Meet Taylor Montgomery, the rookie teeing it up alongside the PGA TOUR Player of the Year in Houston

GUYANCOURT, France – After walking off the 17th green Friday following their Four-ball match loss at the Ryder Cup, Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed were met by U.S. Captain Jim Furyk. It was a discussion of decent length – and it could’ve lasted even longer, considering that Furyk opted to bench the two players instead of rushing them back out for afternoon Foursomes. The Woods-Reed tandem, the anchor of the U.S. team for the first session at Le Golf National, was the only U.S. partnership not to come back with a morning victory. Their 3 and 1 loss to Europe’s Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari prevented the Americans from matching the opening session sweep they produced two years ago at Hazeltine. The loss dropped Woods’ all-time Ryder Cup record to 13-18-3 and his Four-balls record to 5-9-0. Reed’s Ryder Cup record fell to 6-2-2 overall and 3-2-0 in Four-balls. “It’s disappointing and frustrating for Pat and I to not contribute to the team,â€� said Woods, who has sat out a session just one other time his Ryder Cup career. “When you lose a point, you feel like you’ve contributed but you’re contributing to the wrong team. They got the points instead of us. “That part’s frustrating. Wish we could have done a better job.â€� It may have been a bit shocking to send Woods and Reed to the sidelines on the first day, but Furyk wanted to get all of his players some game action on Day 1, and his team’s depth – and success in the earlier matches — gave him plenty of options. He opted to put Four-balls winners Dustin Johnson/Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth/Justin Thomas in the afternoon session with Bubba Watson/Webb Simpson and Phil Mickelson/Bryson DeChambeau, the four players who sat out the morning. Plus, even Woods and Reed admitted they were a bit out of sync on Friday. “We didn’t ham-and-egg it very well,â€� Reed said. “I felt like one guy was in the hole and one guy was out of the hole. The way you’re successful in best-ball is you have both guys in the hole, both guys having a chance to look for birdies and just seemed like we didn’t. “And when we did, they weren’t close. They were lengthy putts. Putts that percentage-wise are not very good. It was just one of those days that was just a little bit of a struggle.â€� It wasn’t a struggle early. In fact, Woods/Reed were 2 up through 10 holes, with each player contributing two birdies at that point. When Reed chipped in for birdie from just off the 10th green, the Americans appeared in control. But then Molinari answered by winning the next two holes with birdies, with his 25-footer at the 11th switching the momentum. “We had that little tough stretch in the middle of the round, I lost three holes out of four, I think, it’s easy for it to go flat,â€� Fleetwood said, “but the crowds, the home crowds, as soon as Fran holed that putt on 11, things changed straightaway. And the crowd carried us through it all the way.â€� Fleetwood then took the baton and gave his side the lead with birdies at the 15th and 16th. Meanwhile, Reed (at the 15th) and Woods (at the 16th) each found the water to drop out of the hole. “We were in control of the match being 2-up, but we just didn’t make any birdies coming in,â€� Woods said. “You have to make birdies in Four-ball. You have to do it. We did it early. I think I made about four birdies there on that front nine. Pat had a couple. We were putting it on them, and then on the back nine, it flipped. “They put it on us, and we couldn’t answer.â€� It was at the 15th that Reed and Woods had a lengthy strategy discussion. With Woods staring at a bad lie, he told Reed that his best play was to lay up and play for par instead of aim for the green and bring water into play. “I told him, Hey, the worst score I’m going to make over here with my wedge game right now is probably par,â€� Woods explained. “I’ll hit up there inside 10 feet. I’ll make par and that should free you up to be a little more aggressive and make birdie. “He hit a bad shot in the water. I hit it up there to about 8 feet for par, and then Tommy buried it from off the green.â€� Whether he was conserving energy or simply modulating his pace, Woods appeared to be operating slowly and deliberating between shots. But a week after his first TOUR win since returning from his multiple back surgeries, Woods did not reveal any physical concerns. “My game is fine. My cut really wasn’t cutting off the tee today. I was hammering it. The ball was going far. It was going straight, but it was not cutting. I can accept that,â€� Woods said. “That’s really no big deal. My putting feels solid. I’ll be ready come tomorrow whenever Captain puts me out. If nothing else, he had Friday afternoon to rest and prepare for a potential 36 holes in Saturday’s two sessions – if Furyk goes that route.

