List of Professional Golf Mini Tours

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The life of a professional golfer isn’t always as glorious as you’d imagine. Many of the top players on television each week have climbed the ranks to reach their current status on tour. A main artery to the PGA and LPGA Tours is through mini-tours. This article will dissect some of the top mini-tours and what you can expect if you’re looking to take this route to the next level of professional golf.

Mini-Tour Golf 101

You’ll often hear that a professional golfer “came up through the mini-tours,” but do you really know what that means? Let’s go over a few basics.

Climbing the Ranks

Most players that are competing on mini-tours have the goal in mind to make it to PGA or LPGA Tour status. For those players that don’t qualify for tours such as the Korn Ferry Tour, which is the direct feeder into the PGA Tour, they’ll need to play on mini-tours to gain status and win money.

For some players, mini-tour life is short-lived. They win a few events, gain some additional sponsorships, and play their way above and beyond. For some players, however, mini-tour golf is the highest level they reach. They play week-to-week and bounce around to different tours based on what they can afford and qualify for.  

Entry and Payouts

Almost all of the financial aspects fall on the player. This includes travel, meals, lodging, and entry into the event itself. Considering mini-tour golf often leads players to compete in other countries, it can get costly. Some tours have a yearly entry charge as opposed to charging players by event. The competitor is almost always responsible for their costs as well as their caddie's costs for the week. Oftentimes, mini-tour players will seek sponsorship in the early going just to secure financing for their expenses.

Purses and payouts are strictly determined by the tour and individual event. You can anticipate a winning share of anywhere from $2,000 to $50,000 with low-funded tours obviously paying out less.  

Formats and Fields

Almost all mini-tour formats are stroke play over two or three rounds. If a particular event is a larger, marquee event, the field size will usually be a bit larger than normal. A normal mini-tour field will be below 100 players. How an event addresses the cutline, if one exists, is determined by the individual tour or event.

Most Popular Golf Mini-Tours

Here are some of the best golf mini-tours for players to consider.

Minor League Golf Tour

Founded in 2004, the Minor League Golf Tour has become one of the preferred tours for players to develop their games to reach the highest level. The tour aims to provide players with a lower cost option to compete, with payouts awarded to many in the field as opposed to being top heavy. The Minor League Golf Tour site notes that over $12 million had been awarded to over 4,000 competitors since its inception.

The tour offers several membership buy-in options from paying for a single event ($50) or a full year membership ($400). Men, women, seniors, and juniors of professional status are eligible as are amateurs with a handicap on 6.0 or less. Money leaders 

Events are played at courses throughout Florida such as PGA National and Abacoa Golf Club. A popular Minor League Golf alumnus is Brooks Koepka.  

Big Easy Golf Tour

South Africa has produced some of the biggest names in golf history. Gary Player, Ernie Els, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Retief Goosen, Branden Grace, and many others have all been a part of the South African success at the professional level. The Big Easy Tour (Altron Big Easy Tour for 2022) is a direct feeder to the Sunshine Tour and was named after Els when the tour began in 2011.

The tour consists of 10 events in a calendar year including a playoff and final. The average winner’s share for an event is around $1,500 and the tournaments are 54 holes with a cut after the second round. Big Easy Tour events are played at prestigious courses throughout South Africa including Centurion Country Club and Country Club of Johannesburg.  

IGT Challenge Tour

The IGT Challenge Tour is operated by certified PGA and R&A individuals and is made up of a series of 54-hole events that have a cut after two rounds of play. This tour is a direct feeder to the Big Easy Tour and also consists of 54-hole events with a cut after two rounds. The cost for membership is only $150 and even amateurs are allowed to earn up to $1,000 by playing in events if they don’t yet have professional status.

The GProTour began in 2013 and is a regionally based tour that serves North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Like other tours, the GProTour has a 54-hole format with a 36-hole cut. A season consists of around 20 events with each having a purse in the $60,000- $70,000 range. Events are played at courses such as Albemarle Plantation and Mimosa Hills GOlf & Country Club.

New members to the GProTour will pay $1,099 for a yearly membership. Each event also has three spots devoted to amateurs, where a $275 entry fee will get you into the field.  

The Epson Tour is the official development tour for the LPGA Tour. Up until 2021, it was known at the Symetra Tour and has graduated great players that have gone onto the LPGA including Nelly Korda, Stacy Lewis, Christina Kim, and countless others. The Epson Tour lowered its entry fee to $450 per event with winner shares hovering around $50,000 for a tournament.

As a direct line to the LPGA Tour, the Epson Tour fields the best female players in the world that are nearly ready to make the jump to the highest level. Events are held at top-tier courses such as French Lick Resort and Sweetgrass Golf Club.  

The Alps Tour is a developmental mini-tour that serves Austria, France, Italy,Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Slovenia, Morocco, and Egypt and is a direct feeder to the DP World Tour. The Alps Tour season consists of 18 events which span over many of the countries listed and the field size is typical in the 120-144 player range. The top-40 players make the cut after two rounds (three rounds total) and the minimum prize money is around $40,000. The 2022 season concludes at the Alps Tour Grand Final and takes place at Modena Golf & Country Club in Italy.

As the game of golf continues to grow, the number of tours and organizations offering players the opportunity to compete grows. If your aspirations are to be a professional player on the PGA or LPGA Tour, mini-tours are great places to begin your journey.

Tommy Fleetwood explains why he uses a mini driver, plus a fun story from his junior days

Tommy Fleetwood explains why he uses a mini driver, plus a fun story from his junior days

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GolfWRX.com

In 1998, just days prior to The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Lee Janzen, who was coming off his 1998 U.S. Open victory, hosted a golf clinic for the public. During the clinic, Janzen asked if any junior golfers wanted to come up and hit a shot in front of the audience. The prize for doing so was a TaylorMade Burner driver.

One of the volunteers from the crowd happened to be a 7-year-old Tommy Fleetwood. According to Fleetwood, the Burner driver he earned as a prize was his first ever real driver – or has he calls it, his first “proper” driver.

But wait, what’s a mini driver?

TaylorMade’s new Mini Driver is a club that’s designed to be larger than a fairway wood, but smaller than a driver, to help golfers gain more distance and accuracy off the tee than a 3-wood, while still launching the ball high enough off the grass to use as an approach club. The BRNR Mini Driver, specifically, uses copper colorways and old versions of the TaylorMade logo to boost the Burner nostalgia factor.

Tommy Fleetwood's 13.5-degree BRNR Mini Driver. (GolfWRX)

Tommy Fleetwood's 13.5-degree BRNR Mini Driver. (GolfWRX)

Fleetwood had a 13.5-degree BRNR Mini Driver in his bag at the RBC Heritage, and he’s continuing to use the club this week at the Wells Fargo Championship.

Tommy Fleetwood's 13.5-degree BRNR Mini Driver. (GolfWRX)

Some golfers, though, remain slightly confused about the real-world benefits of a mini driver. Common questions include: “Why not just play a driver and a 3-wood? Why do you need a mini driver AND a driver, isn’t that redundant?”

To get a better understanding of how the BRNR is used, GolfWRX.com caught up with Fleetwood on Wednesday before the start of the Wells Fargo Championship.

The face of Tommy Fleetwood's 13.5-degree BRNR Mini Driver. (GolfWRX)

The face of Tommy Fleetwood's 13.5-degree BRNR Mini Driver. (GolfWRX)

Here’s what he had to say:

“For me, if I HAD to hit a fairway, I’m more comfortable hitting a driver than a 3-wood. I would tee the driver down, and I would hit a little cut, or a neck-y cut in the fairway. The 3-wood isn’t for that. The 3-wood, generally, is a pretty hot club that I’ll hit from 270 or 280 in the fairway on a par 5.

“You get some courses where a 3-wood is not always that necessary. [With the BRNR] you put a normal swing on it, and it goes a little shorter than a driver, and I’m more comfortable hitting it straight. It’s a replacement for a 3-wood, basically. You could almost think of it in terms of wedges at the low end of the bag. Some people have four wedges, some people only have three, and they have to manufacture a 52 to go 100 yards, or 105 yards. There are different shots. That’s effectively what you do with your main driver, you’d be manufacturing it to hit that shot in the fairway, which is great, but maybe you want something you can just hit.

“You can still hit it off the ground, and it goes a very similar distance to a 3-wood. It spins enough. It’s not a deep enough face where it’s so far off the bottom that the ball doesn’t rise. So you get a pretty decent strike, enough to get in the air. It’s a big-head 2-wood really.

“For me, I remember the TaylorMade Burner in 1998. It was my first ever proper driver. Lee Janzen did a clinic, when he was the U.S. Open champ, and it was the Open at Birkdale. I was 7. Some juniors could go up and hit a shot and they gave you like a Burner driver, and I went up and hit a shot, and I got a Burner. It was my first ever proper driver.”

Tommy Fleetwood's 13.5-degree BRNR Mini Driver. (GolfWRX)

In terms of launch numbers, how different is the BRNR Mini Driver compared to a normal driver?

