Standing on the 15th tee at The Players Championship, Taylor Montgomery sat in a tie for fourth place and was staring at a paycheck of over $1 million. An hour later, the American found himself four-over-par for his round, in a tie for 44th and with just a $75,000 paycheck.
It was brutal to watch, especially with Montgomery going along very nicely at TPC Sawgrass as he managed to hole a lengthy birdie putt at the 14th to get to three-under for his day.
However, his hard work unraveled on the par 4 15th, as he failed to get up-and-down from off the edge of the green. That wasn’t too bad though, the 15th is a tough hole which had seen a fair few scores being racked up.
Now two-under for his day and nine-under for the tournament, the 28-year-old was still looking at a possible top 5 finish and a paycheck of around $1 million. Pushing his drive at the par 5 16th, he managed to get his third shot up by the green, with a 30-foot birdie putt all but guaranteeing a par that would keep him high up the leaderboard.
But the American missed his first putt and then his second one. Facing a five-foot bogey putt, many were thinking just tap it in and move on to the next one. That wouldn’t be the case though, with Montgomery ramming it three-feet by and tapping in for a costly double bogey.
His pain wasn’t over though, as not only did he find the water once at the iconic par 3 17th, but twice, as his chip shot rolled into the lake surrounding the island green. Playing five, it was only because of the rough past the flag that his shot didn’t fall in to the drink!
Two putting for a triple bogey, the torture wasn’t done there as he now faced the hardest hole on the golf course. Rather admirably though, Montgomery managed to par the 18th, but the damage was done, with Montgomery’s possible winnings going from $1.1 million to $75,000.