Taylor's no longer sweeping the dew

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. - It's your first major championship as a professional and you reach the weekend two groups in front of Tiger Woods.

Perfect, right? Well ...

Vaughn Taylor found out in the third round of the PGA Championship at Baltusrol Country Club that finally making the major fraternity can be a lonely experience.

"It was different," said Taylor of his dew-sweeping duties alongside a non-competing marker. "You almost feel like you don't belong."

Taylor, 29, has been trying to feel like he belongs in this crowd since his days at Hephzibah High and Augusta State University. Only once before has he competed in a major, qualifying and missing the cut as an amateur at the 1998 U.S. Open at The Olympic Club.

It took until the end of his second full season as a PGA Tour pro to finally make it into a major field and he got to experience what it's like to make the cut. That it was with a local club pro as a wingman doesn't matter.

Taylor wasn't sure how to handle his loner status for Saturday's third round. Growing up in Augusta, he'd been to enough Masters Tournaments to be familiar with the non-competing markers and thought that's how it was for majors.

But Friday night, Taylor's choices were explained to him. He could play alone and chase the heels of the course maintenance crew, or make some club pro's life by accepting a little company. Having played alone in 2 hours at the B.C. Open in July, Taylor could have motored around in the stifling heat.

Taylor, always too nice to disappoint someone, invited the marker - Roycebrook club pro Mike Sparks, the vice president of the New Jersey section.

"He didn't have to do that," said Sparks. "That was real classy of him."

Sparks struggled from nerves and 10 days of inactivity, sniping a few drives like an average hack. Taylor graciously said it was "understandable."

Taylor can certainly empathize. This hasn't been the easiest season for him. Since starting fashionably well with an eight-place finish in the season-opening Mercedes Championships, Taylor missed six

straight cuts before finally finding a groove.

A fifth-place finish in the Wachovia Championship backed up by a T-18 at the Byron Nelson netted almost $300,000 and had him moving to the fore.

But the evening after the final round of the Nelson, Taylor pulled something in his abdomen while working out. Trying to play in a pro-am a week later at the Colonial exacerbated the problem forcing him to withdraw in severe pain.

"I really hurt myself then," he said.

Trying to come back three weeks later at Congressional Country Club, Taylor was scoring low and among the top-five in the first round reinjured himself doing light weights and woke up the next morning in so much pain he couldn't putt. He withdrew and put away the clubs for two more weeks.

"I didn't give it enough time," he said of what turned out to be strained tendons and cartilage in his ribs and abdomen. Taylor played in four events before this week's PGA, missing three cuts and finishing 67th in the B.C. Open.

"I haven't been the same since," he said of the injury.

He came into his first major as a pro with limited expectations. It was even harder coming by himself to New Jersey late Sunday night after attending the funeral in Augusta for his grandfather, Winton Murphy.

After an opening 75, Taylor bounced back with 69 on Friday to make the cut on the number. On Saturday, he was 5-over through 13 holes before making birdie on four of the last five to shoot 71 and avoid sweeping the dew again.

"You always wish you played better, but it's nice to be out on a weekend to experience it," Taylor said. "It was a good finish.

"I didn't want to go off first again. When you're back in the mix playing with other guys you're more comfortable."

He will tee off today tied for 54th along side former fellow PGA Championship rookie Yang Yong-Eun.

Next week he'll return to Reno, Nev., to defend his title in the Reno-Tahoe Open with a major championship appearance under his belt.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "This weekend is definitely helping out a lot. Whatever you go to next is going to be easier."

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.