“It’s down a few miles per hour, so that takes the carry off it,” Fleetwood told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday. “Spin is a fraction higher, around that 3,000-rpm mark. The ball speed is like 3 or 4 mph short of the driver. I’ve got the 13.5-degree head, but there is a 11.5-degree head, as well. If you have the 11, you actually could go mini driver, mini driver (instead of driver and mini driver) at the top-end of the bag. That really would get people talking. That would be awesome. I might do that one day.

“But Hilton Head (host course of the RBC Heritage Classic) was a great example, because there’s some holes where you can’t actually cut the driver and get it in play. So the mini is a bit straighter and let me hit the shot I really wanted.”

Maybe TaylorMade’s new BRNR Mini Driver isn’t for everyone, but so far, Fleetwood is finding it more beneficial than a 3-wood, especially as an option off the tee, and he plans to continue using the club this week at Quail Hollow Club.

Tommy Fleetwood’s unique driving range practice technique

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Operation Sports

5 more mini golf course to play in pga tour 2k21.

PGA Tour 2K21 mini golf

PGA TOUR 2K21

pga tour mini golf

As mentioned in my look at five of the best mini-golf courses to play in PGA Tour 2K21 , part of the basic appeal of mini golf is that you can get through a round relatively quickly compared to the more traditional style of the sport. So chances are, you may have already quickly played through all of the courses mentioned in that list and are perhaps now left wondering if there are any other mini-golf courses out there worth playing. Well, reader, you are in luck. The course design community for the game has been toiling away for quite some time since the game’s release and they’ve come up with a large number of wacky and wild mini-golf layouts to satisfy putting fanatics.

In fact, a popular PGA Tour 2K21 streamer and course designer named VictoryLnSports who regularly organizes course design contests recently held one specifically for mini-golf courses. The rules were fairly simple in that all courses needed to be 18 holes and every hole had to be completely playable with a putter unless the ball veered off-course. Predictably, the community came through with some innovative and incredibly fun entries that only serve to highlight what’s possible with the design resources in the game if you know how to use them. Let’s take a closer look at some of my favorites from the contest and, as with last time, I’ll detail the general aesthetic of the course, describe some of its distinguishing features throughout, and then finally choose my own personal favorite hole that stands out from the other 17.

Lost Empire Mini Golf

PGA Tour 2K21 mini golf

Overall Aesthetic: True to its name, this course appears to have been built upon the ruins of some sort of ancient civilization (which is typically just begging for a haunting), complete with standalone regal columns and crumbling structures strewn about the greens.

Distinguishing Features: There’s a playful sense of invention throughout the course that’s especially evident in how many of the holes require a lengthy and scenic journey to get to them from the tee. Whether the ball is sliding down a large hill, or down a set of stone stairs, or over a long bridge, this is an experience that embraces the wilder and more fantastical side of mini golf. For the most part, the holes are straightforward enough that it’s possible to get lucky with a hole in one, but there’s also some strategy and precision putting required on some holes.

This is particularly true on the ones where you need to navigate a set of hills in order to get to the pin location, which makes it easy to hit the ball either too softly or too hard. One thing that’s clear is that if this extravagant course were to be constructed in real life, it would cost a lot of money to both build and play.

Best Hole: The first hole starts off the course on a strong note by being located inside a waterfall with the tee having a nice view of a boat perched right on the edge of it. You’ll send your ball careening off the edge and watch it plummet down over a platform until it finally lands on a green surrounded by rocks to ensure that you won’t end up in the water and suffer any stroke penalties.

Billys Scrap N Putt

pga tour mini golf

Overall Aesthetic: If you like your mini golf a little on the grittier side, look no further than this course that would appear to double as a scrap yard based on all of the vehicles scattered throughout the terrain. After coming to drop off your trash, stay for 18 holes of mini golf.

Distinguishing Features: It’s the small details that really help to sell the concept, starting with the tees that are two metal trash cans at the start of every hole. Then there are the black trash bags that have been randomly dropped around the course (think of the poor groundskeeper!) and the swarms of flies that are naturally accompanying all of that garbage. Even the obstacles have been appropriately chosen for the landscape, with everything from signs to golf carts to port-a-potties to abandoned parts of a plane forcing you to work around them in order to get to the pin.

It isn’t only the obstacles you have to worry about though because you’ll also need to contend with some extreme slopes that will likely cause even the finest of putters to struggle to read these challenging greens. The only things missing from this course to really complete the ambience were some rats and a putrid stench that would surely be a lingering part of every round.

Best Hole: The fifth hole is an undeniably fun ride. It has you sending your ball over a wooden bridge (be careful, the bridge has a hole in it though) before it snakes down towards the hole through hills that have cars piled up on both sides of them.

Heatstroke Mini Golf

PGA Tour 2K21 mini golf

Overall Aesthetic: Located in a burnt-out desert that’s covered in cacti and featuring some awe-inspiring mountain views to rival Death Valley, somehow this dry climate also allows for there to be water hazards dotting the course.

Distinguishing Features: Much like the suffocating temperatures that would surely be felt were this a real place, the course is unforgiving in how it can make you pay for miscalculating the ideal approach. Most holes will offer at least a couple of options in how to get to the pin and choosing the best way to either avoid an obstacle or ride the slopes in the way will often be the difference between success or failure.

As you’ll likely find out, failure on this course can be a disaster because there aren’t many of the kinds of safeguards in place that you find on other mini-golf courses to ensure your ball at least gets somewhere close to the hole. Instead, any shots that slide off the fairways or greens can often result in having them end up in the rough or, even worse, in some of that water surrounding most holes. Should either of those things happen, you’ll probably find yourself then using a club other than your putter, which might not be appreciated by some mini-golf traditionalists.

Best Hole: Hole 15 is somewhat emblematic of the entire course in how its simple design can test and ultimately punish you should you make even the slightest of mistakes. You’re faced with a choice of playing two very different kinds of slopes, and the consequence for playing either of them wrong will be your ball ending up in the surrounding drink and then having to pitch your way back near the hole.

TopStroke Mini Golf

pga tour mini golf

Overall Aesthetic: Classy and understated, this course’s vibrant greens have been accentuated nicely by extravagant fountains, stately palm trees, and a wide array of flowers.

Distinguishing Features: A no-frills, back-to-basics approach to mini golf that make its greens accessible to nearly anyone, the design forgoes any wacky gimmicks entirely in favor of conjuring an image of what a fancy, upscale mini golf club might look like. The challenge in every hole lies in playing various slopes and inclines that almost seem to escalate in their difficulty throughout the course.

Don’t worry too much about the bunkers and water hazards that threaten to derail you on some holes because they’re fairly easy to avoid for the most part as long as you correctly read the bumps and hills. Because you’re constantly being forced to experiment with what strength and line you want to take into the different slants on the greens, there’s lots of replay value here when you see how many outcomes are possible depending on your input.

Best Hole: Hole 11 takes the course’s style to the extreme by forcing you to ascend a steep incline that can have you ending up in either the rough or the bunker should you take the wrong angle towards the pin.

pga tour mini golf

Overall Aesthetic: Situated within a sprawling urban jungle, the course has holes that are nestled next to large concrete buildings complete with plenty of galleries full of spectators taking in the action.

Distinguishing Features: Considering all of the concrete on display in this cityscape, it’s fitting that many of the holes require you to bounce your ball off that material in order to get to the hole. Taking an appropriate angle with your ball is an overriding theme because if you’re not trying to get your ball to ricochet off a surface at the proper angle, then you’ll be trying to use a slope to maneuver your ball around a divider or turn a corner.

Some holes though are content with simply tasking you to hit the ball straight, with the failure to do so potentially resulting in getting stuck behind some barrier that may then take a few putts to give yourself an unobstructed line to the pin. There are also some major hills that have to be faced on the course, culminating in an absolute nightmare on hole 14 where you’re forced to make your ball sit atop a narrow flat surface where the pin is located while steep cliffs intimidate on either side.

Best Hole: Hole 12 has a lot going on because you’re challenged with hitting your ball under a fence without hitting any of the concrete blocks lined up beneath it before attempting to use some other carefully arranged blocks to propel your ball down a hill towards the pin.

pga tour mini golf

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Mar 11-13  ·  $550+

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Mar 20-23  ·  $800+

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Mar 20-22  ·  $750+

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Mar 26-28  ·  $650+

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Mar 27  ·  $120+

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Mar 27-29  ·  $915+

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Apr 10-13  ·  $595+

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Abilene , TX

Apr 30-May 3

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Broken Arrow , OK

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Compleat Golfer

The List: Mini-Tours

The List: Mini-Tours

The Challenge Tour, Korn Ferry Tour and Sunshine Tour are for golfers aiming at the major Tours, but what are the mini-Tours a rung below? BRENDAN BARRATT has the list.

There are a lot of very talented golfers desperately trying to make their way to the next level while spending as little cash as possible.

From driving cheap cars long distances between tournaments to sleeping in the front seat or staying in low-budget hotels, carrying their own golf bags and getting by without any real form of income other than prize money, it’s a far cry from the pampered lifestyles of the professionals on the PGA and DP World Tours.

To make matters more challenging, most of the Tours have relatively high entry fees and low purses, meaning that players are living hand to mouth – in the hope they can achieve their one big breakthrough.

Here are some of the mini-Tours that carry the hopes and dreams of golfers who, while relatively unknown, are better than any of us will ever be.

