Will Gordon leads by one at Mayakoba, Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland sit three behind

The most famous meeting between Jordan Spieth, who reignited his career with a win at the Valero Texas Open last month, and Phil Mickelson, who just shocked the world by winning the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, happened in 2013. That’s when Spieth, still a relatively little-known talent on the world stage, shot a final-round 62 whilst paired with Mickelson in the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship. Duly impressed, Mickelson called U.S. Presidents Cup Captain Fred Couples, who had yet to make his captain’s picks, and said, “Dude, you’ve got to pick this guy.” Couples did. “My first kind of playing-with-him encounter couldn’t have gone any better,” Spieth said. Both players will be in the field for this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial. As it turns out, Spieth and Mickelson go back further than 2013, all the way to one of Spieth’s prized autographs from his youth. “I actually – I still have it,” he said from Colonial. “I actually know where it is now that I mention it. I have the Sports Illustrated when he – the jump when he won the (2004) Masters, when he was in mid-air six feet off the ground, with his signature on it. “I won it in an auction at like my sister’s school when I was really young,” Spieth continued. “I must have been like 12 or 13 or 14 or something.” Even then, Spieth was a seasoned Lefty fan. It’s likely he would have known that while he, Spieth, is naturally lefthanded in everything but golf, Mickelson is naturally righthanded in everything but golf. Also, Mickelson was a towering figure in Texas golf, even if he never lived there, and Spieth, like all fans, was drawn to the best players. “I remember going out and following him because he would come to the Byron Nelson and play,” he said. “I came to the Colonial a couple times in grade school as well, and he’s always been good at this tournament.” (Mickelson won in 2000 and ’08; Spieth in 2016.) The superstar’s unpredictability was appealing, too. “Obviously, the thrill of watching his rounds of golf,” Spieth said, “where he could go shoot – he could have six birdies in a row. He could also hit a drive onto a different hole and still make birdie, and he could look like he’s – I mean, it’s Phil the Thrill, right?” As for what Mickelson just accomplished at the Ocean Course, Spieth was as amazed as anyone. “I thought it would very, very difficult,” he said. The reason, he added, was because while Mickelson had won twice on PGA TOUR Champions, he hadn’t contended on the regular TOUR for ages. “It’s just so difficult to be in contention for the first time in a while and be able to tap into that confidence that you’re supposed to be there, and you’re supposed to win,” Spieth said. The great ones, though – Jack Nicklaus at the ’86 Masters, Tiger Woods at the 2019 Masters, Mickelson at the 2021 PGA Championship – “seem to have that one left at the end,” he added. This didn’t sound quite right, though, and he caught himself. “And I know he’ll probably tell you – maybe he thinks he’s got more than one left,” Spieth said. “I don’t think anybody will doubt him after this one, but I think it’s just wild. I think it’s incredible.”

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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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