Augustan began ride to success as a boy
Where dreams come true
It's exactly a mile from Vaughn Taylor's south Augusta childhood home to Goshen Plantation Golf Club.
From when he took up golf at age 10 until he could drive at 16, Taylor would ride his bicycle to the course almost every day.
He went through "three or four" bikes in those six years, Taylor said. The last one was his favorite, a silver-and-blue Mongoose 10-speed mountain bike.
"That child would sling those golf clubs over the handlebars of that bike," said Taylor's mother, Lynn. "I can still see him boogying up to that club.
"He wore them out, bless his heart," Lynn Taylor said of the bicycles. "His dad was always putting new tires on them."
It wasn't always just a round-trip ride, either. During the summer or on weekends, it was usually two.
"He'd ride up there and play and ride back, then he'd ride back," Taylor's father, Jack, said. "He lived up there pretty much."
VAUGHN TAYLOR, 30, is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour in his third year in golf's big leagues. Two years ago, he bought his own home, which is located about 10 minutes from the gates of Augusta National Golf Club.
This week, Taylor will be making that short drive to play in his first Masters Tournament, a trip of about the same duration as the one he used to make on his bike to Goshen.
His mode of transportation this time? One of the white Cadillac courtesy cars tournament participants drive during the Masters.
Taylor thought about driving his own car to the course, but he couldn't pass on the Cadillac perk.
"It will be pretty neat to get a white Cadillac," Taylor said. "You walk in the gate, and you see all the Cadillacs lined up. It's a tradition, and I think it would be a cool thing to be able to drive a Cadillac in."
Taylor, who has lived in Augusta since he was 6 weeks old, will be the first Augusta resident to play in the Masters since Walker Inman Jr. did it 50 years ago. When Augusta native Larry Mize played in his first Masters, in 1983, he was living in Columbus, Ga., which is still his residence.
And native son Charles Howell, who made his Masters debut in 2002, has lived in Orlando, Fla., since 2001.
DRIVING IN STYLE to the Masters shows how far Taylor has come in golf - not just from humble beginnings on a bike - but from being a high school golfer whom only one school, Augusta State University, wanted.
It wasn't because he wasn't good enough to play for other schools; they just didn't know who he was.
Taylor seldom played in out-of-town tournaments, and rarely played in national American Junior Golf Association events, which college recruiters deem a proving ground for prospects.
"You hate to say it, but it was more of a money issue," said childhood friend Jamie Felder, who lived around the block from Taylor at Goshen and was his teammate at Augusta State. "The kids at West Lake and Augusta Country Club, they had everything in front of them, whether they worked for it or didn't. They had the money and power to get things done.
"Vaughn comes from a working-class family," Felder said. "People relate to Vaughn for as far as he's come not having it handed to him."
Taylor simply says, "We didn't have all the money in the world."
His friend, Trey Keepers of Augusta, one of Taylor's first caddies when he turned pro in 1999, puts it more bluntly.
"The difference is, Vaughn didn't come from where these other guys came from," Keepers said. "He rode his bicycle to Goshen; he made it, and that makes it that much more sweeter. He wasn't spoon-fed. He worked hard and it was 'V' doing it. ... That fact will make him stronger in the end on the back nine in the Masters or the Open."
JIM KELSON WAS the Augusta State golf coach when Taylor was in high school. He knew about Taylor from local junior tournaments and signed him. At the time, Taylor was a hard worker in the final stages of building a beautiful, flowing golf swing.
"I guess he saw something in me; I don't know what he saw," Taylor said.
"First of all," Kelson said, "I saw a talented young man that had a lot of good technique, a good base. As I learned a little bit more about him, I realized he was very dedicated and had a passion for the game. As he became a player, he listened very well and was very receptive to learning. He took in information well.
"The one thing I recall the most about him is, I always thought, of all the players I've coached, he was his own best teacher," Kelson said. "He brought his own video equipment, and he analyzed his game. He kind of taught himself in a way. Nowadays, I think players rely on others too much, and it can be a crutch. Knowing his swing, I think, has really helped him."
WHEN TAYLOR WAS 15, his father decided his son needed a golf instructor. On the recommendation of former PGA Tour pro Jay Cudd of Augusta, he went to see West Lake Country Club assistant pro Chris Bottomley.