IGT Big Easy Tour

In South Africa, the IGT Big Easy Tour is the official developmental Tour of the Sunshine Tour. Launched in 2010, it offers players a good testing ground against professionals and top amateurs, as well as a direct avenue to the Sunshine Tour, with the top 10 players for the season earning their Tour cards for the following year. Notable graduates: Daniel van Tonder, Dylan Frittelli, Christiaan Bezuidenhout

PGA EuroPro Tour

Launched in 2002, the EuroPro Tour gives up-and-coming European golfers a platform to showcase their skills and play their way on to the Challenge Tour. It’s also had a few South Africans come through the ranks, including Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Thomas Aiken and Branden Grace. Notable graduates: Tyrrell Hatton (below) , Tommy Fleetwood.

PGA EuroPro

Bushveld Tour

Another local developmental Tour, the Bushveld Tour offers one-day (18-hole) tournaments for amateurs and professionals. Entry fees are in the region of R1 000, meaning players need to realistically finish in the top 10 to cover their costs, which is a pretty solid grounding for life on the bigger Tours. Notable graduates: Jacques Blaauw

Pro Golf Tour

The Pro Golf Tour is one of four official satellite tours in Europe recognised by the DP World Tour as a gateway to the Challenge Tour, with the top five players at the end of the season earning their Challenge Tour cards. Founded in 1997, the Tour now has 16 tournaments across six countries and a total purse of €500,000. Notable graduates: Martin Kaymer

Another satellite Tour that leads to the Challenge Tour, the Alps Tour was launched in Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland in 2001. While the countries involved may have changed over the years, the basic premise has not. Notable graduates: Matt Wallace, Adri Arnaus

PGA Tour Latinoamerica, Mackenzie Tour, Forme Tour

In 2011, the PGA Tour took over the running of the Tour de las Americas, rebranding it as the PGA Tour Latinoamerica. A year later the PGA Tour took the reins of the Canadian Tour and it was renamed the Mackenzie Tour in 2015 as part of a sponsorship agreement. In 2021, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and to support those players who had earned Mackenzie Tour cards but were unable to travel between the US and Canada, the PGA Tour launched the Forme Tour. Notable PGA Tour Latinoamerica graduates: Harry Higgs (below) , Keith Mitchell, Emiliano Grillo Notable Mackenzie Tour graduates: Tony Finau, Joel Dahmen

pga tour mini golf

Symetra Tour

Formerly known as the LPGA Futures Tour, the Symetra Tour is seen as the official qualifying Tour for the LPGA Tour. With over 20 events and in excess of $3-million in prize money, it is a great breeding ground for the next generation of LPGA stars. To date, 435 LPGA titles have been won by former Symetra Tour players. Notable graduates: Lorena Ochoa, Inbee Park, Nelly Korda

Let Access Series

Launched in 2010, the Let Access Series is the official developmental Tour to the Ladies European Tour. By 2019 it had built up a head of steam, with 20 events and a total purse of over a million euros, but Covid-19 has taken its toll and the Tour was down to 14 events in 2021. Notable graduates: Carly Booth, Georgia Hall, Carlota Ciganda

Gateway Tour, All Pro Tour, SwingThought Tour

The US has a number of developmental Tours that rank just below the Korn Ferry Tour. The Gateway Tour, based in Arizona, California and Florida, the All Pro Tour and the SwingThought Tour (formerly known as the Hooters Tour) are three of the most popular, although there are many others. Notable graduates: Johannes Veerman, Shawn Stefani, MJ Daffue

– This article first appeared in the February 2022 issue of Compleat Golfer magazine. Subscribe here!

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Opinion & Analysis

The harsh realities of golf’s mini tours.

pga tour mini golf

A casual golf fan who occasionally enjoys watching final round coverage of a PGA Tour event must have a skewed opinion about the lives of professional golfers, namely, that anyone with an oversized staff bag is living the dream. But for every Ian Poulter who owns a fleet of Ferraris and struts around like a movie star, there are plenty of golfers who practically live out of their Ford Fiestas and dream about getting their big break.

Golf outside the highest professional level is a proverbial cutting room floor. For every golfer who eventually plays his way to the big stage, there are thousands who don’t. It’s a harsh reality predetermined by the sheer fact that it takes a high degree of skill, stubbornness and certainly not least of all – luck – to earn a place on the PGA Tour.

The qualification process has remained largely unchanged since the PGA Tour was formalized in the 1960s. The most direct route, Q-School, allowed any golfer, amateur or professional with a handicap index of two or lower, to test their mettle in golf’s version of the Hunger Games. Anyone who didn’t survive Q-School could attempt to play his way onto the Tour by way of Monday qualifiers or sponsor exemptions, both of which are low percentage gambles that very few ever cash in on.

What has changed in the last couple of decades is the ever-expanding number of developmental tours that have raised their banners across the country. Although Ben Hogan isn’t officially credited with starting the first mini tour, the 30-city Hogan Tour, which began in 1990, is probably the most famous. The tour was set up to allow aspiring pros (many of whom were cash-strapped) to drive around from tour stop to tour stop in successive weeks, much like Hogan’s contemporaries had in golf’s yesteryears. Over the years the Hogan Tour (now the Web.com Tour) expanded geographically, upped its prize money and became to the PGA Tour what off-broadway is to aspiring actors.

The NGA Pro Golf Tour, more commonly referred to as the Hooters Tour, predates the Hogan Tour. It was started in 1988 by Rick (T.C.) Jordan who inherited some money from his family’s business in pharmaceuticals and made a lot more of it through real estate and restaurant opportunities. Jordan invested $6 million from his own pocket and ran the tour independently until ceding title sponsorship rights to Hooters of America, Inc. in 1994.

Over the years the Hooters Tour has graduated some notable alumni including major championship winners Bubba Watson, Keegan Bradley, John Daly and Zach Johnson.

Keegan Bradley graduated from the Hooters Tour-1

Keegan Bradley, a graduate of the NGA Hooters Tour, won the 2011 PGA Championship and is one of the Tour’s best success stories.

And now that the Q-School has been revised to replenish the roster of the Web.com Tour, expect more players to take up a path of apprenticeship that could meander through the Pepsi Tour, over to the Peach State Professional Golf Tour, and everything in-between. With more than 60 tours in operation world-wide, the prevailing wisdom ought to be play hard and pack light.

So You Want To Run A Mini Tour?

Jeff Flees used to manage a mortgage firm in Worthington, Ohio. But his wife’s protracted health concerns led him to reevaluate his career prospects. Nowadays, he’s the president of a three-person operation that runs the nascent Flagship Golf Tour.

“I had a successful career in the mortgage banking industry for 16 years, however in 2011 my wife had two major surgeries, one of which was brain surgery to clip aneurysms she had been living with,” says Flees. “My wife is one of the most incredible, inspirational people you will ever meet or know. I felt it was important to take time off to be with her while she recovered. When the time was right, my passion for golf and experience with people in the industry led my to analyze the developmental tour business and start the Flagship Golf Tour.”

The first scheduled event will be played this summer at The Journey at Pechanga in Temecula, Calif. The single day, 18-hole stroke play championship will feature a $5,000 purse and will benefit a number of charities including the Brain Aneurysm Foundation. The entry fee for professionals is $300 ($200 for amateurs) and unlike many higher profile tours, there is no annual membership fee.

For those of us who have never played golf for a living, taking up membership on a mini tour is a significant expense when combined with standard tournament fees and general travel expenses. Existing tours with deep fields and decent purses can charge $1,000 or more for membership. That will help you get a bona fide member packet, a tour hat and access to practice facilities at host courses. To actually play in a tournament event, you’ll likely drop close to another $1,000. A single season on the NGA Hooters’ 2013 Carolina Series will run a pro golfer a little over $10,000 in fees (depending on whether or not they have pre-existing status on the tour). Sounds almost reasonable until you start factoring things like groceries and gas money, or taking a date out to a dinner and a movie.

By contrast, there’s next to no risk to play a Flagship Golf Tour event and the tour awards prize money to the top 33 percent of the field, which is consistent with the policy maintained by more established entities. The tour does differ significantly from many competitors in that tournament events are spread out nationally and a champion is crowned after 18 holes.

“We decided on the one-day 18-hole tournaments because they make more logistical and financial sense,” says Flees. “The benefit of a one-day, 18-hole event is that we can keep the expenses down and reduce the time commitment for everyone involved in the tournament. We respect what the more established tours are doing. We are not trying to directly compete with them.”

Whether the Flagship Golf Tour finds its niche and succeeds beyond the first couple of seasons is difficult to predict. The term “boom and bust” is often used to describe mini tours that have disappeared after some initial success. Not surprisingly, the pressure to succeed falls squarely on a busy owner’s shoulders. You’re expected to be equally adept at playing the role of savvy business manager and gregarious promoter. Some days call for negotiating contracts with vendors and sponsors. Other days you’ll be rubbing elbows with potential investors or stumping on behalf of your tour around the clock on Twitter.

For many business executives, running a mini tour is a labor of love (not to mention an expensive hobby).

Alex Spanos had a brief run lending his name to one of the preeminent developmental tours on the West Coast before scuttling the business after three years. Spanos was a scratch golfer in his youth and made his fortune in the construction services industry. He is better known for owning a majority stake in the San Diego Chargers football team.