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SYDNEY, Australia – South African Louis Oosthuizen fell just short of winning the Australian Open but has positioned himself as the potential spearhead for Ernie Els ahead of the Presidents Cup. Already the only player on Els’ International Team with a winning record in the biennial team competition against the U.S., Oosthuizen produced a huge eagle on the final hole at The Australian Golf Club to make local Matt Jones sweat. RELATED: Inside the International’s dominating 1998 win | Internationals hoping for South African omen Jones – a former winner of the Houston Open – ultimately survived a drama-filled trip down the par-5 18th to secure his second national championship at the course he grew up on. Oosthuizen’s eagle left him with the round of the day, a 5-under 66 and finished at 14 under. But Jones dropped in a testy 5-foot par put after going from bunker, to woodchips, to a tight lie short of the green to win by a shot. Still, Oosthuizen showed he will be a force at this week’s Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne against Tiger Woods and his formidable U.S. Team. “I used this week as preparation for next and obviously I’ll take a lot of confidence out of this and hopefully we can pull it off next week,â€� Oosthuizen said. “I’m ready. Game face is on now and I’m ready.â€� Marc Leishman was the next best member of the International Team and finished in a tie for 10th. Cameron Smith was tied for 27th and defending champion Abraham Ancer was 33rd. “We’re ready to go, and looking forward to it,â€� Leishman said. “I’m pleased with the way I drove the ball and then the way I chipped. I putted well; I just wasn’t reading the greens awesome, but off the tee and around the greens I was pretty pleased with. “If I could take that over into next week and sharpen my irons up a little bit, should be good to go. It’s been a pretty easy week this week energy-wise, so we are excited about next week and hopefully we can play well.â€� Adam Scott and C.T. Pan failed to make the cut although Els was not concerned with their form. Byeong Hun An, Joaquin Niemann, Hideki Matsuyama, Haotong Li, Adam Hadwin and Sungjae Im all rested this week. “My long-term view is long-term form. I’ve picked guys who have played well for a long term.  One week or one round is not going to change anything in my view,â€� Els said. “The guys are quality players; they’ve made great strides in making the team and I believe in them. If they have a bad round or a bad tournament, it’s not changing my view on that.â€� Jones, fellow Australian Aaron Pike and Japanese amateur Takumi Kanaya all booked spots in the 2020 Open Championship at Royal St George’s from July 16-19 as the highest three players not already exempt.

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Justin Parsons was a teenager living in Northern Ireland when he took a test offered in the book, "Eight Traits of a Champion Golfer." This questionnaire promised to recommend a career based on Parsons' strengths and passions. Parsons, like many young men, had aspirations of playing professional golf. The examination recommended a different path. "It said, ‘You really enjoy the idea of movement and how movement works, and you would be a much better coach than you ever would be a player," Parsons recalled recently. "I remember thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, this is kind of dampening my aspirations.' But at the same time, I've always enjoyed people, trying to figure out how people tick and how to get the best out of them." He's done that this year, helping several PGA TOUR players either reach new heights or find success after several tough seasons. He's had a quick impact since arriving at the Sea Island Resort, host of this week's The RSM Classic, last year. His current stable of students includes Gary Woodland, Louis Oosthuizen and Will Gordon, as well as Sea Island residents Harris English, Michael Thompson and Brian Harman. This year, English qualified for the TOUR Championship for the first time since 2015. Thompson won for the first time since 2013. Gordon, a year after turning pro out of Vanderbilt, earned his first PGA TOUR card. Harman finished 37th in the FedExCup last season, his best finish in three years. Oosthuizen finished third in the U.S. Open. "It's about making them a little bit better and not detracting anything from them," Parsons said. Or, as his mentor, Butch Harmon, told him, "Your first responsibility is to make sure you don't screw them up." That is sobering advice that Parsons takes seriously. "You're dealing with their livelihood," he said. His students have had fruitful seasons, especially English and Thompson. English, who won twice on TOUR before turning 25, fell to 149th in the FedExCup last year. He rose to 12th in 2020 and started this new season with a fourth-place finish in the U.S. Open. He's skyrocketed in the world ranking, rising more than 300 spots since last September. He's now ranked 36th in the world, just two spots off his career high. Parsons gave English a clear path out of the doldrums. "He just kind of brought me back from getting lost in this whirlwind of different swings and different mechanics and swing positions," English said. "He simplified it so much that I can know what I'm doing. (Golf) is actually a game now. I'm not worried about how my swing looks." Thompson won his first PGA TOUR title at the 2013 Honda Classic, but spent the next five years outside the top 100 in the FedExCup. That includes four straight seasons, from 2015-18, outside the top 140. Parsons also helped Thompson - who was once the No. 1 amateur in the world - get back on track by going back to what made him successful. "He's helped me to kind of rediscover the old feels that I had back in college, where the shot shape that I always liked to play was a low fade," Thompson said. "He's given me just so much confidence to believe that the unique move that I do through the ball is good enough to be world-class," Thompson said. Parsons arrived at Sea Island after serving as the Director of Instruction at the Butch Harmon School of Golf in Dubai. It was there that he became well-versed in the latest technology available in golf instruction. Sea Island is a sleepy coastal retreat, but the resort's Golf Performance Center also is a high-tech environment that features all the latest tools. Parsons prides himself on knowing when it's appropriate to include them in a lesson. He said instruction is now in the "sweet spot" when it comes to technology. Teachers have become well-versed in the latest high-tech tools, but also know when to leave them on the sidelines. "Technology is vital to help diagnose things and as a tool to re-check things," Parsons said. "If (players) need the technical, I want to give it to them, but if they don't need it, I'd rather they focus on getting the ball in the hole and winning golf tournaments."

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