The Taylors couldn't afford to be members at West Lake, but the club allowed nonmembers to take lessons from their pros.
Bottomley was trying to cut back on his teaching, but he agreed to take a look at Taylor. They ended up working together until Taylor started college.
"I don't see any difference in his swing today," said Bottomley, an Augustan who is now a regional sales manager for a national medical center.
Bottomley said Taylor was "about 5-foot and 90 pounds" when he started working with him.
"He was shooting in the mid- to high 80s," Bottomley said. "He was a little kid, and his clubs were too big for him. He couldn't hit it very far."
For the three years they worked together, sometimes twice a week, Bottomley taught Taylor the golf swing, in sections, until the swing mechanics were fully ingrained.
"I thought I could break him, but he did exactly what I'd say," Bottomley said. "I was very precise with what I'd say, and he'd do it. I don't want to use the word stoic, but he was very focused on the task. He always had that goal (of playing professional golf) in mind. It's very rare to get a young man who works that hard and wants to be that good."
WHEN TAYLOR ARRIVED at Augusta State, Bottomley was already out of the golf business. But in Taylor's freshman year, his father asked Bottomley to meet with his son again.
"The last lesson I gave him was at Jones Creek (in Evans)," Bottomley said. "I told him, 'I've told you everything I know more than once, and you've superseded me. It's time for you to be your own teacher.' I'd like to say it was all me, but I didn't do it, Vaughn did it."
"When (Bottomley) left West Lake, after that Vaughn didn't have a swing coach," said Felder, Taylor's Augusta State teammate at the time. "He knows his swing. He knows what gets it wrong and what he needs to do to correct it."
BY HIS JUNIOR YEAR at Hephzibah High, which is located on the rural outskirts of Augusta, Taylor had decided he wanted to play professional golf for a living. He also decided no one would work harder at making that happen.
Even today, Kelson, who is now the golf coach at Tennessee, tells his players that Taylor is a classic example of what hard work can do for you.
"I always believed if I worked on the right things, like better technique, the better I'm going to play," said Taylor, who has worked with Jack Lumpkin of Sea Island, Ga., since his sophomore year in college.
"If you put in the time, that's what it takes," Taylor said. "I grew up around all kind of players, and I feel like I worked harder than they did. I don't know if that's why I made it and they didn't. It's fun to play video games and do all that, but at the same time, you can't be lazy. You've got to go work and get it."
Said Bottomley: "He wasn't a natural. ... Vaughn had to work twice as hard as Charles (Howell). Vaughn is the blue collar boy of Augusta busting his ass to get where he is. He deserves everything he's got."
Taylor's Augusta State teammates soon got the message that he was all business.
"He would work tremendously harder than anyone else," said former teammate Jeff Keck, another of Taylor's childhood friends. "He had a burning desire to make it happen. I remember how hard he was willing to work to make it."
On Saturdays, coach Kelson would have an 8 a.m. team practice at Forest Hills Golf Club. It would start on the practice range, then the team would play the course.
"A lot of us would be tired from the night before and joke around and have fun the first hour," Felder said.
Not Taylor.
"The minute Vaughn showed up, he was ready to work," Felder said. "As soon as he put those shoes on and got his clubs, he was there to work."
"I do remember those Saturday mornings, but I wouldn't say it was always that way," Taylor said, "but I was probably always a little that way. With going to school, the (limited) practice time we had, I felt I had to make the most if it. I've always had this sense of urgency. I'm a perfectionist; I've got to get it done right."
ONCE IN COLLEGE, Taylor became even more motivated to be a pro golfer, mainly because there was nothing else he wanted to do.
"I think that helped me," Taylor said. "Going to school and taking classes I wasn't interested in and playing college golf, I said, 'Man, I don't want to get a job, a real job. I didn't want to sit in an office.' I always liked being outdoors, playing sports."
"He said, 'I just can't see myself sitting in a suit behind a desk every day,'" his mother said.
