Vaughn Taylor's refusal to give up rewarded

Vaughn Taylor was choked up. His wife, Leot, was crying. His 2-year-old son, Locklyn, was fussy.

Full disclosure, things got a little verklempt in my living room across the country from Pebble Beach. It must have been the dust stirred up from 11 long years between PGA Tour victories for the Hephzibah-raised, Augusta State-honed, Evans resident.

Just a few weeks shy of his 40th birthday, Taylor’s career was rejuvenated with the round of his life at one of the game’s most storied venues. It was the best feel-good comeback story in golf since fellow Augusta State grad Oliver Wilson reclaimed his lost status 17 months ago with a shocking European Tour victory at St. Andrews.

With nine birdies including four in a row from holes 13-16, Taylor rallied from six shots behind Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson to hold a two-shot lead in the clubhouse when he finished his AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. When his birdie putt ducked below the cup on the last, all he could do was wait to see if it was enough.

Taylor seemed almost in disbelief after the groans from the 18th green signaled that Mickelson had missed his 5-footer to force a playoff leaving Taylor a winner for the first time since his back-to-back Reno-Tahoe Opens in 2004-05.

“This opened so many doors for me,” Taylor said.

The spoils were life-affirming for a man who lost his tour card in 2013 and had been struggling to get it back – $1.26 million, tour exemption through 2018 and a spot in his hometown Masters Tournament for the first time since 2008. He jumped from 447th in the world to No. 100.

“Just absolutely amazing,” Taylor said Sunday. “Can’t believe I’m actually sitting here right now. Didn’t know if it would ever happen again, to be honest. I lost a lot of confidence. Lost a good bit of my game. You know, I just kept working, kept grinding, kept at it. I can’t believe it actually happened today.”

Golf is an easy game in which to veer off the track. The harder you try to get it back, sometimes, the further it gets away.

Taylor certainly hadn’t fallen as deep into the well as Wilson had before he shocked Rory McIlroy to win the 2014 Dunhill Links on a sponsors exemption. But after you’ve spent 10 years on the PGA Tour and competed in a Ryder Cup, it can feel that way.

“I think it’s better to not have a taste of the good life out here,” said Taylor, who once ranked as high as 37th in the world in 2007. “It almost makes it harder because you know how good it is out here.”

The good life was so close to the tip of his fingers it was painful. Two years ago he let a tour card slip from his grasp in the last event of the Web.com Tour Finals. Last year all he needed was one fewer stroke in any one of 12 tour events he played to finish in the top 150 and reclaim conditional status. He bogeyed three of the last four holes in the finale in Greensboro to miss by a tenth of a point.

“That was a tough year to swallow, last year,” he said. “I played really well, and I put myself in position a lot of times to get my card, and I didn’t get it done, over and over. And it was driving me crazy.

“I tried not to let it bother me and I tried not to let it affect my family and my life, so I probably hid it pretty well. But it really started to bother me. And the last couple weeks, the way they were going, I was thinking ‘What’s going on?’ I don’t have anything at this moment. I was really worried about my career.”

Worried enough to become budget conscious. He traveled to Panama and Colombia for Web.com Tour events without his big tour bag, using a lightweight carry bag to avoid a baggage fee for exceeding 50-pound weight limit. After food poisoning forced him to withdraw in Bogota last week, his family opted to fly to Pebble Beach instead of home because it was cheaper.

“In our situation, we try to save money,” Taylor confessed.

He didn’t know he had a place in the pro-am field until Monday when Carl Pettersson withdrew. Once in the field, however, Taylor had something positive to draw upon. Last year he climbed as high as fifth place after a chip-in birdie on the 14th hole Sunday and held on to tie for 10th. After three solid rounds, set his goal Sunday on another top-10 to get him into this week’s event at Riviera without having to Monday qualify.

“Just wanted a place to play next week,” he said.

He did so much better. He maintained a Sunday calm that has so often eluded him. His swing was smooth and pure to the very end. His putting – always a strength – was true.

Now he doesn’t have to worry about where he’ll play for nearly three years or what he’ll be doing during Masters Week in April. He finished tied for 10th at Augusta in 2007, playing on Sunday with eventual champion Zach Johnson.

“Playing in the Masters is obviously my Super Bowl,” he said. “Living there I didn’t know if I’d ever get back. I can’t believe I’m going to be there in a couple months. It’s surreal. It hasn’t hit me yet.”

Taylor said he wishes he’d appreciated his 10-year run on the tour more than he did the first time around. He won’t take it for granted this time knowing how easily it can go away.

“I always had the desire to get back; I never thought it was over,” he said. “And I just kept the dream alive, just working hard, practicing, trying to figure out what was wrong.”

What kept him from giving up?

“That beautiful lady right there,” he said, pointing to his wife. “She’s been my rock. She’s the one that keeps me going and we’re lucky enough to have that little guy here with us, too. It’s all for them. They deserve it just as much as I do.”

Few have deserved a break as much as Taylor. Finally getting one prompted an outpouring of support on Twitter from his peers – established stars welcoming him back and journeymen inspired by his success. Within minutes after it was over, a text came in from Scott Parel, a fellow Augusta pro who understands better than anyone what Taylor has been going through.

“Told you Vaughn would get back out there! Very happy for him,” Parel’s text said.

Who wouldn’t be? Seeing the emotions that swept over Taylor and his family illustrated the power of never giving up.

“It’s a dream come true,” Taylor said. “It’s just a blessing.”