For years, both while looping on mini-tours and then the PGA Tour, Todd Montoya has kept a secret.
The New Mexico native — who has caddied for Ryan Blaum, Charlie Wi, Ryuji Imada, Billy Mayfair, Scott Gutschewski, Doug LaBelle II, Tag Ridings, Nicholas Thompson, Kevin Durkin and now Brian Stuard — was hesitant to open up to most in the golf community about being gay.
“Something that you kept secret for so many years amongst people that you consider your friends and your co-workers — over the course of time, you grow close to them and until people that I care about know that I’m gay, they really don’t know me for my entirety,” Montoya said.
In a heartwarming piece by Golf Channel reporter Kira Dixon that aired on Monday night, Montoya revealed that he’s come out to the entire community, including Stuard, with whom he’s worked for several years.
Montoya gets emotional on-air while reading a text from Stuard soon after telling his boss, knowing that he had his player’s full support.
“I feel 100 percent different. I feel like I’m walking on air. I feel like Brian has given me the greatest gift I could get, I feel like he’s given me my freedom,” he said.
Montoya, who made news back in 2020 for winning a raffle for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico that netted him a half-million-dollar home, is believed to now be the first openly gay caddie on the PGA Tour. He added that he hopes his story — and the acceptance he’s found in his work environment — will help others who are struggling with a similar decision.
“My hope is that they can see someone who has taken that step and found in their life that it’s OK to be yourself and to be out,” he said.
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