"I worried some during his college days; I was trying to figure out what he was going to do when he finishes college," Taylor's father, Jack, said. "How's he going to make a living knowing the only thing he loves to do is play golf? I thought about it a lot. Is he going to get in the golf business? Is he going to be a club pro? I just couldn't see him teaching people. I guess he made his mind up and decided he wasn't going to leave anything to chance and he was going hard at it."
Said Taylor: "I started working harder when I had a couple of years of school left and I said, 'Let's see what happens.'"
Kelson has coached more than 60 collegiate golfers since he became head coach at Augusta State in 1992 (he went to Tennessee in 1998). Taylor, who came into college as a virtual unknown, is the first one to play in the Masters.
"It's a great story, no question about it," Kelson said. "I couldn't be any prouder."
AFTER COLLEGE, TAYLOR played on the developmental NGA/Hooters Tour, where he was rookie of the year in 1999 and won four times through 2003. He qualified for the Nationwide Tour in 2000, but was back on the Hooters Tour in 2001, 2002 and early 2003.
"I didn't know how long I would be able to do it," Taylor said of playing on the Hooters Tour. "I knew it was what I wanted to do, but I saw a lot of guys on the Hooters Tour 35 years old. There was a little bit of a time limit; you don't know how many years you'll be able to do that. I wanted to move up.
"But I would have stuck it out for years," Taylor said. "I would have given up on (playing the PGA Tour) only if there was no hope. I was going to stay as long as I needed to."
Taylor's path to the PGA Tour started when he made it through a Monday qualifier for the Nationwide Tour's Virginia Beach Classic in May 2003. He finished second, which exempted him into the next week's tournament, the SAS Carolina Classic, where he again was the runner-up. It was the start of a two-month hot streak that included a playoff victory in the Knoxville Open in late June. He finished 11th on the Nationwide Tour money list, earning a spot on the PGA Tour for 2004. For the season, he won more than $215,000, which meant he could buy a house. He did that in February 2004.
"It was a milestone," Taylor said. "I had been making $70,000 on the Hooters Tour and spending $50,000. I was making enough money to play each year, but I was still living at home, and I didn't have a life like most people do. It was frustrating. (In 2003) I finally made enough in one year where I could actually go out and buy my own house."
In late August of his PGA Tour rookie year in 2004, Taylor won the Reno-Tahoe Open in a four-way playoff. He earned $1.1 million that season, finishing 67th on the money list.
A year later, he won the Reno-Tahoe Open again, this time with a tournament record total 21-under-par 267.
The second victory, combined with an even stronger year than 2004 ($1.8 million earned in 2005) got him into his first Masters by finishing in the top 40 on the 2005 money list (he was 36th).
WITH NEARLY $3 MILLION in PGA Tour earnings over two seasons, Taylor had more money than he ever dreamed of. His first thought wasn't for himself, but his parents, who sacrificed for him when he was growing up.
"Anything I wanted to do in golf, if they could do it financially, they did it," Taylor recalls.
Taylor had already decided if he won on the PGA Tour, he would buy his parents a new house. After his first win in Reno, he told them of his plan. They didn't believe him.
"My mother didn't take him seriously at first," said Anne Rachels, Taylor's older sister. "I told her he's very serious. It still took several months before they started talking seriously about it. My mother is so excited; it's her dream house."
The 5,700-square-foot house, located not far from Taylor's house, should be ready in late spring or early summer.
Jack Taylor, who is in the construction business, has done some of the work himself. If it had been left up to a contractor, the house would be in the $850,000 price range, Lynn Taylor said.
"Now I'm able to let them do things they would never be able to do and never be able to dream to do," Taylor said. "I think they deserve it. It's nice to be able to help them out."
His parents grudgingly agreed to let Taylor pay for the house under one condition: that the ownership be in his name.
"We never expected anything back from Vaughn," Lynn Taylor said. "We told him we did what we did because we love him. I'm proud to know I have a kid that wants to do this."
Taylor loves cars, and after last season he thought about buying what he calls "a big, expensive, fancy sports car."
He considered an Aston Martin DB9 or Bentley Continental, both of which cost around $200,000.
"I contemplated a long time, but I just couldn't do it," Taylor said.
Instead, he bought a BMW M3, which is in the $80,000 range, but wasn't the more expensive model Taylor really wanted.
