Browsing: Pro

If you’re a human being with eyes and ears, it has been hard to survive the last several years untouched by the cultural zeitgeist of Taylor Swift, which has made it hard, in turn, to avoid having an opinionof her.

Your NFL games, your Thanksgiving tables and your Instagram feeds have turned Swift from a pop music superstar into a regular piece of your everyday life — so, like most other pieces of your everyday life, you have developed feelings.

This turns out to be the most impressive thing about Taylor Swift — not your opinion, but the fact you have one. It reflects Swift’s greatest success as an artist: Her ability to make fortune out of her fame, and vice versa.

The first part of that equation — fame — has been liability in the pro golf world over the last decade. As the pro game has evolved from a part-time sprint into a 50-week-per-year marathon, the outcome hasn’t quite been Swiftmania. Rather than obsessing over pro golf, many fans have lapsed into a state of ambivalence — fatigued by the length of the season, the lack of anticipation or cohesion between events, and the slog of 11.5 months without a break. Players have felt it, too; when LIV entered the sport in the early 2020s, its defectors touted schedule freedom as one of the deciding factors in taking the plunge (though tens of millions in signing bonuses certainly didn’t hurt).

At the time of pro golf’s schedule expansion, the prevailing theory held that adding events was a necessary component of golf’s desire for ever-growing fortune. (If players wanted to make more money, the theory went, they had to provide more hours of television coverage to the networks.) In some ways, this theory proved true — the enhanced schedule helped the PGA Tour ink a historic set of 10-year rights agreements in 2019, and LIV expanded its own schedule to bolster revenue as its losses crept near $5 billion.

But adding volume without concern for quality was always a flawed strategy. Consider how it might look if the business in question was your local diner. Your diner’s ability to make money is constrained by the number of tables in its dining room, but its business is much more directly affected by the quality of its food. Your local diner could make more money by building an additional dining room, but if it came at the expense of the food quality (or even the food consistency), the momentary boost in revenue wouldn’t be worth the long-term decline in reputation. Your diner’s most loyal customers (the diehards) might stick around and learn the plates that still worked, but its exposure to the broader community would be stunted, and the business would start shrinking.

This type of trend is what new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has been hired to reverse. Rolapp, a longtime NFL executive, has entered the lead job at golf’s largest pro tour promising “significant change” to the business. He has been careful to mention scarcityand simplicityas two of his administration’s primary focuses — scaling back the size and menu of the PGA Tour restaurant in pursuit of a better overall meal.

“I think the focus will be to create events that really matter,” Rolapp said. “Competition should be easy to follow. The regular season and postseason should be connected in a way that builds towards the Tour Championship in a way that all sports fans can understand.”

Who is Brian Rolapp? Insiders speak on PGA Tour CEO’s pedigree and plan

By:

James Colgan

Of course, the same argument works in reverse: Adding quality without concern for volume is also a bad idea. If your local diner was the best restaurant in town but only could seat 10 people per night, it might achieve great fame, but it might never amass a great fortune. What good would it be to run the best restaurant in town if you couldn’t afford to pay your rent?

This brings us back to Swift, the pop star with the best of both worlds: fame andfortune, quality andvolume. Two weeks ago, Swift’s newest album, The Life of a Showgirl, shattered another set of music industry records, including the biggest sales week of any album ever. Later, Swift followed up that act by announcing her latest creative endeavor: A Disney+ mini-series following her through the making of another multi-billion-dollar entity, the Erastour. These newly sprouted money trees were only part of a broader list of new Taylor Swift offerings that surrounded the album release, like a limited-release movie theater run during the album’s opening weekend, a limited-edition vinyl in Summertime Pink Spritz Shimmer, or the New Heightspodcast appearance that set the whole album machine in motion.

You did not need to look long at Swift over these last few weeks to see a unifying theory emerge: Swift has a core product (her music), an events business (her world tour(s)), a video business (her TV and film offerings) and a hard products business (vinyls, merch and other goodies.) In each of these tentacles, Swift has built entry points for every type of consumer: Her casual fans (people who know her face when they see her on Sunday Night Football), her core audience (her regular listeners and concert attendees) and her diehard audience (her superfans). In each of these tentacles and to each group of fans, Swift has an innate sense of how to deliver the goods, from catchy Billboard No. 1s to the hidden metaphors inside a deep well of “secret tracks.”

