Patrick Reed caddie Kessler Karain

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Justin Thomas isn’t quite sure when caddie Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay arrived at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, but when it was suggested that it was Sunday – in order to get an extra day of preparation in – the former FedExCup champion said with a smile that sounded about right. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Hovland leads by two at Mayakoba | JT’s unique set of irons The extra prep has helped Thomas through three rounds at El Camaleón Golf Club. He sits at 16 under, just three shots back of the lead held by Viktor Hovland. He’ll be in the penultimate group on Sunday with Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz. Ortiz and Thomas have some history, as they both played in the 2012 World Amateur Championship. Team USA won that week, but the Mexican squad finished runner-up, just five shots back. Thomas, who won THE PLAYERS Championship earlier this year, classified his game in 2021 as “C at best, C-minus” even going so far as saying, “it has not been a very good year at all.” But a win Sunday in Mexico would go a long way to help change how he’s felt about 2021 overall – and some credit, at least according to Thomas, should go to MacKay. With each passing week, Thomas said, Mackay is getting more comfortable with the kind of shots he hits. “This is a new season. Completely different. Especially with (Mackay) it kind of feels like it’s a new start,” said Thomas after shooting a 7-under 64 on Saturday. Mackay filled in for Thomas’ previous caddie, Jimmy Johnson, on occasion (even winning together once before at the 2020 World Golf Championship-FedEx St. Jude Invitational). The pair made things official at the end of September. Johnson caddied for Thomas for six years. “I think the more rounds we have and the more times that we play and spend time on the golf course, he’s getting used to that to where he feels more comfortable, maybe, stating his opinion, if you will,” said Thomas of their new relationship, which is all of two months old. Thomas admitted to wasting a few scoring opportunities in the third round at Mayakoba, but overall was pleased with his bogey-free effort. The speed of his lag putting has been a weakness, having notched a few “sloppy” three-putts through 54 holes. He said he drove it much better on Saturday than at any other point during the week. If he does more of that in Sunday’s finale, that should help give him plenty of chances, he said, to overtake Hovland. Hovland, who has had a turbulent week highlighted by a last-minute driver switch, shot a 9-under 62 in the third round – a career low. Hovland’s playing competitor on Saturday, Anirban Lahiri, said the Norwegian “could have shot 59” if he got a few more putts to fall. “I got max out of my game, essentially,” said Hovland. “Obviously got off to a nice start and it was nice to have one of those rounds where you can keep it going throughout the day.” If Hovland does go on to win Sunday he’ll become the first back-to-back winner in this event’s history and the first repeat winner on TOUR since Brooks Koepka’s back-to-back PGA Championships in 2018 and 2019. Still, Hovland said knowing Thomas is chasing him will be a stout challenge – especially given Thomas’ effort over the last 41 holes. JT started 3-over-par through nine holes and was in last place at one point Thursday, but now he’ll enter Sunday playing in the final group looking for his 15th PGA TOUR title and second with Mackay on the bag. “It was obviously impressive for him to fight back and to be in the spot that he’s in coming into tomorrow,” said Hovland. “He’s a great player and I don’t expect anything else from him but to play well tomorrow. I’m going to have to play some of my better golf to have a shot.”

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Just a year after an agonizing finish to the Korn Ferry Tour season, Taylor Montgomery isn’t just playing on the PGA TOUR. He’s competing alongside the stars. Just six starts into his first PGA TOUR season, Montgomery’s rapid success has earned him a spot alongside PGA TOUR Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler and four-time TOUR winner Sam Burns in a Featured Group at this week’s Cadence Bank Houston Open. The grouping tees off Memorial Park’s first at 8:12 a.m. ET. RELATED: Featured Groups, tee times At Nos. 2 and 12 on the Official World Golf Ranking, respectively, Scheffler and Burns are the two highest-ranked players competing this week at Memorial Park. They were teammates on the victorious U.S. Presidents Cup team and won a combined seven times in the 2022 season, finishing as Nos. 1 and 3 in the Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10, which rewards the top finishers in the FedExCup standings at the end of the regular season. Montgomery, 27, is ninth in this season’s FedExCup standings. Here’s 3 Things to Know about Taylor Montgomery as he gets his turn alongside two of the TOUR’s top players. For even more information on Montgomery, please check out Kevin Prise’s #TOURBound feature on him after he clinched his TOUR card. 1. HOT START Getting off to a strong start is especially important for Korn Ferry Tour graduates. Not only does it decrease the stress about keeping their card and qualifying for the FedExCup Playoffs, but it also helps them get more starts as the season progresses. Montgomery couldn’t have hoped for a much better beginning to his rookie season. His worst finish in five starts this season? A tie for 15th. He started with a third-place finish at the Fortinet Championship thanks to a final-round 64. He also collected top-10s at the Sanderson Farms Championship (T9) and World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba (T10). His final-round scoring average of 65.6 is the best on TOUR among players who’ve played at least four Sundays (the next best is Harris English at 67.0) and includes his strong finish at Fortinet and a final-round 62 at THE CJ CUP in South Carolina, where he finished T13. Two years ago, Montgomery was a shuttle driver for celebrity guests at THE CJ CUP when it was held at Las Vegas’ Shadow Creek, where his father Monte is the general manager. 2. ON A ROLL Montgomery, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 215 pounds, has proven proficient with both the longest and shortest clubs in his bag. His average tee shot of 315.9 yards this season ranks 25th on TOUR and he’s also third in Strokes Gained: Putting, gaining 1.7 strokes per round on the greens. His SG: Putting is the best among players with at least eight measured rounds this season (Montgomery has 16) and no other player with more than 10 rounds this season is gaining more than a stroke per round on the greens. He’s in the top 10 on TOUR in putting from 4-8 feet (fifth, 89.7%) and 10-15 feet (seventh, 48.7%). A 69-footer he made at the Shriners Children’s Open is the longest make measured by ShotLink this season by more than 7 feet. Long drives and strong putting are a recipe that has worked for Montgomery across tours. He led the Korn Ferry Tour in scoring average last season (68.4), was third in putting average and second in putts per round. His nine top-10 finishes were second only to Justin Suh. Montgomery finished the Korn Ferry Tour season by going T2-T3-T4-T9, giving him nine consecutive top-15 finishes across tours. He’s currently 65th in the Official World Golf Ranking after starting the year at No. 361. 3. BOUNCE BACK Before his strong start to his rookie season, Montgomery may have been best known for a couple of close calls on the Korn Ferry Tour. The top 25 in that tour’s points standings at the end of both the Regular Season and Korn Ferry Tour Finals earn PGA TOUR cards. Montgomery finished 26th … in both. “I thought I had it locked up both times,” Montgomery said. “That was brutal. That was not a lot of fun. I didn’t think I could finish 26 twice; it’s pretty hard to do.” Montgomery didn’t let the close calls defeat him. He ensured it wouldn’t happen again. He clinched his TOUR card with nine top-25s in his first 14 starts of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season, including a pair of runners-up. “He just decided, ‘Hey, I wasn’t ready, and now this year I’m ready,’” said Jon Sinclair, Montgomery’s swing coach. “And he’s clearly ready.”

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