Time away makes trip to Masters that much sweeter for Vaughn Taylor

Vaughn Taylor returned to Au­gus­ta National last year as a spectator.

He took his wife, Leot, and their son, Locklyn, to a practice round.

“Just to take him out there and let him run around, and my wife had never been there,” Taylor said.

He will be at the tournament again this year, but this time in the role he prefers. Taylor earned his fourth Mas­ters Tour­nament invitation with a surprise win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February.

It will be his first Masters appearance since 2008 after playing the tournament three consecutive years beginning in 2006.

“It means a lot,” Taylor said. “It’s been a rough past few years. I wasn’t sure I’d be back. I lost a lot of confidence. … To be playing with the best players in the world again, I still can’t believe it.”

Taylor lost his PGA Tour playing card after the 2012 season and admittedly “a good bit of his game.” His chances of again playing in the Masters seemed a longshot.

Then fate stepped in.

He got into the AT&T as the first alternate when Carl Pet­ters­son withdrew. Taylor had no status on the PGA Tour for 2016 and was only at the AT&T because he was a previous winner on the tour (at Reno in 2004 and 2005).

He beat Phil Mickelson by a shot when the three-time Masters champion missed a 5-foot birdie putt on No. 18 that would have forced a playoff.

In the final round, Taylor shot 7-under-par 65, including four consecutive birdies from Nos. 13-16, capping the run with a 29-foot bomb for birdie on No. 16. He grazed the hole on birdie putts on Nos. 17 and 18 that would have given him more cushion.

The win also earned Taylor, who is now 40, a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour.

Taylor said attending that Masters practice round last year might have been the impetus for his win at
Pebble Beach.

“Looking back, it could have played a role in all of this,” he said. “It could have sparked something inside of me, and now I’m back in the Masters.”

Though he didn’t like being a spectator last year, Taylor said it wasn’t quite as tough on him as it was his rookie year on the tour in 2004 when he failed to earn an invite.

“He said that was the worst thing in the world and he’d never do that again,” said Tay­lor’s father, Jack. “He said it was just too hard.”

His return to Augusta thrilled some of Taylor’s friends on tour. One of them is 2007 Masters champ Zach John­son, who watched Taylor’s win on television at his Sea Island, Ga., home.

The two started pro golf together on mini-tours and played in the 2006 Ryder Cup, and Taylor was in Johnson’s group the final day when he won his green jacket. Johnson is the current British Open champion and has 12 PGA Tour wins.

“It was spectacular,” John­son said of Taylor’s win. “I was jumping up and down in my living room.”

Taylor said he’s still pinching himself that he’s got status on the PGA Tour again and will be back in Augusta this year as a participant in his favorite tournament.

“I’m still in shock. I still can’t believe I’m thinking about it as much as I am,” Taylor said. “I get to play in all the tournaments I used to play in. It’s good to be back.”