Full field events on the Spanos California Tour featured sizable purses including a $250,000 cash grab called the A.G. Spanos California Open. Local boys Jason Gore, John Merrick and Peter Tomasulo had stints on the tour before moving on to play much bigger venues.

“I have always wanted to be part of a golf tour,” Spanos was quoted as saying. “My goal with this tour is to have it become the biggest and best in this state, if not the country, where young professionals and amateurs get the opportunity to show their talent and ability.”

Even in its final year of operation, the California Tour was arguably still growing. The tour signed Ameriquest Mortgage Company as a presenting sponsor, hired a San Diego area public relations firm to raise brand awareness, increased the number of events to 16 and set aside $2.5 million in available winnings. But they shut the tour down anyway. Perhaps that was the intention all along.

According to executives associated with Spanos, running the tour had become prohibitively expensive. It also didn’t help that a far more expansive developmental tour made a glitzy splash in 2006, promising tournament winnings to rival the PGA Tour.

mini-tours-numbers-chart

Backed by the now defunct Greens Worldwide Inc., the U.S. Pro Golf Tour was expected to offer $300,000 for a standard event and as much as $5 million for one of its majors that would be played on a Donald Trump-owed course and broadcast on television by ESPN. There were rumblings about impending doom from the start and the tour folded after the initial season. In the process, the U.S. Pro Golf Tour defrauded hundreds of golfers who forked over thousands of dollars to participate in events that were never going to be staged.

As any professional golfer who has scrambled on the mini tours can tell you, there are plenty of similar misadventures that players have fallen victim to. Most of them are simply too obscure to grab the public’s attention, even within golfing circles. And in some ways, it’s a perverse right of passage.

The (Not So) Charmed Life Of A Professional Golfer

More than likely, you haven’t heard of Andrew Jensen. He’s just another golfer playing on the PGA Tour of Canada who’s had scrapes with success, failure, injuries and heartbreak. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We pick up his story in March. Jensen has driven down to Florida, as far south from frigid Ottawa as his Pontiac G6 will take him. He intends to spend a month living in the Sarasota area getting into shape for a season that will play out primarily back in Canada. Except that the weather in Florida, in fact for much of the southern United States, isn’t living up to expectations.

Too many mornings in the Sunshine State start off borderline freezing; as for Jensen’s game, it’s not a whole lot better. In his first competitive event of the season, he shoots 2-over and misses the cut. Over the next several weeks his game starts trending in the right direction. He records his best finish on the Florida swing at TPC Prestancia in Sarasota. It’s a limited-field event of 28 participants playing for a purse that barely covers rent for a single-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Jensen has an opportunity to finish 2-under on the first day, but rinses two balls on the last hole for an ugly double. He plays marginally worse the next day, making three straight bogies on the front nine, carding a 75 and finishing three strokes outside of earning a paycheck.

Three events come and go and all Jensen has to show for it some middling scores. It’s a good blow to one’s wallet (and psyche), but Jensen has developed some thick skin over the years. He’s been playing professionally off and on since 2008. He’s taken time off to heal from injuries and to recover from periodic episodes of depression. And while it may be difficult to spin positives from his Florida swing based on scoring alone, Jensen is grateful to be playing golf regularly again.

“When I was playing injured in 2010 and playing bad . . . the debt was increasing fast,” says Jensen. “Golf was no longer fun, it was work, it was gambling to break even. My passion for the game left me very quickly but I tried to tough it out and keep playing regardless. That mentality bled into two awful seasons on tour and my eventual hanging up the clubs in 2011 to enter into the real world and start working and getting above water financially. Luckily, over time the passion came back.”

Jensen played competitively for the University of Ottawa and qualified to play for the Canadian Tour the year following his graduation in 2007. Although some golfers would have journeyed south to play in more seasonably warm conditions year-round, Jensen preferred to stay closer to home, not all that surprising for a person who habitually found comfort in maintaining rigorous routine.

andrew-jensen-photo

Unfortunately, there was very little in the way of predictability to his first three seasons on tour. Jensen made the cut just twice in 14 events in 2008, making $870. He earned another $3,100 on the tour in 2010-11 and watched his confidence fade as debts rose.

 “When you can solely focus on the routine and the process, good play takes care of itself,” says Jensen. “When you have to figure out a way to pay the bills, it takes away from your routine.  Over the years, my play has struggled and consequently my funds have depleted, forcing me into off-season work in Canada over the winters. The routine has to switch to fitness, indoor practice, mental work, and above all a ‘real job.’”

His outlook rapidly declined in 2011. A family physician prescribed an anti-depressant medication that had an unintended side-effect of actually increasing suicidal urgings. Standing over a bathroom sink with a mouth full of anti-depressant pills, Jensen nearly took his life that September. Fortunately he spat the medication out and was weened off the anti-depressant a few weeks later. Through therapy, Jensen came to regard golf as a trigger for his mental issues.

“Every time I played poorly, it just kept getting worse and worse emotionally,” Jensen told the Ottawa Citizen in 2012.

Jensen isn’t the only golfer who has struggled with depression. The LPGA Tour’s Christina Kim was openly forthcoming about her own personal struggles in an interview with Golf Digest. Still, there aren’t many golfers, let alone athletes in general, that are willing to go public. It is habitually accepted that athletes need to maintain an edge over their competition. And nothing blows an athlete’s cover faster than revealing they have fears and doubts.

“The numbers on depression are staggering, it affects far more people than many believe,” says Jensen. “The pressure, isolation and competition in professional golf are massive triggers to get players down on themselves both on and off the course. From my experiences with mental illness it’s a hard road to play golf and keep things silent. The minute I came out with my struggles, the support and solidarity that came from fellow players was great. No one knows the struggles of a mini tour player better than a fellow mini tour player.”

Historically, the various developmental tours have left players to their own devices. Some tours offer discounts on sponsor-provided apparel and equipment, but rarely is sports psychology factored into any of the few membership perks enjoyed on tour. By offering player coaching from the outset, the Flagship Golf Tour is looking to differentiate itself even further from its more established competitors.

“We are working with excellent professionals who can offer our players guidance in these areas,” says Flees. “The players will get initial information and coaching made available to them free of charge, however if they wish to retain these professionals for additional assistance there would be a charge.”

The Flagship Golf Tour has developed a relationship with David Donatucci, a Titelist Performance Institute certified trainer a member of the PGA of America, as well as PGA member Rick Sessinghaus, a proven sports psychologist. It will be interesting to see how many players actually seek out coaching and if it spurs other developmental tours to consider similar service offerings in the future.

As Jensen can tell you from experience, playing on the mini tours is a grind. Reflecting on the past five years as a golf pro, Jensen says, “[The mini tours haven’t] taught me too much about golf itself, apart from the reality that making putts is everything. It’s taught me that I am very determined and driven, easily discouraged at times, but still very motivated. Hard work for five years really hasn’t gotten me too far in this game so I’ve learned I need to work smarter now.”

A Long And Winding Road

Imagine you’re 16 years old, living by yourself in California. Your preternatural golfing abilities land you a future spot on the University of Oklahoma golf team. Your stellar college play gets noticed and you make the Walker Cup team. After three years you leave school early and declare your intentions to turn pro. You receive a sponsor’s exemption into your first PGA Tour event and you finish runner up. A year later you earn tour card in your first go-around at Q-School and ultimately become a multimillionaire before the age of 22.

It’s almost a lock that most golfing careers will not pan out like Anthony Kim’s supercharged ascent to stardom. With any luck, you might be fortunate enough mimic James Hahn, who clawed his way onto the PGA Tour after spending nine years playing on the mini tours and supplementing his income selling ladies shoes at Nordstrom’s.

So if you are a talented golfer, what exactly are your chances?

In an unrelated sport, the NCAA has compiled statistics on the number of high school basketball players who continue to play professionally after graduating from college. Of the roughly 156,000 high school seniors who play basketball, 44 will be drafted into the NBA. Even at less than 1 percent, a basketball player has a better chance of filling one of the 350 or so roster spots in the NBA than a golfer has of sharing a fairway with Phil Mickelson.

Andrew Jensen doesn’t believe that a talent gap is keeping most mini tour players from propelling themselves to the next level.

“I think it has more to do with the off course hurdles than the competition,” says Jensen. “I’ve seen many great players pack it in because of their financial situation, the travel, or the time away from family, just to name a few reasons. I don’t believe players stop because they don’t think they have what it takes.”

There are thousands of golfers playing on the mini tours every year. What happens to the ones that don’t make it?

Perhaps some of them get a taste of success at the higher reaches of golf and regress. Others washout after only a few seasons on the road. Some quit playing and take up teaching while others quit the game entirely.