"I almost feel guilty because it's my third car," said Taylor, who has another BMW and a Dodge Magnum.
"The amount of money I've made the past couple of years, it's no big deal (to buy an expensive car), but I need to be conservative a little bit," Taylor said. "If I fall and break my leg tomorrow and never play again, then I might be in trouble if I'd blown money on a bunch of cars. I'm trying to stay grounded a little bit."
LYNN TAYLOR IS ALSO her son's bookkeeper, so most of his mail still goes to his parents' house at Goshen. She opens everything her son gets, unless it's personal. The official Masters invitation came in early January. It didn't have a return address on it.
"It didn't look personal, so I opened the thing up," Lynn Taylor said. "When I saw what it was, I started crying. It's just awesome. I can't believe he's actually done it."
Taylor was in Hawaii for the tour's first two tournaments in January, so he didn't see the invitation until his mother gave it to him in a stack of mail when he returned to Augusta.
"She kind of tipped me off it was in there," Taylor said. "When I read it, it was pretty special. It was strange to see my name on there. That's when it hits you a little bit."
"I think for him (qualifying for the Masters) means you're among the elite and there's a reason you got that invitation," Kelson, his old college coach, said. "When you get that invitation from Augusta National, that pretty much says that you're good."
TAYLOR ATTENDED HIS first Masters in 1986, when he was 10 years old and had just taken up golf. This is the 20th anniversary of that tournament, which happens to be one of the most famous in Masters history - Jack Nicklaus won his sixth Masters that year, at age 46.
"I really don't remember what my first impression was," Taylor said. "I didn't know much about the game. I'd just started. I wasn't even out there on Sunday, I'm almost sure. I didn't really know what it was about."
He continued to go each year. It wasn't long before Taylor realized how important the tournament is.
"It definitely inspired me," Taylor said. "Every year we went, I was farther along in playing and it was exciting to go out there and watch. I definitely believe it had an influence on me."
FELDER, WHO USED to ride his bike with Taylor to Goshen every day, said they would fantasize about playing the Masters one day.
"Sooner or later, I envisioned him getting in, but not as quickly as he has," Felder said. "It means everything in the world to him. Growing up in this town, you're bred on what would happen if you make the Masters. It's hallowed ground here to us in Augusta."
"If you're from Augusta and you've been out there, I just can't imagine what it would be like," said Spike Kelley, the head pro at Goshen Plantation, which Taylor still calls his home course.
"I think I always have dreamed of playing the Masters," Taylor said. "But I never thought it would actually happen. I remember when I used to go, the first thing I'd do is walk up to the putting green. I always remember looking into the clubhouse, and now I'm going to be around the clubhouse looking out. It's going to be kind of weird to be inside. It will be a role reversal a little bit."
"I'd say it's the biggest thing that's ever happened in his life," Jack Taylor said. "At such a young age and only playing on the tour two years, and he's gotten in. I imagine he has to pinch himself every now and then."
VAUGHN TAYLOR KNOWS the toughest shot he'll hit all week at Augusta National. It won't be a second-shot carry over the tributary to Rae's Creek on the par-5 13th, or the tee shot on the par-3 12th hole.
It will be that first tee shot of the opening round of the tournament. His family and friends will be there cheering him on, and marveling in his accomplishment of making it to the Masters.
"I don't know what it's going to be like when I stand up there," Taylor said. "I know it's been a dream and it's been a long ways to get there. It's going to be an experience unlike any other. I'm anxious, nervous and scared. I was glad when the year started so I would quit thinking about it."
Among those fans to watch Taylor tee off will be Kelley, who is not only the Goshen head pro and co-owner, but also a former PGA Tour winner (the 1975 Buick Open). When Kelley and partner Richard Finley took over Goshen in 2001, Taylor was still spinning his wheels on the Hooters Tour.
"He came in and said he'd like a place to play and practice," Kelley recalled. "He told me what he was trying to do. I went through the same process. It's really hard to find a place to play and practice. Now it's easy for him because he's 'Vaughn Taylor.' Before, he was the same guy but no one knew how good he could be, and he didn't know either."
Everyone knows now.