At the intersection of the worlds of quality and volume, Swift has found … both. She has built the music world’s biggest diner and supplied it with a massive marketing budget, a never-ending stream of regulars and a special off-menu menu for the diehards. Everywhere you look, Swift is selling a product that reinforces her fame and enlarges her fortune.

The result? Swift is a billionaire, claiming a net worth of $1.6 billion in 2025, according to Forbes, and an unquestioned vice grip on the title of world’s most famous celebrity.

The Swift lesson for pro golf is simple: The choice between quality and volume is not binary. You can have both, but you cannot have it easily. The balance between these two traits exists on a razor’s edge — and requires an incredibly deft hand.

After all, without Swift’s obsession with the infinitesimally small details of songwriting and composition, she never could have authored of a steady stream of No. 1 hits. And without No. 1 hit status, she never could have dreamt of worldwide fame. Without worldwide fame, Swift could never have pulled off a cultural phenomenon like the Erastour. And without the Erastour — and the massive, skillfully operated business underpinning it — Swift could never dream of billionaire status or a regular seat at your Thanksgiving table.

It is in these small details that fortunes are won and lost, and in these small details that pro golf faces a massive opportunity. The sport already has no shortage of volume and plenty of quality — now it must marry those things together to become a business much greater than the sum of its parts.

Eventually, the goal is to make the world listen to you, but first you have to listen reallyclosely to the world around you.

It’s pro golf’s time to listen, and the journey begins on track 1.

The difficulty of playing your way onto the PGA Tour is well known. But what about the steep financial costs of pursuing your PGA Tour dream? We have a clear window into that reality thanks to Korn Ferry Tour pro James Nicholas.

The 29-year-old Yale grad, who hails from New York City, is one of hundreds of elite pros trying to graduate to the big leagues. In 2025, he played in 26 Korn Ferry Tour events, finishing 64th in the standings.

That was good enough to keep his KFT card for 2026, but not enough to make it to the PGA Tour.

But Nicholas is also a burgeoning social media star, with popular Instagram and YouTube accounts.

And in his latest Instagram post, Nicholas gave a transparent look into his costs and earnings from a long year of pro golf.

Over 11 made cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour, Nicholas pulled in $173,507. Add to that $43,544 for a T61 finish at the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont, bonuses and a small amount from the Minor League Golf Tour, and Nicholas earned a total of $255,058 on the course in 2025. That figure does not include sponsorships.

But most revealing were his costs. From travel expenses (AirBnbs, rental cars, flights, etc.) to caddie pay, coaches, trainers and even his YouTube crew, Nicholas’ total costs broke down to about $150,000 for the year.

All in all, he played well enough to end the year with a net gain of over $100,000.

You can check out a full breakdown of Nichols’ expenses and earnings below.

James Nicholas’ golf expenses for 2025

Caddie

$58,000

Accommodations

$27,747

Flights

$17,036

YouTube team

$13,100

Food

$12,809

Coaches

$5,855

Rental Cars

$4,661

Entry Fees

$4,600

Trainer

$2,650

Miscellaneous

$3,601

Locker and club repair

$850

Equipment and apparel

Free

Total expenses

$150,909

James Nicholas’ 2025 on-course earnings

Korn Ferry Tour

$173,507

U.S. Open

$43,544

Minor League Golf Tour

$1,711

Bonuses

$35,900

Total earnings

$255,058

Welcome back to the Monday Finish, where we’re taking driver out of the bag — but hitting tee shots into the jungle anyway. To the golf news!

GOLF STUFF I LIKE

Tommy Fleetwood wins Act III.

When Tommy Fleetwood won the DP World India Championship on Sunday, he made his son Frankie’s dreams come true.

Recently Frankie mentioned he’s never been able to run onto the green to celebrate one of his father’s wins. Tommy literally wrote his son’s quote down — “You have never won and I’ve run onto the green” — and then, within the week, made that happen. Tommy Fleetwood is a terrific golfer. He’s also apparently an even better dad. What did you do for your kid this weekend?

But the win wasn’t just cool for Frankie. This was another special moment in what has become two months of special moments as Tommy has put together the best stretch of his golfing life.