In spite of what is easily construed as abject failure, any player who has made it as far as the mini tours has an experience with the game that few golfers rarely come in contact with. It may not be the sort of ending that a Hollywood producer would dream up. But as golf announcer Gary Koch famously quipped, it’s better than most.

pga tour mini golf

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pga tour mini golf

Rusty Cage is a contributing writer for GolfWRX, one of the leading publications online for news, information and resources for the connected golfer. His articles have covered a broad spectrum of topics - equipment and apparel reviews, interviews with industry leaders, analysis of the pro game, and everything in between. Rusty's path into golf has been an unusual one. He took up the game in his late thirties, as suggested by his wife, who thought it might be a good way for her husband to grow closer to her father. The plan worked out a little too well. As his attraction to the game grew, so did his desire to take up writing again after what amounted to 15-year hiatus from sports journalism dating back to college. In spite of spending over a dozen years working in the technology sector as a backend programmer in New York City, Rusty saw an opportunity with GolfWRX and ran with it. A graduate from Boston University with a Bachelor's in journalism, Rusty's long term aspirations are to become one of the game's leading writers, rising to the standard set by modern-day legends like George Peper, Mark Frost and Dan Jenkins. GolfWRX Writer of the Month: August 2014 Fairway Executive Podcast Interview http://golfindustrytrainingassociation.com/17-rusty-cage-golf-writer (During this interview I discuss how golf industry professionals can leverage emerging technologies to connect with their audience.)

28 Comments

pga tour mini golf

Mike Boatright

Jan 23, 2017 at 4:31 pm

Iv’e researched heavily these mini tours and have found the leaders to have a scoring average of say 65.66 etc.. The pga tour needs to get off it’s elitists ass and give these good players a legitimate chance! Any time you set up a format that requires you to either have a sponsor exemption or play great for 6 days straight just to make it on the minor leagues is kinda making it far fetched for the majority of good players who aren’t rich. They do have some monday qualifying events which is just a blood fest first you need to pre qualify to make it into the qualifier which is you vs 4 guys usually a 65 loses and a 64 wins,then you qualify for the monday and it’s the same story you shoot 67 on a windy day the other guy shoots 66. By then the winner is so tired and nervous from his start that he shoots 75 70 and misses the cut by one stroke how is this fair?

pga tour mini golf

Jul 25, 2014 at 9:01 pm

Listen, if you’re good enough you will sail through Web.com Q School and be on that AAA tour. If you’re good enough there, you’ll be on the PGA tour. Much easier today. Web.com Q school doesn’t care if you went to Stanford or Truckee Meadows Community College.

pga tour mini golf

jess robinson

Jun 7, 2013 at 12:31 pm

“Golf is happiness for Happiness is achievement. The father of achievement is motivation The mother is encouragement. The fine golf swing is truly achievement Man may lie, cheat, and steal for gain. But, these will never gain the golf swing To gain the golf swing man must work. Yet it is work without toil It is exercise without the boredom. It is intoxication without the hangover It is stimulation without the pills. It is failure yet its successes shine even more brightly It is frustration yet it nourishes patience. It irritates yet its soothing is far greater It is futility yet it nurtures hope. It is defeating yet it generates courage It is humbling yet it ennobles the human spirit. It is dignity yet it rejects arrogance Its price is high yet its rewards are richer Some say it’s a boy’s pastime yet it builds men It is a buffer for the stresses of today’s living. It cleanses the mind and rejuvenates the body It is these things and many more. For those of us who know it and love it Golf is truly happiness.” — Paul Bertholy

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Frank Dolan

May 19, 2013 at 6:48 pm

Most authors make mistakes, specifically for those readers who look for mistakes. If you look past the mistakes, you will really enjoy the article. Another home run for you Mr. Cage. Keep those articles coming – I enjoy them tremendously.

P. S. – Did I make any grammatical errors?

pga tour mini golf

May 11, 2013 at 7:43 pm

I never want to chase a dream. I just want to go to my 9-5 job and sit in my cubical all day and grind my teeth over the fact my wife is probably banging the pool guy that I pay with the money I saved from my boring conservative life…

When the day ends I want to put myself to sleep by correcting Blog articles on a golf website full of folks that can’t appreciate truthful information because they think they know everything…

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May 10, 2013 at 4:36 pm

I enjoyed the article. There are a few segments I can relate to as well.

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Steve Pratt

May 10, 2013 at 1:53 am

I thought this was a terrific article. It brought back good and bad memories of my experiences on various mini tours.

In my opinion, the author nicely captures the essence of life and struggles on the mini tours.

pga tour mini golf

May 9, 2013 at 7:54 pm

Ian poulter will be broke and infamous in 10 years. They guy never wins except for the Ryder Cup which doesn’t pay. Normally the guys that got it dont flaunt it, and the ones that flaunt it don’t have it. Look at Warren Buffet compared to Donlad Trump. Trump has been bankrupt several times and sues publications that post his real worth which is about 1/10th what he says it is.

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May 10, 2013 at 12:22 am

Donald Trump just inquired about your physical address, so he coulde serve you!!! Dont answer the door!!!

pga tour mini golf

May 10, 2013 at 11:20 am

I think you’ll find that a lot of successful people have had bankruptcies in their past. That line of reasoning doesn’t make a lot of sense. Trump’s liquid worth is far less than his worth on paper, but that’s a pretty common thing for people who own a lot of stuff, rather than have a lot of money.

I’m no Poulter fan, but he seems to have an awful lot of cash for a guy that never wins.

pga tour mini golf

sdgfhjkhgjkdfsfg

May 9, 2013 at 7:15 pm

the best line in the article: “But for every Ian Poulter who owns a fleet of Ferraris and struts around like a movie star, ”

Ian is a new money brat. It’s amazing how much that guy brags.

pga tour mini golf

May 10, 2013 at 10:12 am

If there was one player I could punch in the face it would no doubt be IJP. By the way, the logo for his clothing line is ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE… what designers is this guy hiring!?

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Tool Status

May 9, 2013 at 4:09 pm

id probably tear up one of these mini tours, but id rather just spend my time with the ladies

pga tour mini golf

May 11, 2013 at 10:17 pm

+! internet

May 9, 2013 at 3:51 pm

I blame these guy’s parents. There comes a time in everyone’s life when you can’t chase your dreams any longer. Sometimes we can’t see it ourselves and the worst thing you can have is parents and loved ones feeding in to that dream. I had a sister who wanted to be a doctor in the worst way but couldn’t get in to med school. I also had a roommate who longed to be a fighter pilot, yet didn’t have great eye sight. Both of these people were told by loved ones that it’s time to grow up and move on, and both are living happy lives because of it now. It takes a real man to admit when enough is enough and it’s time to move on.

pga tour mini golf

May 9, 2013 at 9:12 pm

Why Should anyone give up on their dreams ever? You only get one shot at life, do what makes you happy and forget the “realists”. They will be the ones wondering what if and saying I should have when they are too old to live thier dreams. At least you spent your life working 9-5, for whatever that is worth…

pga tour mini golf

May 9, 2013 at 10:55 pm

It’s selfish. These dreamers will end up with debt and families to pass it on to.

pga tour mini golf

tsunamijohn

May 9, 2013 at 3:35 pm

Question nothing, just drink the Kool-Aid.

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Minitourplayer

May 9, 2013 at 2:56 pm

So did the Flagship Tour pay for this article?

pga tour mini golf

Zak Kozuchowski

May 9, 2013 at 3:27 pm

Minitourplayer,

Rusty is a wonderful writer with strong journalism instincts and morals. For you to suggest otherwise shows that you haven’t paid much attention to his previous work, or the GolfWRX Featured Writers program as a whole.

– Zak

pga tour mini golf

May 9, 2013 at 8:34 pm

That…is your opinion, Zak.

I think it goes beyond sounding like an ad, but well-written? I wouldn’t go that far. It’s a few different “HARO” respondents he aggregated into an ambling, unclear rough draft of article. A good journalist doesn’t just take notes and format, he tells a captivating story.

What did he do instead? 1.) He spent a large portion of the article covering a mini-tour that hasn’t yet played a game. 2.) Profiled a Canadian golfer that briefly played in Canada, not U.S. Mini tours. 3.) Dropped a few names of past mini-tour players, yet didn’t expand on them. 4.) Threw in some generalizations about past tour players that may or may not have existed, been scratch golfers, and/or quit for up to 5 various reasons unrelated to their game. Not a single name, or proof backing up that theory.

All of that and I still have no idea what the Hooters, Pepsi or any other mini tour is really like. Maybe interview someone that’s actually been on one or more of the major tours and get a first hand account.

As it stands, if you read this article the only thing you’ll get out of it is “Guys. Even if you’re very, very good, if you can’t afford a nice round number like $10,000/yr – you will be forced to sell shoes at Nordstrom.”

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tim roncone

May 10, 2013 at 1:13 am

when you choose to find a negative in something you will always fail to see the good or in this case understand whats he’s trying to portray. i really hope you have better things to do with your life than bash other peoples work. have a nice day tool.

May 10, 2013 at 11:46 pm

So…your response is somehow vindicated because I didn’t write an article? Who’s really the tool here? You didn’t bring anything to the table but a comment about a comment and in total frustration with your inability to make a point – a condescending remark.

pga tour mini golf

May 10, 2013 at 9:55 am

Its basically a commercial for a brand new tour that no one has heard of

May 10, 2013 at 10:09 am

I disagree… I clicked on the article thinking it would in fact be a story about life as a mini-tour player and instead it was disjointed and unrelatable. It’s a shame.

On another note, I find it hard to believe that there are only 156,000 HS seniors playing basketball each year, but who knows.

