Vaughn Joseph Taylor (born March 9, 1976) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour.

Vaughn Taylor
Personal information
Full nameVaughn Joseph Taylor
Born (1976-03-09) March 9, 1976 (age 48)
Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight160 lb (73 kg; 11 st)
Sporting nationality United States
ResidenceAugusta, Georgia, U.S.
SpouseLeot Taylor, divorced
Children1
Career
CollegeAugusta State University
Turned professional1999
Current tour(s)PGA Tour
Former tour(s)Web.com Tour
NGA Hooters Tour
Professional wins8
Highest ranking37 (April 15, 2007)[1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour3
Korn Ferry Tour1
Other4
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT10: 2007
PGA ChampionshipT28: 2005
U.S. OpenCUT: 1998, 2007
The Open ChampionshipT66: 2006

Born in Roanoke, Virginia, Taylor was raised in Augusta, Georgia, from infancy. After attending Hephzibah High School,[2] he played golf for Augusta State University where he was an honorable mention All-American his senior season. He continues to reside in the Augusta area with his wife, Leot.

Taylor turned professional in 1999. He played his early years on the Hooters and Nationwide Tours, getting valuable experience before playing his first full year with a PGA Tour card in 2004. He won four times on the NGA Hooters Tour, and once on the Nationwide Tour at the Knoxville Open. Taylor has three victories to his name on the PGA Tour; his first two victories coming in consecutive years at the Reno-Tahoe Open, an alternate event, in 2004 and 2005. His victory in 2004 was one of five wins by rookies that year and came after holing an 11-foot birdie on the first extra hole during a four-man sudden-death playoff. He had also previously had to sink a 14-foot birdie putt on the final hole of regulation play to make it into the playoff. In 2005, he led the event wire-to-wire and held a six-stroke advantage entering the final round, to claim a comfortable victory by three strokes from Jonathan Kaye.

After a year that included a career high six top-10s, Taylor qualified to play on the U.S. Ryder Cup team for the first time in 2006. He earned a half point for his team with a record of 0–1–1.

Taylor's highest world ranking was 37th in 2007 and career high in the FedEx Cup placing was 35th in 2010.

Taylor started the 2015–16 season playing on both the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour, having only past champion status on the PGA Tour after finishing 151st in the FedEx Cup, just a fraction of a point from conditional status. He made two starts on the PGA Tour before making two starts on the Web.com Tour, where he missed the cut in Panama and withdrew due to illness in Colombia. In February 2016, Taylor won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, his first PGA Tour win since August 2005.[3] He started the week as first alternate, only earning entry after Carl Pettersson withdrew, and had not been fully exempt since 2012. The win was also Taylor's first at a non-alternate event and moved him from 447th in the world to 100th.[4]

Professional wins (8)

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PGA Tour wins (3)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 Aug 22, 2004 Reno–Tahoe Open −10 (67-67-69-75=278) Playoff   Stephen Allan,   Hunter Mahan,
  Scott McCarron
2 Aug 21, 2005 Reno–Tahoe Open (2) −21 (64-67-64-72=267) 3 strokes   Jonathan Kaye
3 Feb 14, 2016 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am −17 (70-68-67-65=270) 1 stroke   Phil Mickelson

PGA Tour playoff record (1–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2004 Reno–Tahoe Open   Stephen Allan,   Hunter Mahan,
  Scott McCarron
Won with birdie on first extra hole
2 2009 Turning Stone Resort Championship   Matt Kuchar Lost to par on sixth extra hole
3 2010 Shell Houston Open   Anthony Kim Lost to par on first extra hole

Nationwide Tour wins (1)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 Jun 29, 2003 Knoxville Open −20 (68-69-67-64=268) Playoff   Joe Ogilvie

Nationwide Tour playoff record (1–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2003 Knoxville Open   Joe Ogilvie Won with birdie on first extra hole

NGA Hooters Tour wins (4)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 Aug 8, 1999 Hooters Classic (Echo Farms) −16 (68-66-66-72=272) 2 strokes   Jason Buha,   John Kimbell
2 Feb 18, 2001 NGA Meadow Brook Golf Classic −21 (63-69-64-63=259) 6 strokes   Greg Gregory,   Zoran Zorkic
3 Apr 8, 2001 Triad Classic −22 (66-65-65-66=262) 1 stroke   Eric Epperson
4 Mar 16, 2003 Southern Hills Classic −28 (67-68-62-63=260) 6 strokes   Joe Meade

Results in major championships

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Tournament 1998 1999
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship
PGA Championship
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Masters Tournament CUT T10 CUT
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship T66 CUT
PGA Championship T28 CUT CUT CUT
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Masters Tournament CUT
U.S. Open
The Open Championship
PGA Championship CUT T33
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

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Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 1
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2
Totals 0 0 0 0 1 1 14 4
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 1 (four times, current)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship

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Tournament 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
The Players Championship T32 T8 CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT T41 C CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Canceled after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Results in World Golf Championships

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Results not in chronological order prior to 2015.

Tournament 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Championship T32
Match Play
Invitational T18 T61 T27 T38
Champions
  Did not play

"T" = tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

U.S. national team appearances

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Week 15 2007 Ending 15 Apr 2007" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  2. ^ "Vaughn Taylor profile". PGA Tour. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  3. ^ "Vaughn Taylor wins Pebble Beach as Phil Mickelson lips out putt on 18". ESPN. Associated Press. February 15, 2016.
  4. ^ "Schwartzel Strolls To Tshwane Victory". OWGR. February 15, 2016.
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