LOS CABOS, Mexico – Taylor Montgomery is desperate for a good week on the PGA Tour. Desperate enough that he asked his father, Monte, the director of golf at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, to be his caddie at the 2024 World Wide Technology Championship. But it turned out to be a Hall of Fame outfielder who would lug his bag to the finish on Thursday as Montgomery’s dad had to bow out after his son got off to a hot start on a sunny but breezy day at El Cardonal at Diamante.
Montgomery made birdies on the first three holes and seven in all to shoot 4-under 68 at the golf course designed by Tiger Woods, and one stroke off the pace set by rookie Tom Whitney.
Montgomery had missed three cuts and withdrew after one round at the Sanderson Farms Championship during the FedEx Cup Fall and has slipped to No. 132 in the season-long points race. This week is one of three remaining events and Montgomery is running out of time to squeeze his way into the top 125. The 29-year-old Las Vegas resident asked his dad, who caddied for him here last year, to be by his side inside the ropes along with a sizable entourage this week that also includes his mom, sister, fiancée and a couple of former baseball stars.
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“I love it here,” said Montgomery, a World Wide Technology ambassador, of Diamante. “It feels like a second home.”
Good thing one of the homeowners was out following him on Thursday morning because his dad wasn’t feeling up to par yesterday when Montgomery’s pro-am team included baseball great Roger Clemens. Monte rallied to the tee bright and early for the first round but he only made it nine holes. That’s when he tapped out and handed over the bag to another Major League Baseball star, Larry Walker, the 57-year-old former outfielder who enjoyed a 17-year career with the Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals. Walker visited Diamante one time and bought a house.
“I’m here half the year,” Walker said. “I’m not here because it’s a lousy place. The food, the weather, the people. That could be in a different order every day.”
On this day, he carried Montgomery’s bag and they didn’t skip a beat as Montgomery added birdies at Nos. 10 and 11. “But then he made a double,” Walker said, his face slumping with disappointment as if it was all his fault.
Montgomery tacked on birdies at Nos. 15 and 18 to post 68, his fifth straight sub-70 course at Diamante.
“It kind of fits my eye, I guess. I’m just used to looking at the desert a lot,” Montgomery said.
When his family entered The Woods: Cabo, the clubhouse restaurant, Clemens congratulated them on Walker’s fine work in getting him to the house.
“You’re up next,” Montgomery’s mother said.
“We’ll just rotate,” Clemens responded.
Whatever works.