May 10, 2013 at 11:18 am

I completely agree with you. Between the headline that feels kind of misleading, a lot of Typos (“There’s” as was mentioned above and a few other awkward choices) I don’t think this is a very good article at all.

pga tour mini golf

May 9, 2013 at 2:13 pm

The word “there’s” is a contraction for “there is”. That being the case, you’d never write “there is plenty of golfers…”, “there is thousands who don’t.” or “There is thousands of golfers playing on the mini tours every year.” In these cases, you would say “there are” instead of “there is”. For the record, “…there’s next to no risk to play a Flagship Golf Tour event” is the correct use of “there’s”.

The contraction that you are looking for “there are” is “there’re” but besides being difficult to pronounce, “there’re” looks peculiar (and is incorrectly rejected by many spell-checkers). You are probably better off ditching a contraction for “there are”.

pga tour mini golf

May 15, 2013 at 3:47 pm

That was a fun post to read. Thanks for the puncuation lesson.

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Vincenzi’s Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches betting preview: Grinders fancied to survive tough PGA National test

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After finishing the West Coast swing and making a pit stop in Mexico, the PGA TOUR heads to PGA National to begin its Florida swing and play the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. The event was previously called the “Honda Classic”.

The tournament will be a significant challenge for golfers, as PGA National is one of the most difficult courses on the PGA TOUR.

PGA National is a 7,054-yard par 71 and features Bermudagrass greens.  Originally a Tom Fazio design, it was redesigned by Jack Nicklaus. The course features the infamous “Bear Trap” on holes 15-17, three of the toughest holes on TOUR. Wind tends to play a factor, which makes the scoring even more challenging.

The field is solid and much stronger than we saw last year with the event being directly after two signature events. Some notable players in the field include Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Min Woo Lee, Russell Henley and Gary Woodland. 

Past Winners at PGA National

  • 2023: Chris Kirk (-14)
  • 2022: Sepp Straka (-10)
  • 2021: Matt Jones (-12)
  • 2020: Sungjae Im (-6)
  • 2019: Keith Mitchell (-9)
  • 2018: Justin Thomas (-8)
  • 2017: Rickie Fowler (-12)
  • 2016: Adam Scott (-9)
  • 2015: Padraig Harrington (-6)

In this article and going forward, I’ll be using the  Rabbit Hole  by  Betsperts Golf  data engine to develop my custom model. If you want to build your own model or check out all of the detailed stats, you can sign up using promo code: MATTVIN for 25% off any subscription package (yearly is best value). 

5 Key Stats for PGA National

Let’s take a look at five key metrics for PGA National to determine which golfers boast top marks in each category over their last 24 rounds.

1. Strokes Gained: Approach

Strokes Gained: Approach has been far and away the biggest indicator of the winner at PGA National. Hitting the target is especially important with all of the water at the course.

Total SG: Approach Over Past 24 Rounds

  • Tom Hoge  (+1.08) 
  • Mathieu Pavon  (+1.07)
  • Chesson Hadley  (+.68)
  • Michael Kim  (+.67) 
  • Adam Svensson  (+.66)

2. Strokes Gained: Putting Bermuda (Florida)

As we enter the Florida swing, players will have to adjust to the Florida Bermudagrass greens, which favors some golfers who are more accustomed to playing the surface over others.

Strokes Gained: Putting Bermuda (Florida) over past 24 Rounds:

  • Beau Hossler  (+1.05)
  • Matt Fitzpatrick  (+.87)
  • Sungjae Im  (+.81)
  • Ben Martin  (+.75)
  • Denny McCarthy  (+.71)

3. Strokes Gained Total: Florida

This stat will bring in players who’ve played their best golf in the state of Florida.

Strokes Gained Total: Florida Over Past 36 Rounds:

  • Rory McIlroy  (+1.72)
  • Matt Fitzpatrick  (+1.62)
  • Shane Lowry  (+1.44)
  • Sungjae Im  (+1.32) 
  • Chris Kirk (+1.30)

4. Strokes Gained: Ball Striking

Historically, Strokes Gained: Ball Striking has been much more indicative of success at PGA National than Strokes Gained: Short Game. The difficult track rewards a solid tee-to-green game, which is the key to avoiding trouble.

The winning score will likely stay close to single digits, so an extremely hot putter isn’t all that predictive. 

SG: BS Over Past 24 Rounds

  • Corey Conners (+21.1)
  • Jhonnatan Vegas  (+19.5)
  • Adam Svensson  (+19.3)
  • Mathieu Pavon  (+18.6) 
  • Tom Hoge  (+18.3) 

5. Strokes Gained: Difficult or Very Difficult Courses

PGA National is one of the most difficult courses on the PGA TOUR. Including this stat will highlight some players who thrive when scoring is difficult.

Strokes Gained: Difficult Courses Over Past 24 Rounds

  • Rory McIlroy  (+2.62)
  • Matt Fitzpatrick  (+1.59) 
  • Tom Kim  (+1.59) 
  • Jake Knapp  (+1.55)
  • Shane Lowry  (+1.34)

Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches Model Rankings

Below, I’ve compiled overall model rankings using a combination of the five key statistical categories previously discussed — SG: Approach (27%), SG: Putting Florida Bermuda (15.3%), SG: Florida 15.3%), SG: Ball Striking (27%) and SG: Difficult Scoring(15.3%).

  • Daniel Berger
  • Jhonnatan Vegas
  • Corey Conners
  • Adam Svensson
  • Rory McIlroy
  • Shane Lowry
  • Sepp Straka
  • Kevin Streelman

2024 Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches Picks

(All odds are the best available at the time of writing)

Cameron Young +2200 (BetMGM)

Cameron Young has yet to break out with a PGA Tour win, but PGA National is a good course for the former PGA Tour Rookie of the Year to showcase his elite driving ability. In his past 24 rounds, Young ranks 1st in Total Driving.

PGA National isn’t the longest course, but with water lurking everywhere, it helps to hit approach shots with higher lofted clubs. Bombers such as Rory McIlroy, Keith Mitchell, and Brooks Koepka have thrived at the course in the recent years, and Young could look to replicate their play style here.

Young has had a strong start to his 2024 season, finishing in a tie for 8th at TPC Scottsdale and a tie for 16th at Riviera. In those two starts, he gained significant strokes on the field both off the tee and on approach. He also finished 16th in his debut at the Honda Classic in 2022. With two additional top-13 finishes at Bay Hill, the 26-year-old has shown he likes playing in Florida.

With the fields in 2024 weaker than in recent seasons, Young is one of the best players teeing it up this week and has the talent to come out on top.

Shane Lowry +3500 (DraftKings)

Shane Lowry has been very quiet this season, but he’ll now kick off the Florida swing, which is the part of the PGA Tour schedule that he’s had most success at over the course of his PGA Tour career.

In his past eight starts in the state of Florida, the Irishman has finished in the top-13 five times, including a runner-up at PGA National in 2022 and a tie for 5th here last year. The former Open champion is a resident of Jupiter, Florida and is extremely comfortable playing on these Bermudagrass greens.

Lowry is typically amongst the favorites at PGA National, but this year is being offered at a bit of a discount due to his underwhelming start to the season. If the course plays difficult, which it typically does, there are few players I’d rather have than Shane Lowry on my betting card.

Byeong Hun An +4000 (DraftKings)

I’ve bet Byeong Hun An a few times this year and it almost paid off when the South Korean lost in agonizing fashion in a playoff to Grayson Murray at the Sony Open. Given his current form and excellent course fit, I feel compelled to give the affable An one more shot at PGA National this week.

An is a great driver of the ball and ranks 17th in the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and 4th in Carry Distance. With danger lurking on almost every hole, longer hitters will have the advantage coming in with shorter irons. While not typically the most reliable putter, Benny ranks 18th in the field in his past eight rounds on Bermudagrass.

In addition to his strong start to the season, An has also had plenty of success at PGA National. He finished in a tie for 4th at the course in 2020 and tied for 5th in 2018. If he can avoid the water, we may finally get to celebrate a Benny An victory this week.

Corey Conners +5000 (FanDuel)

On a difficult course that produces relatively high scores such as PGA National, players who are accurate both off the tee and on approach will have the advantage. In his past 24 rounds, the Canadian ranks 4th in Total Driving and 2nd in Strokes Gained: Off the tee.

Conners is another player who has thrived in Florida. In his past seven starts in the state, he’s finished in the top 21 five times. The course history at PGA National hasn’t been great, but I am willing to overlook that in favor of his overall form in the state and his apparent course fit.

A few weeks ago, at Riviera, Conners’ signature iron play came back to life as he gained 5.04 strokes on the field on approach. If he can make some putts on Bermudagrass, which has been his favorite surface to date, there’s no reason why he can’t contend at PGA National this week.

Alex Noren +5000 (FanDuel)

Despite never having won on the PGA Tour, Alex Noren has racked up 11 total wins professionally, and has come close many times in the United States. The Swede has played on a winning European Ryder Cup team (2018) and has won big events in Europe such as the BMW PGA Championship and British Masters.