This is a story of resilience. Think about the moment in late June, when Fleetwood limped in with bogey at the Travelers Championship and Keegan Bradley made birdie to win. At that point Fleetwood was famous for the fact that on the PGA Tour, he just couldn’t quite get it done. And if he’d allowed it to, that could have been a dark enough moment that it consumed him. Instead? He used it to kickstart a special stretch. Think of what happened in the weeks and months that followed:

-He finished top four in all three FedEx Cup playoff events…
-…including a win at the Tour Championship, his first on the PGA Tour
-He was the only player on either team to win four points at the Ryder Cup, where he led Europe to victory
-He won the DP World India Championship
-He’s now cracked the top five in the OWGR, while advanced analytics suggest he’s even better than that; DataGolf has him up to No. 2 in the world

Along the way he (and his family!) have completed impressive side quests. Frankie delivered the quote of the year at the Masters (his declaration that he was “trying my hardest” was inspiration for everyone, everywhere). Tommy has delivered enough philosophical gems of his own that he could start a cult, or at least a self-help podcast (he described this Sunday as “another opportunity to show a good attitude”). He even stunned in traditional Indian attire at a tournament party this weekend, where he looked like royalty (and further reinforced the idea that Tommy Fleetwood would do well wherever you put him).

Fleetwood’s latest accomplishment also completes a fascinating third act of this year in men’s professional golf. Rory McIlroywas the clear star of the first act; he won at Pebble Beach, won the Players and won the Masters to complete the career grand slam. Scottie Scheffler was the clear star of Act II, winning two majors and a half-dozen times in all as he put even more space between himself and the rest of the world. I posed this question during the FedEx Cup playoffs — behind McIlroy and Scheffler, who’s the PGA Tour’s third-biggest star? It wasn’t long before we got our answer. Fleetwood has established himself as the champion of Act III. Soon we’ll put the pressure back on him to win a major, but in the meantime he’s the clear winner of this post-majors season.

And perhaps the best father, too.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Tommy Fleetwood won the DP World India Championship; he also moved up to No. 25 on the DP World Tour’s Order of Merit. (Oddly enough he’d been lights out on the PGA Tour but struggled in his European starts this season.)

Sei Young Kimwon the LPGA’s BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea; it was her 13th LPGA Tour victory but her first in five years — since she won the Women’s PGA Championship in 2020.

Justin Leonard won the PGA Tour Champions’ Dominion Energy Charity Classic with an eagle on the 18th hole at the Country Club of Virginia.

SHORT HITTERS

10 golf things on my mind.

1. Let’s start here: I’m worried about the start of next year’s PGA Tour season. We’d been trying to read the tea leaves about a replacement venue for The Sentry, but it now seems at serious risk of … not happening at all? Bob Harig of Sports Illustratedcompiled some evidence including some telling commentary from Mark Rolfing on the Fried Egg podcast. More to come here — this feels like a story that’s partly about The Sentry and partly about the future of the PGA Tour at large.

2. Viktor Hovland addressed the Ryder Cup’s “Envelope Rule” and handled the situation well. I had no issue with the deployment of the rule this Ryder Cup (I was fascinated by the rule in advance of the competition!) but I do think both that rule and the rule that you can tie and “retain” the cup are outdated. Instead I think the Ryder Cup should steal a suggestion from our Jessica Marksbury: The only name in an envelope should be the player (maybe players?) who will go represent your team in a sudden-death shootout in the event of a tie.

3. Speaking of Hovland — plenty of these guys travel the world and see very little besides the airport, the golf course and the four walls of their hotel room. But not Hovland, who explored Delhi via tuk tuk and also leaned into the tournament’s Diwali celebration.

“The food is very different, just — everything is very different. It takes a little bit of time to get used to, but I’ve definitely embraced it this week because I just really love going to see new places, and India is definitely one of my favorite places I’ve been to,” he said after a T6 finish. “I love it.”

i like to think Viktor Hovland didn’t hit a single shot in practice this week and instead has just been wandering around Delhi Golf Club investigating tombs pic.twitter.com/1fUrXLMZea

— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) October 15, 2025

4. Keita Nakajima, the former longtime World No. 1 amateur, was the 54-hole leader in India and went on to finish second. It’s been a feast-or-famine season for Nakajima on the DP World Tour; he has three runner-up finishes, three more top-11 finishes and just two other finishes better than T40 in 22 starts. But he’s now just inside the bubble to earn one of the DP World Tour’s 10 PGA Tour cards for 2026. At World No. 101 he’s also the second highest ranked Japanese player in the world behind Hideki Matsuyama.

