I'm kind of used to it.

Q. Did you get any sense of how -- you would expect it I would imagine?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Oh, yeah, being here, Jordan is such a nice kid. You can't not like Jordan Spieth, so the fans here are going to cheer for him. I mean, sometimes I cheer for him even when I'm not playing.

Q. How would you rate this thrill, beating Jordan in his backyard here?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: I mean, high up there. It's match play, so it's one match. But I mean, it's really cool. One of the best players in the world, you beat him. It's always a good thing. It's not bad.

Q. Did you feel like he was never really in a groove, never in a rhythm, leaving a lot of putts short --

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: I don't think either of us were really in a groove. I felt like my iron game and wedges were pretty good, but my putting was absolutely horrific from what I feel.

I made a few, but I just felt like I couldn't get it started on line. I couldn't get comfortable over the putter today. Hopefully straighten that out for the match tomorrow.

Q. Before this week, what's your experience with match play?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Just gambling games back home. That's about it. But there's a lot of presses, so when you get down, it's like you just press and you try to get it back.

Q. But never a junior U.S. Amateur or anything like that growing up?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: I don't think so, no. No like U.S. Amateur or anything. I couldn't get past the stroke play.

Q. What's the most you've ever had on the line?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Probably like $10,000, $15,000 putts, but for me it felt like trying to make birdie on 17 against Jordan Spieth.

Like anytime you can put yourself in those situations I think it's a good thing. Just like everybody, you fail sometimes, and then sometimes you are the hero.

Q. Did you ever fail when 10 or 15 grand was on the line?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: No, I have not, so that was a good thing, too, because that was everything in my bank account.

Q. I was about to say, did you have 10 or 15 grand to give away?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Not really. Yeah, just kind of -- hopefully you guys will see that in the Full Swing thing in Netflix, how I grew up and how I started playing golf and why it drew me into the game.

Most of the games were like friendly, but anytime it's even $20 it means the world to you when you're a kid.

Q. What can you pull from this? Do you go back to those matches where you had enough money to make you nervous on the line when you're contending in a tournament?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Oh, yeah, yeah. Match play is very similar to that. Like I've kind of been saying, match play, it feels like you're trying to close out a tournament every single hole for some reason. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But to me, it feels like you're trying to finish off a tournament.

Q. How big was the 15th hole when you went up to --

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Oh, that was huge. The putt should have been straight. It should have gone left and right, and then the wind started blowing a little harder from right to left, so I played it a little more on the right, and the wind held it in the hole, or else it should have broke off.

Q. Then you went in the water right after that on the tee shot?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Yeah, so I've been -- ever since my driver broke at Bay Hill, I haven't been driving it very well, and hopefully I can get back to driving it good.

Q. How did your driver break?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: I don't know. I played the second round -- I don't know if maybe hit the back on like a post or something, but the head kind of came off. I don't know, anytime you break one of your favorite clubs, it's hard to replace it.

Q. This is your first kind of tournament in match play; did you do a pretty good job of resetting, and is that difficult to do to get yesterday done and basically you're starting from scratch every day?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Yeah, it is tough to reset and start from zero, but I kind of just go through my practice routine, and hopefully the next day it's there.

Q. You're in command at 2-0, the only one in your group. What's that feeling like going into tomorrow?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: Yeah, no, it's good. Any match that I have I'm going to try to win, and if I don't, it's not the end of the world, even though it feels like it.

Q. What do you think your chances of winning this whole thing?

TAYLOR MONTGOMERY: I don't know, I hope really good. I'm going to try my best.