Noren is a tremendous wind player who has enjoyed plenty of success at PGA National throughout his career. He finished in a tie for 5th at this event in 2022 and finished 3rd back in 2018. Noren ranks 15th in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting on Florida Bermudagrass and 20th in three putt avoidance on the surface.

If the course plays as difficult as expected, the 41-year-old is the type of grinder who can contend on one of his favorite tracks.

Matt Wallace +10000 (FanDuel)

Matt Wallace demonstrated his ability to play well on a tough Florida track at last year’s Valspar Championship, where he finished in a tie for 7th. The Englishman has also played reasonably well at PGA National, finishing 29th last year and tied for 20th in 2019.

Wallace played well last week in Mexico and was more involved than his T33 finish would indicate. He struggled in round 4, shooting 74, but indicated that he was “playing for the win” which brought a lot more trouble into play. Wallace is one of the better wind players in the field and has shown winning upside in the past.

The 33-year-old is a grinder with winning upside.

Vincenzi: 2024 Mexico Open First Round Leader picks

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The Mexico Open begins on Thursday at beautiful Vidanta Vallarta. The tournament will have a full field this week with most of the big names on the PGA Tour taking the week off.

In the past two editions of the tournament, there have been seven first-round leaders or co-leaders. Of the seven, six have come from the morning wave. At first glance, there certainly looks to be an advantage to having an early tee time this week in Mexico but with such a small sample size I won’t put too much stock in that and take a balanced approach.

As of Tuesday, the wind doesn’t look as if it will play a factor at all during round one. It will be about hot and sunny for most of the day with wind gusts never exceeding 7 MPH.

This week, I used the Betsperts  Rabbit Hole  to see each players floor/ceiling. You can sign up using promo code: MATTVIN for 25% off any subscription package (yearly is best value).

Mexico Open First-Round-Leader Selections

Jhonnatan Vegas +6000 (DraftKings)

First-Round Tee Time: 12:15 p.m. Local Time

After a long injury layoff, it certainly seems as if Jhonnatan Vegas is “back”. In his most recent start at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, the Venezuelan gained 7.2 strokes ball striking, which was his best performance in the category since June of 2022.

Vegas loves playing on Paspalum, and while he struggles with the putter often, he’s been consistent putting on these slow and spongey surfaces. I expect the big man to have a great week in Mexico.

Harry Hall +9000 (BetMGM)

First-Round Tee Time: 8:14 a.m. Local Time

While you wouldn’t expect an Englishman in a flat cap to play his best golf in tropical paradises, that’s certainly been the case for the 24-year-old throughout his career thus far. The 6’4″ UNLV product with a soft touch around the greens has shined in places such as Puerto Rico and Puntacana as well as at Vidanta Vallarta last year.

Hall is a fantastic putter, which never will hurt you in the first-round leader market.

Adrien Dumont de Chassart 100-1 (FanDuel)

First-Round Tee Time: 1:54 p.m. Local Time

Those who have been following me this season know that I’m high on this 23-year-old bomber from Belgium. With off the tee prowess being a major point of emphasis at Vidanta Vallarta, it makes sense to give him another crack at the first-round lead once again this week.

In his most recent start at TPC Scottsdale, ADDC gained 4.0 strokes off the tee.

Fred Biondi 130-1 (DraftKings)

First-Round Tee Time: 8:47 a.m. Local Time

Fred Biondi recently won a National Championship as a Florida Gator and has loved playing on coastal courses throughout the early part of his career. In the fall, the Brazilian finished 13th at the Butterfield Bermuda and 23rd at the RSM Classic, with both events having fields either stronger or comparable to this one.

Biondi is a good iron player and putter and should be comfortable playing in Mexico.

Scott Piercy 150-1 (BetMGM)

First-Round Tee Time: 8:25 a.m. Local Time

Scott Piercy got in the field this week after Will Zalatoris withdrew following a strong performance at the Genesis Invitational. Piercy may be well past his prime, but this is the type of event where the 47-year-old has thrived over the years.

Piercy has been prone to fast starts and has finished in the top-5 after the first round 32 times in his career and has been within two of the lead in the first round 45 times. He’s also been great on Paspalum, boasting finishes of 6th at the 2018 OHL, 7th at the 2015 CIMB Classic and 4th at the 2016 OHL.

Sebastian Vazquez 300-1 (DraftKings)

First-Round Tee Time: 1:21 p.m. Local Time

Sebastian Vasquez is a name that many golf fans won’t be familiar with but has played some good golf in South America over the course of his career. At last year’s Mexico Open, Vazquez shot an opening round 67. At last year’s World Wide Technology Championship at El Cardonal at Diamante in Cabo San Lucas, Vazquez closed his tournament with a Sunday 64, which was just two shots off the round of the day.

The Mexican has been playing this season on the Gira de Golf Profesional Mexicana and doing so relatively well. He also finished 38th at El Cardonal in a pretty strong PGA Tour field. Vazquez could come out and fire a low one while feeling extremely at ease playing in his home country.

Vincenzi’s 2024 Mexico Open at Vidanta betting preview: Birdie machine ready to notch first PGA Tour title

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Mexico Open at Vidanta! For the third consecutive year, the PGA TOUR heads to beautiful Puerto Vallarta to play the Mexico Open.

The Greg Norman-designed Vidanta Vallarta is a par-71 measuring 7,456 yards. Prior to its inaugural event, the course was extended by over 250 yards to make it PGA TOUR ready, and there were nine new tee boxes and 106 new bunkers added to stiffen the test for the best players in the world.

The course features three par 5s. Also, the par-4 seventh will be drivable for the longer hitters, but the golfers will have to risk taking on some water if they want to go for it.

The field this week will consist of 132 players. Some notable players in the field include Tony Finau, Will Zalatoris, Keith Mitchell, Emiliano Grillo, Taylor Pendrith and Thorbjorn Olesen. 

Past Winners at Vidanta Villarta

  • 2023: Tony Finau (-24)
  • 2022: Jon Rahm (-17)

5 Key Stats For Vidanta Villarta

Let’s take a look at five key metrics for Vidanta Vallarta to determine which golfers boast top marks in each category over their past 24 rounds.

1. Driving Distance

At almost 7,500 yards, Vidanta Villarta is a long par 71. The rough shouldn’t be much of a factor this week, which gives the advantage to the long hitters in the field.

Average Driving Distance Over Past 24 Rounds

  • Alejandro Tosti  (+311.2)
  • Sam Stevens  (+310.4)
  • Cameron Champ  (+308.1)
  • Patrick Rodgers  (+305.1)
  • Vincent Norrman  (+304.7)

2. Strokes Gained: Ball Striking

With the course playing long and greens likely being receptive, elite ball strikers should have an advantage more so than a good short game and strong putting.

Strokes Gained: Ball Striking Over Past 24 Rounds

  • Jhonnatan Vegas  (+1.10)
  • Erik Van Rooyen  (+.95)
  • Taylor Pendrith  (+.86)
  • Tony Finau  (+.81)
  • Doug Ghim  (+.74)

3. Course History

The first two editions of the event have produced plenty of leaderboard similarity. I’m looking to target players who like the golf course. 

Course History over past 8 rounds:

  • Tony Finau  (+4.05)
  • Brandon Wu (+3.43)
  • Davis Riley  (+2.94)
  • Cameron Champ  (+2.55)
  • Patrick Rodgers (+2.41)

4. Strokes Gained: Total in Weak Fields with Easy Scoring Conditions

Last year, the course played extremely easy, and this is one of the weakest fields we will see this year on the PGA Tour. 

SG: TOT Total in Weak Fields with Easy Scoring Conditions Past 24 Rounds

  • Erik Van Rooyen  (+1.84) 
  • Mackenzie Hughes  (+1.69) 
  • S.H. Kim  (+1.43)
  • Michael Kim  (+1.43)
  • Tyler Duncan  (+1.26)

5.  Strokes Gained: Total in Caribbean

I’m not exactly sure if this part of Mexico would be considered “Caribbean”, but this statistic brings in all rounds from Corales, the Puerto Rico Open, and the Bermuda Championship, which all have close leaderboard correlation to the Mexico Open. This also brings in courses that feature Paspalum greens.

Strokes Gained: Total in Caribbean over past 24 Rounds

  • Mackenzie Hughes  (+3.14)
  • Tony Finau  (+2.73)
  • Nicolai Hojgaard  (+2.40)
  • James Hahn  (+2.35)
  • Chad Ramey  (+2.05)

The Mexico Open at Vidanta Model Rankings

Below, I’ve compiled overall model rankings using a combination of the five key statistical categories previously discussed — Driving Distance (22%), SG: Ball Striking (28%), SG: Paspalum (16%), SG: Total in Weak Fields with Easy Scoring Conditions (16%) and Strokes Gained: Total in Caribbean (16%)

  • Taylor Pendrith
  • Erik Van Rooyen
  • Stephan Jaeger
  • Mark Hubbard
  • Matti Schmid
  • Cameron Champ
  • Vincent Whaley
  • Michael Kim

Mexico Open Picks

(All listed odds are at the time of writing)

Stephan Jaeger +2800 ( BetMGM)

Despite not yet winning an event, Stephan Jaeger has been one of the most prolific birdie makers on the PGA Tour. In the field this season, he ranks 5th in the field in Birdie or Better percentage. 13th in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking and 27th in Driving Distance.