5. A whopping 42 percent of the field used no driver at the short, tight, jungle-lined Delhi Golf Club, including Fleetwood, Hovland and Rory McIlroy. It’s certainly not an all-out fix for golf’s distance problem — but as someone who often plays Seattle’s bowling alley-style golf courses, it was refreshing to see that there are some holes too scary for these guys to hit driver.

6. The LPGA’s Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown kicks off this week and could make for some late-night West-Coast viewing (Saturday’s semifinals air on Golf Channel at 7:30 p.m. ET, while Sunday’s final airs at midnight). I’m struck by the evenness of the four-player teams; womens’ golf is remarkably deep in the U.S. but also Japan, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and Sweden — and there’s a “World Team” that’s as talented as anybody. (The event will also certainly suffer from the absence of World No. 2 Nelly Korda, who remains the sport’s biggest draw.)

7. Neither played this week but it’s fascinating to see two Swedes at very different points in their career — Ludvig Aberg at 25 and Alex Noren at 43 — adjacent each other at Nos. 16 and 17 in the OWGR.

8. This week’s Bank of Utah Championship may be my favorite fall venue; it’s red-rock, high-desert golf at its most stunning and should make for some compelling evening viewing. It’s a distinctly “fall” field, with Maverick McNealy, Michael Thorbjornsen and Noren as tournament favorites, but there are plenty of names you’ll know teeing it up: Jason Day, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Sahith Theegala, Joel Dahmen.

9. Good Good Golf announced they’re sponsoring a PGA Tour event in Austin next fall. This is fascinating for one obvious reason — wait, the YouTubers are now in the business of sponsoring the Tour?! — but also because it’s interesting to see the Tour continue to double down on its fall season and also return to Austin.

10. Our Nick Piastowski and producer Darren Riehl visited Cedar Creek Corrections Center in Washington for an inspiring story called Golf Behind Bars; it’s worth your time.

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

The Mariners are in Game 7 of the ALCS. The Seahawks are playing in Monday Night Football. The weather is getting worse but oh boy are the sports getting better. (Even the Kraken are playing tonight!)

This feels like an exceedingly rare combination, especially because this is such a lovable Mariners team and the Seahawks are an unexpected delight. I’ve maintained my New England fandom so I feel sort of one step removed from complete emotional investment, but still — this is awesome. Go Ms.

We’ll see you next week!

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

Catcher Gabriel Davalillo comes from a long line of baseball players from Venezuela.

His grandfather Vic played 16 seasons in the big leagues. His uncle Pompeyo was also a big leaguer. His father David spent five years in the minors with the Angels. His brother David Jr. is a righthander in the Rangers organization.

Following a strong offensive showing in his debut campaign, Gabriel looks to be the next Davalillo to carve out a successful career in professional baseball.

“He’s grown up around the game, (which has) certainly benefited him and his career,” Angels assistant GM Joey Prebynski said. “He has a great foundation with his family and the baseball background.”

A bat-first catcher, Davalillo was the Angels’ top international signee in 2025 at $2 million. He immediately exhibited his offensive prowess in the Dominican Summer League, slashing .302/.408/.518 with seven home runs in 41 games.

Few players were as impressive as Gabriel Davalillo in their professional debuts this season.

The 17-year-old hit .302/.408/.518 with seven home runs

Take a look 👀 pic.twitter.com/W5kSDpvgk2

— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) September 18, 2025

An aggressive hitter, Davalillo demonstrated the ability to hit for power with a 90th percentile exit velocity of 102.5 mph, while limiting his in-zone whiff rate to about 10%. That translated to a strikeout rate of 12.4%.

“He has a tremendous amount of offensive upside from a run-production standpoint,” Prebynski said. “He does a great job of being able to control the zone. He has plate coverage and the ability to stay in the zone and stay on plane. There is natural rhythm and timing.

“Those are the things Gabriel does really well.”

The Angels are less certain about the 17-year-old’s future behind the plate.

Davalillo has an above-average arm, but his slow transfers held him back in the DSL, where he threw out just six of 34 basestealers.

The Angels moved Davalillo to third base during instructional league to add versatility to his profile and manage his workload behind the plate. The plan is for him to split time between the two positions next season.

“There’s different ways to look at him,” Prebynski said. “There’s athleticism. There’s body control. There’s physicality and there’s strength. When he has those foundational things we feel good about where he’s trending.”