"If you look at how much he's progressed, it's remarkable," Kelley said. "Look at where he started three years ago and look at all the people he's beat. Look where he's ranked and just read that list of people below him. He has the potential to win major championships."
Back in 2001, Kelley told Taylor he could play and practice as much as he wanted at Goshen, under one condition - he'd first have to check in at the pro shop each time, which he still does.
"If he comes in today, he'll say, 'Can I hit some practice balls?'" Kelley said.
Kelley has framed photos of Taylor holding his Reno championship trophies in the walkway to the pro shop. He also talked Taylor into autographing photos of himself that Kelley gives to junior golfers.
As a member of the PGA of America, Kelley can attend the Masters any time he wants. He hasn't been in "three of four years," but he'll be there to see Taylor.
"It's fun to know when he stands on that first tee and he looks around, he'll see all his friends. I just hope the excitement overcomes the nervousness. That would be a tough tee shot for me to hit."
Kelley has told Taylor he'll also be there to see him when he finishes up on the 18th hole.
"I just hope it's real late on Sunday when I'm there," Kelley said. That would mean Taylor was in contention.
TAYLOR IS MILD-MANNERED and relaxed off the golf course, but on the course he turns into a different person.
"That's one thing that's really surprising that people don't realize: how competitive he is," Kelley said. "He's very competitive. You don't have to be angry or mean to be competitive. You can be a nice guy. He proves that."
"I was thinking about (Taylor's competitiveness) the other day when I was riding to work," his father, Jack, said. "I guess I saw it back when he turned pro. He wants to excel at golf. He just loves to play; he loves to compete. Even when he takes time off, he can't stand it. When he's home for more than a week, he's just wanting to go. It's just that desire."
Said Felder: "When we played he wasn't out there just for fun; he was out there to beat your brains out."
Jack Taylor saw a glimpse of his son's determination and competitiveness when Taylor was 14. His parents had entered him in the Future Masters tournament in Dothan, Ala., one of the few regional events he played in.
"I always remember it was the first big tournament he went to," Jack Taylor said. "You walk through a little walkway, and the small driving range is on the left.
"Vaughn walked through there and had his bag, and I can see him now. I looked back at him and he's stopped," Jack Taylor said. "There were probably 10 to 12 kids, which was all that practice tee would hold, and every one of them had a beautiful golf swing. He'd never seen that many good swings in one place at one time.
"He just stood there and looked. I knew what was going through his mind: 'Holy smokes, what have I gotten myself into?' But the competitiveness in him made him continue to play and work hard."
IN HIS JUNIOR YEAR in college, the ability and the desire were there for Taylor. He could have used some more confidence, though.
"The mental aspect was the biggest challenge," said Rachels, who is Taylor's older sister by 18 months. "I didn't know how he didn't know how good he was. I'd talk to Jamie (Felder) and his friends and wonder why he didn't know he was good enough."
"Vaughn lacked the killer instinct," his old teacher, Bottomley, said. "His ego is so Southern gentleman that, if anything, it held him back. In the heat of the battle, if you have a doubt, if you think too much, that's going to hurt you."
Taylor's mother once asked him why he didn't show much emotion when he won a tournament. He told her he didn't want to show up the playing partner he just beat.
Even on the Hooters Tour, where Taylor was a star, he often struggled in the final rounds because he lacked confidence.
"He would win one, but he would blow a couple of Sunday rounds," said Keepers, who caddied for Taylor on the Hooters Tour. "A lot of kids around Augusta would give him a hard time about it. I remember one night getting pissed. 'V' wasn't around, and I told these people, 'We've got to support 'V.'"
THE MENTAL BREAKTHROUGH came when Taylor won that Nationwide Tour event, the 2003 Knoxville Open.
"Since he won that tournament, he's 'Vaughn Taylor, he's the man,'" Bottomley said. "It gave him the confidence in himself to realize his true potential."
Said Keepers: "His win in Knoxville, that was the defining moment where Vaughn basically decided that he wasn't a Hooters or Nationwide player. He believed what I thought, that he was one of the best golfers in the world, and that was it."
"Winning that tournament and getting my tour card so quickly, that was a huge boost in confidence," Taylor said.
After his first victory in Reno, Taylor thought, "Hey, I've won a tournament, maybe I do belong."
