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

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.”