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AEW WrestleDream 2025 delivered a massive night from the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri, but nothing stood out more than Mercedes Mone making history. The CEO walked into WrestleDream with the TBS Championship on the line and walked out with her 11th career title, officially setting a new record in pro wrestling.

Mone issued an open challenge at WrestleDream, and speculation swirled about who would step up. The answer came when Mina Shirakawa arrived as the ROH Womenâ€s Television Champion. That turned the bout into a title-for-title showdown, guaranteeing fans a new double champion before the night was over.

The match was physical from the start, with Mina taking control through her striking offense and working over Moneâ€s knee. Near falls and submission holds pushed the action to the limit. At one point, Mercedes dug into her bag of tricks, nailing a thumb to the eye before hitting the Statement Maker. Even after connecting with a Money Maker, she still couldnâ€t keep Mina down.

In the end, Mone pulled out a roll-up pin and used the ropes for leverage to secure the victory. Her win didnâ€t end quietly, as Kris Statlander stormed out immediately after to cut off her celebration and get revenge.

With the victory, Mercedes now stands alone in history, holding 11 recognized championship belts—surpassing Ultimo Guerreroâ€s previous record. To mark the milestone, she even updated her social media name to “Ultimo Mone.â€

Do you think Mercedes Moneâ€s record-breaking run proves sheâ€s the greatest of her era, or will someone else eventually top her reign of championships? Share your thoughts in the comments.

October 18, 2025 10:48 pm

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NXT tag team Hank Walker & Tank Ledger will experience Japan for the first time when they make their Pro Wrestling NOAH debut this month.

Hank & Tank will be in action at NOAH’s Sunny Voyage 2025 on October 26, taking on Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf. The show is being held at Hodogaya Public Hall in Kanagawa and will be broadcast live on the Wrestle Universe streaming service.

📢 10/26 Kasukabe — New WWE NXT stars join the action!

SUNNY VOYAGE 2025
📅 10/26 (Sun) 1:00 PM Start / 12:00 PM Doors
🟠Saitama • Kasukabe Fureai Cube

Full card & event details ⤵ï¸
🔗 https://t.co/qyyjkTF92U#noah_ghc #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/5k6IQSSTnh

— PRO WRESTLING NOAH (@noahglobal) October 17, 2025

With both being former college football players, Hank & Tank were put together as a babyface team in NXT starting in 2023. They had a four-month reign with the NXT Tag Team titles earlier this year.

WWE and Pro Wrestling NOAH have a working relationship that has seen NXT wrestlers like Charlie Dempsey, Harlem Lewis, Tavion Heights, and Josh Briggs travel to Japan and get more ring time working in a non-WWE environment. Yoshiki Inamura has also crossed over from NOAH to the NXT roster.

The October 26 NOAH event will be headlined by an eight-man tag match pitting KENTA, Ulka Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo & Hayata against Kaito Kiyomiya, Harutoki, Alejandro & Kai Fujimura.

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Colt Knost, the former PGA Tour pro turned CBS Golf analyst and radio/podcast host, turned heads earlier this week when he revealed that, after 18 years as a professional golfer, he had applied to regain his amateur status from the United States Golf Association.

Two decades ago, Knost was an elite amateur; in 2007, he joined Bobby Jones and Jay Sigel as the only players to win three USGA titles in the same year. (In Knost’s case, those wins came at the U.S. Amateur Public Links, the U.S. Amateur and, as part of a team effort, the Walker Cup.) For five weeks that year, Knost held the top spot in the World Amateur Golf Ranking before making his first start as a professional at the Valero Texas Open.

Knost joined the PGA Tour in 2009 and went on to notch nine top-10 finishes in his career and more than $4 million in earnings. He played his last full-schedule season in 2015-16 and retired from competitive golf following a missed cut at the 2020 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Two years later, he joined CBS as a full-time analyst.

When Knost, who now is 40, announced his desire to regain his amateur status, he said his decision was partly motivated by wanting to qualify for the U.S. Mid-Amateur, but that no one should be under the illusion that his game still packs the punch that it did when he was in peak form. On Wednesday, on Knost’s Sirius XM show, Knost added that he also has dreams of one day captaining a U.S. Walker Cup team, and that being an amateur “would probably help” his chances. None of that rationale, however, is likely to assuage critics of Knost’s (or, for that matter, any other longtime pro’s) move back to amateurism, some of whom have been popping off on social media.