The second Reno victory convinced him.
"It was more of a relief," Taylor said. "Out here, guys will tell you you're lucky if you win once. If you win a second time, you're good. I didn't want to be a one-hit wonder."
His parents have seen a change in their son's personality since that second victory.
"He's so happy and content," Jack Taylor said. "He's more relaxed this year because he feels the pressure is off because he's made it out there two years and he's got two more years of exemption."
"He's changed; he's come out of his shell," Lynn Taylor said. "He talks more ... a little bit more, not a whole lot more. The maturity is there, too, that I see. The self-satisfaction this year, especially. He's more confident, and I'm proud of him for that. For Vaughn, oh gosh, he's so shy. This golf has brought him out a lot."
TO TAYLOR'S GREAT DELIGHT, even Tiger Woods knows who he is. That wasn't the case when they were paired in the final round of the 2005 Mercedes Championships, the PGA Tour's season-opener for only winners from 2004.
"I walked to the first tee, and there were people everywhere," Taylor said. "I'm standing there, and I'm so nervous. I kind of looked at (my caddie, Adam Hayes) like, 'Are you kidding me?' I just appeared on the tee, and I'm sure Tiger was thinking, 'Who is this guy?'"
That's when Taylor's competitive fire kicked in.
"I didn't expect him to know who I was; I was just glad to be playing against him," Taylor said. "You have to let him know who you are by playing well and earn his respect."
Woods beat Taylor that day at the Mercedes, shooting 68 to Taylor's 70. Woods tied for third and Taylor tied for eighth in the tournament.
Four months later, at the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte, N.C., they were paired again in the final round. This time, Taylor shot 67 to Woods' 71. Taylor also beat Woods in the tournament (tied for fifth to tied for 11th).
Early in the final round at the Wachovia, when it was obvious Taylor was putting together a great round and Woods wasn't, the crowd started to pull for Taylor, even chanting his name instead of Woods'.
"At Wachovia, it was sweet revenge," Taylor said. "That was another day I'll never forget. My parents came up, and I think Tiger had the tee (honors) two times all day. I holed out a wedge on No. 11 for eagle and chipped in for birdie on No. 17."
Three months later, Taylor won the Reno tournament again.
"(Woods) told me congratulations on the putting green in Boston," Taylor said, referring to the Deutsche Bank Championship, held two weeks after Reno.
What's more, Woods had come up with a nickname for Taylor.
"He started calling me VT now when I see him," Taylor said. "He'll say, 'what's up, VT?' That kind of hit home: I've got a nickname from Tiger now. My old caddie, Trey Keepers, said Tiger calls everybody by their nickname. Trey said, 'You've got a nickname now.'"
It also points out how far Taylor has come in golf: From a child riding a bike to a semiprivate golf course, to a young man who didn't have the money to play in many regional junior tournaments, to beating Tiger Woods.
WHEN TAYLOR PLAYED for Augusta State, the team had the opportunity to play Augusta National twice, once in his freshman year and once when he was a senior. Both times, the team drove down Magnolia Lane, the famed road that leads to the clubhouse.
Taylor took that drive again in the fall of 2005, once he qualified for the 2006 Masters. As a participant, he's allowed to play the course as many times as he wishes leading up to the Masters.
"It was definitely different because I was cruising in by myself," Taylor said. "I was definitely going pretty slow, just thinking about it. It was a great feeling. It was one I'll never forget. Even though I was just going there to play, I knew the reason I was getting to go play."
This week, Taylor will make the same drive up Magnolia Lane as his new friend, Woods, the defending champion and four-time Masters champ.
"It's pretty cool that he knows who I am," Taylor said.
When Woods was growing up in California, he imagined Magnolia Lane being much longer than it is in person. Taylor didn't need imagination; he saw it when he was 10.
Taylor just never expected to be driving down Magnolia in a Cadillac on his way to play in the 70th Masters.
"It's hard to put into words what this means," Taylor said.
"Both of us are so proud of him, that he has the fortitude and has risen to the level where he is," Jack Taylor said.
"He takes what he has and makes the best of it, and goes a little bit farther," Lynn Taylor said.
Reach David Westin at (706) 724-0851 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.