“Total bullsh-t,” John Ziegler, a two-time U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifier who hosts The Death of Journalism podcast, wrote on X. “You were a pga tour pro. Now, on a lark you want to take a coveted spot away in a USGA championship from an actual amateur. … You should know better and should be ashamed.”

Should he, though?

The rules permit changes of heart, and Knost is far from the first high-level pro to return to his amateur roots. Gary Nicklaus, Jack’s son, did it in 2007. Dillard Pruitt was another; after a decade-long PGA Tour run in the 1980s and 90s, Pruitt was granted reinstatement and promptly won the Sunnehanna Amateur and Canadian Amateur. John Peterson, a former pro who finished 4th at the 2013 U.S. Open, also has returned to paycheck-less golf. At this year’s U.S. Mid-Am, six of the eight quarterfinalists — including eventual winner Brandon Holtz — were former pros, indicating the top shelf of amateur golf is littered with players who once played for cash.

“We’re seeing more and more kids turn professional and give it a go,” Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s chief governance officer, said on Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio this week. “Therefore we’re seeing more and more applications coming back to us. Once you have success and once you get one of those cards, man, it’s really, really hard to keep it.”

According to the USGA, roughly 800 U.S.-based pros — including not only tour professionals but also the club and teaching variety — annually apply for reinstatement, and virtually all are approved. Which isn’t to say every candidate zooms back to the amateur ranks. Far from it. On Thursday, I spoke with Craig Winter, the USGA’s senior director, Rules of Golf and amateur status, to better understand how the process works.

How do pros apply for amateur reinstatement?

Pros who want their amateur status back need only answer a couple of dozen questions on an application available on the USGA’s website; the application fee is $200.

Among the information candidates must supply are the names of any tours on which they have competed, their results, cuts made and prize money won. The app also asks for “two people who can attest to the accuracy of the information provided.”

“The more somebody puts into an application, the less we have to do research ourselves,” Winter said. “And frankly, the less back and forth there is when the application matches what we see in public records. It’s a simpler process for us.”

Winter said the review process for a player of Knost’s pedigree is more rigorous.

“We’re trying to make sure that our decisions, especially with that type of a player, is as like as it can be to others,” he said. “And so we’re trying to get a full understanding of what the playing record was.”

Who makes up the applicant pool?

Applicants run the gamut from established tour pros to dreamers who never made it to teachers who ply their trade at clubs and driving ranges. Few applicants have had sustained success at a high level, Winter said, but those who have should expect a longer waiting period before they are granted reinstatement.

There’s no precise formula, because how could there be?

“We try to look at players that have that have had success and try to put them kind of in similar buckets,” Winter said. “Like being treated alike is probably the best way to put it.”

Tell us more about these waiting periods!

The minimum waiting period for a pro seeking reinstatement is six months from their last “professional action,” meaning, for example, a tournament start or a paid lesson. But for more decorated tour pros, the “cooling-off” period, as Winter phrased it, can take years.

“The more success you have, the more that you would be asked to wait from whenever your last breach was,” Winter said, referring to breaches of the rules of amateur status (i.e, competing as a pro, accepting a prize that is not permitted or holding a teaching job). “And the weight that we put on that is — it’s hard to just kind of put into words, specifically, but if you’ve played on a major tour and had membership, you’re going to wait quite a bit longer than someone who played mini-tour golf and won cash prizes or prizes above a thousand dollars, the limit in the current rules.

Phil Mickelson calls this golf-etiquette breach a ‘huge problem.’ Is it?

By:

Josh Sens

“We’ve had players that have waited eight years before, and that’s, again, from the date of the last breach. I think what often is a lightning rod for the public out there is when they hear somebody applied and they got reinstated right away. That kind of misses the facts of, well, when was the last time they breached the rules? And it may have been quite some time ago. I think in Colt’s case it’s been quite a while.”

It has, indeed — more than five years since his last start as a pro, meaning when the USGA rules on Knost’s reinstatement, he’s unlikely to have more than another year or two tacked on to his waiting period.

Has a pro ever been denied reinstatement?

No!

At least not as far as Winter can tell.

“We’ve done some looking and never seen anything to that effect in in our museum archives,” he said.

If everyone gets approved, why bother with the review process at all?

Take it away, Mr. Winter!

“Well, we want to have a process by which we can look, compare and ultimately have some system in place [by which], as I mentioned before, like situations are treated alike; we feel there’s value in that. The player coming off the PGA Tour and jumping right back into amateur golf, we don’t feel like that’s the right thing for the amateur game. So there is a waiting period that acts as a cooling off of sorts for players of that caliber, and it does help in in a way protect the amateurs that have been lifelong amateurs.

“And to say that we’ll let everybody in isn’t quite accurate. There would be a lot of players that could apply that would be told no. Those that are close to that edge, they are waiting a long time. Eight years is a long time to not be able to play an amateur golf competition after you ultimately hang up the professional golfing life.”

What would happen if, say, Scottie Scheffler, wanted his amateur status back?

Scheffler falls into what the USGA calls its “national prominence category” — in other words, players of repute. For pros in this class, the governing body’s decision is easy.

“I am very confident that Scottie, should he choose to apply or someone in his situation, he would receive a phone call that would say, ‘Scottie, unfortunately you do fit the national prominence category,’” Winter said. “‘And that means you’re not eligible to get your reinstatement back.’”

Finally..something most golfers can do that Scheffler can’t!

Say you don’t have the technology.

None of that sweet 3D tech. None of those cool pressure sensors.

Just old-fashioned, mid-80s player you.

But say little ole, mid-80s shooter you wants to improve.

What’s a techless, hopeful, mid-80s shooter to do?

As part of an answer, a GOLF Top 100 Teacher had a story. Occasionally, Tony Ruggiero will watch players hit range balls. And, for the most part, the swings are consistent.

But a couple other items are off.

“You’ll see golfers hitting balls,” Ruggiero said, “and every shot, their feet are angled a little different, ball’s in a little different place, and the swing really doesn’t change very much.

“But they’re very haphazard in how they approach it.”

And that’s part of how he would advise the hypothetical subject who started this story. It’s a fun subject. Speaking on a recent episode of “The Smylie Show” — which you can watch in full here — Ruggiero had been asked by host Smylie Kaufman what he’d say to that player.

The coach said there were a few things, all of them being part of what happens before the shot.

– “I think the first thing you ought to do,” Ruggiero said on the podcast, “is if you could learn to get balanced at address and set up correctly.”

– “Then just monitor the things you can control.”

– “And wherever the ball is when you hit it good — whatever that place is — like figure that out and practice that. …

“I would tell, say, somebody that shoots mid- to low 80s, you’ve probably already got some pretty good stuff in there. If you figured out how to get to that point, especially the folks that get where they shoot low 80s and every now and then throw in a 78 or 9. I would say figure out what you do and what you’re doing when you hit it good.”

Ruggiero did say one piece of tech would help.

But you probably have one.

“Like we all have these phones now,” Ruggiero said on the podcast, “so you can film yourself when you’re hitting it good. And figure out what do you look like at address. Get balanced at address, get the ball in the same spot, fix your aim, those types of things.

“I think just taking care of the details that happen before you swing are the biggest things for golfers that are in that range you’re talking about.”

Editor’s note: To watch the complete Smylie Show episode with Ruggiero, please clickhere.

A brand new Mizuno Pro S-3 6-iron arrived for Marco Penge in Spain on Thursday.

The issue? The Open de España, which Penge was playing in, ended last Sunday. He was long gone.

Yet Penge had a different, brand new Mizuno Pro S-3 6-iron in the bag Sunday as he took down Daniel Brown in a playoff to win his third DP World Tour title this season and punch his tickets to the 2026 Masters and Open Championship.

How and why Penge needed a new 6-iron — and later pitching wedge — can be told by Mizuno Senior Tour Representative on the DP World Tour, Joe Beck.

How Marco Penge’s 6-iron was damaged

After a disappointing week at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, where he finished tied for 91st, Penge and his caddie, Max Bill, arrived in Spain for the next event when they realized Penge’s 6-iron was damaged to the point of non-conformance after hitting a rock with a swing at the Dunhill.

Beck and the Mizuno DP World Tour team only found out on Tuesday and their truck wasn’t at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid because of logistical reasons. So Beck had a replacement 6-iron built for Penge and shipped out that day from England, hoping for delivery by Thursday morning.

Problem solved? Nope, that was the club that was finally just delivered this week.

“It’s a little bit more difficult for us now,” Beck told GOLF. “Trying to ship into Europe with Brexit and shipping regulations, time frame it takes a lot longer than it should to get stuff to players.”

As Beck kept tracking the package, he soon realized the replacement club wasn’t going to get to Penge.

Another casualty

But the 27-year-old Englishman carried on with a replacement Titleist 620 CB 6-iron, as reported by John Whyte of SMS on Tour. With a third-round 64, Penge took a four-shot lead into Sunday.

And that was while playing most of that round down another club.

On the second hole, Penge pulled his tee shot left and saw it settle just inside a tree. Basically standing next to the trunk to try and advance the ball, he took a swing with his pitching wedge, trying to stop his swing before hitting the tree, but it was of little use.

The shaft collided with the wood of the trunk and snapped instantly as the ball sailed farther left of the green, still 71 yards away from the pin.

Remarkably, Penge had no such tree trouble with his third and played his next shot to 14 feet and then curled in the putt for an unlikely par. At the time, the preserved Penge’s one-shot lead before he caught fire later in the round, making birdies on eight of 10 holes from Nos. 7 to 16.

“Like finding a bag of gold,” an announcer on the broadcast said.

One more turn

By Saturday, Beck saw the tracking on the replacement 6-iron move farther away from Madrid. With Penge now needing two replacement clubs, the executive decision was for Beck to take a 6 a.m. flight from Gatwick to Madrid on Sunday and hand-deliver the clubs to Penge and Bill.

Despite being on leave that weekend, Beck was approved to go as he was the closest to where Mizuno’s tour truck was based outside of London.

He built a new replacement S-3s for Penge, 2 degrees upright and 2 degrees strong with KBS V10 130 X shafts to match the rest of his set around 8 p.m. Saturday and then got up at 2:30 a.m. to head to the airport. (Fun vacation!)

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EasyJet flight 8017 departed LGW at 6:02 a.m. local Sunday and arrived at MAD at 9:21 that morning, and Beck was relieved to see the box on the baggage claim conveyor as he walked into Spanish passport control. But, as if his journey needed another hiccup, the box was gone when he cleared customs.

“So there’s a slight, slight bit of panic set in,” Beck said, who’s been on Tour with the company for four years. “I’ve gone upstairs to the baggage gate to see if it had fallen off the baggage belt. Maybe it had come around and come off.”

Had Beck just flown all the way to another country to deliver replacement clubs to one of the best players in the world, only for the clubs to be mishandled at the airport, or worse, stolen?

Luckily, the panic was short-lived. About 30 minutes went by before Beck returned to the baggage claim and eventually found the box unharmed.

Within an hour Beck was at the course and handing off the fresh 6-iron and pitching wedge to Bill, much to Penge’s surprise.

“I was in contact with Max more than Marco building up to it, but yes, Marco was obviously very thankful and very, very relieved to have 14 clubs,” he said.

Penge shot a one-over 72 on Sunday, but it got him into a playoff, which he won with a birdie on the first extra hole for his third DP World Tour win in 16 starts, all but assuring you’ll see him on the PGA Tour next year.

You can never say never in pro wrestling, and Maria Kanellis understands that all too well. Now, the soon-to-be mother of three is inserting her name into the conversation once again.

Mike and Maria Kanellis are expecting their third child. At the same time, Maria is still a free agent, but she doesnâ€t plan on watching from the sidelines for long. Even though sheâ€s concentrating on delivering her next bundle of joy, Kanellis has her eyes filmly set on the future.

Maria Kanellis posted on X to make it clear that sheâ€s not done in the pro wrestling world. In fact, once baby #3 comes for her, she canâ€t wait to find another company to sign with.

“Looking forward to finding a new wrestling home after baby number 3.â€

Maria Kanellis has seen success in several companies throughout her career. In TNA, she captured the TNA Knockouts Championship once. During her time in WWE, she won the WWE 24/7 Championship and earned a Slammy Award for Diva of the Year.

AEW had Maria and Mike Kanellis on their roster for a while. The two also had a stint in Tony Khanâ€s version of ROH.

Other than her in-ring accomplishments, she has also managed her husband, Mike Kanellis, across multiple wrestling organizations. Only time will tell what she does next, but she canâ€t wait to find a new home in the pro wrestling world once that day comes around.

Whatâ€s your take on Maria Kanellis†future in pro wrestling? Which company should pick her up next? Let us know what you think in the comments section!

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