Jaeger has had a tough time closing events while in contention, but his recent T3 finish at the Farmers Insurance Open in a strong field should have helped him build the necessary scar tissue it takes to win on the PGA Tour. He shot a final round 72 at Torrey Pines, which wasn’t a horrible result, but left him two shots behind eventual champion Mathieu Pavon.

In his two starts at the course, Jaeger has finished 15th and 18th. At this point in his career, he’s one of the most talented players in the field and should have what it takes to earn his first PGA Tour victory.

Keith Mitchell +3500 ( DraftKings)

Keith Mitchell took last week off after a strong start to his 2024 campaign. He finished in a tie for 9th at the American Express in January and in a tie for 17th in his most recent start at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Over his past 24 rounds, Mitchell ranks 12th in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking and 21st in Driving Distance in the field.

When betting on events that feature Paspalum greens, I always look to target players who’ve had some success on the surface before, as it is quite unique. Mitchell hasn’t played in a great deal of those events over the past few seasons but does have a 2nd place finish at the Corales Puntacana Championship in 2018, which is a strong signal that he likes the surface and can take advantage of a weak field.

On a golf course where great drivers of the golf ball have a significant advantage, I’ll happily take a shot on Mitchell who’s gained strokes off the tee in every one of his starts this season.

Taylor Pendrith +3500 ( DraftKings )

Over the past few seasons, Taylor Pendrith has been fantastic in the weaker field events on coastal tracks. In the fall, he finished 8th at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and was 10th a few months ago at the Sony Open in Hawaii. In his past 24 rounds, the Canadian ranks 6th in Strokes Gained: Total in events that have easy scoring conditions and weak fields and 4th in Strokes Gained: Total in the Caribbean.

Vidanta Vallarta is a course where bombers thrive and Pendrith is one of the longer hitters on the PGA Tour. He ranks 19th in the field in Driving Distance as well as 4th in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking in his past 24 rounds. He also ranks 2ndin the field in Birdie or Better percentage.

In addition to the obvious course fit, Pendrith is starting to play some good golf of late. He finished 9th at Torrey Pines a few weeks ago and has two top 10’s in his last three starts. With fellow Canadian Nick Taylor winning in Phoenix, the 32-year-old will be motivated to get in the winner’s circle in a year where the Presidents Cup will be played in Canada.

Cameron Champ +6500  ( FanDuel )

Cameron Champ has become one of my favorite players to bet in the outright market over the years due to his volatility. In most circumstances, volatility is a bad thing in the gambling world, but in outright betting, it’s a trait that I target. Champ finishes at the bottom of the leaderboard far more often than he finishes at the top, but he wins golf tournaments at a much higher clip than his odds indicate.

One of the courses on Tour that Champ fits the most is Vidanta Vallarta. The 28-year-old absolutely pummels the ball and the course is set up for players who can get it out there off the tee. He ranks 4th in Driving Distance in the field and also ranks 3rd in Strokes Gained: Total for the first two editions of the Mexico Open at Vidanta.

By any metric, Champ is a poor putter on just about every surface, with one notable exception: Paspalum. He gains an average of .4 strokes per event on Paspalum as opposed to losing roughly .3 strokes on other surfaces.

Many will be concerned with Champ’s horrible start to 2024 where he’s missed the cut in all four of his starts. However, last season, Champ missed the cut in eight straight events prior to finishing 8th at the Mexico Open.

Close your eyes and bet it. Embrace the volatility.

Jhonnatan Vegas +8000 ( BetRivers )

Jhonnatan Vegas is one of my favorite players to bet on and I’m ecstatic to find a spot on the schedule that should suit the Venezuelan remarkably.

After an injury hiatus, Vegas is back playing consistent golf and has shown some flashes of his ceiling in his most recent start. At the Waste management Phoenix Open, the two-time Olympian finished 22nd and gained 7.2 two strokes ball striking comprised of 3.8 strokes off the tee and 3.2 on approach.

Coastal Paspalum is a surface Vegas has thrived at over the years. The 39-year-old has finishes 2nd (2021 Puerto Rico Open) and 4th (2022 Corales Puntacana) on Paspalum and should be extremely comfortable with the putter this week.

In his past 24 rounds, Vegas ranks 2nd in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking in the field and 22nd in Driving Distance. The big man will be letting it rip off the tee in Mexico this week.

Harry Hall +130000 ( BetRivers )

Harry Hall has absolutely feasted on Paspalum greens over the course of his PGA Tour career. The Englishman absolutely loves playing on the coast and a good deal of his best finishes have come on this surface, including the 2023 Puerto Rico Open (7th), the 2023 Mexico Open (10th) 2023 Corales (13th), and the 2022 Great Exuma (19th).

Hall finished 10th at the event last year and arrives after a solid tied for 41st finish at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. We’ve seen longshots win this season with a hot putter and Hall is one of the best putters in the field.

Adrien Dumont De Chassart +20000 ( FanDuel )

Adrien Dumont De Chassart is a young up-and-coming player I’ve committed to betting early in the 2024 season. That approach will certainly come with ebbs and flows but in the end, I am betting on the talent of the 23-year-old.

The Belgian possesses arguably the most desired trait in order to contend this week in Mexico: At his best, he’s an elite talent off the tee. ADDC gained 4.0 strokes off the tee in his last start at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and should be able to let his drive loose at Vidanta Vallarta this week.

De Chassart is a proven winner on the Korn Ferry Tour and has the upside to take advantage of a weaker field this week in Mexico.

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Justin Lower WITB 2024 (February)

Justin Lower WITB accurate as of the WM Phoenix Open. Driver: Ping G430 LST (9 degrees) Shaft: Project X HZRDUS...

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Cam Davis WITB 2024 (February)

Cam Davis what’s in the bag accurate as of the Genesis Invitational. Driver: Titleist TSR3 (9 degrees, B3 SureFit setting)...

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Jake Knapp’s winning WITB: 2024 Mexico Open at Vidanta

Driver: Ping G425 LST (9 degrees) Buy here.  Shaft: Project X HZRDUS T1100 TX Mini driver: TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver...

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Sami Valimaki WITB 2024 (February)

Sami Valimaki’s WITB accurate as of the Mexico Open. Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond S (9 degrees) Shaft:...

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Mexico Open at Vidanta

Vidanta Vallarta

4 EXERCISES FOR A BETTER SWING

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How PGA Tour rookie of the year Eric Cole overcame disease, a broken back and 13 years of playing mini-tours for peanuts

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Editor’s Note—Eric Cole, 35, just finished playing his rookie season on the PGA Tour. During the 2022-23 campaign, Cole played 37 PGA Tour events and a tour-leading 126 rounds, posting seven top-10s and earning $5.4 million. He won the Arnold Palmer Award, given to the top rookie on tour as voted by tour players. In addition to his PGA Tour starts, Cole frequently played in events on the Minor League Golf Tour, including winning its Tour Championship .

My six siblings and I took up most of the LPGA Tour’s daycare room in the 1990s. My mom, Laura Baugh, would pile my siblings and me into a van, and we’d go from LPGA tournament to LPGA tournament all summer. My dad, Bobby Cole, was a pro golfer, too.

All of us kids learned to play golf, but I had the most passion for it. I played a lot of golf with my mom as a kid because we hit it about the same distance. Mom was the LPGA Rookie of the Year in 1973 and played the tour for 25 years. The best thing she taught me was to work hard when you’re at the course and leave it there. If you only think about golf, you’ll get fatigued. My dad, a PGA Tour winner, worked with me on my swing. He taught me to own my swing and be aware if it changes.

I spent junior golf learning about the game instead of playing a ton of tournaments. My mom remarried when I was a teenager, and we had a membership at Bay Hill. One of my best friends is Sam Saunders, Arnold Palmer’s grandson. We played with a bunch of pros: Lee Janzen, Robert Damron and Dicky Pride. They helped our games develop faster than other juniors. We went to the range with a plan, practiced wedges more than other juniors and had pre-shot routines before other kids did.

When it came time for college, I wasn’t focused on school. I wanted to be a professional golfer. Neither of my parents went to college, but they told me to try it. Nova Southeastern University was the first school to send me a letter of intent. It’s a Division II program in Fort Lauderdale. I wanted to stay in Florida; I signed it.

I played well as a freshman, but during my second year, I felt incredibly lethargic. My body ached, and I lost a bunch of weight. I went home, thinking rest would fix me, but I got worse. I weighed 117 pounds when my mom took me to the ER. I was diagnosed with two autoimmune diseases: type 1 diabetes and Addison’s disease.

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I wear an insulin pump and blood glucose monitor. In my golf bag, I carry sugar-free protein bars for when my blood sugar is stable, and I have Sour Patch Kids and Starbursts for when it dips. To treat Addison’s, I take a few pills in the morning to replace the hormones my body doesn’t create, and I don’t have symptoms. As long as I have my medication, gear and supplies, I feel good.

After a couple of months, I got healthy. I didn’t return to school and turned pro instead. Why prolong the inevitable? I didn’t have any sponsors. My mom paid for Q school that first year; I didn’t get through. I played mini-tours in Florida, figuring I’d save on travel costs by playing events I could drive to. I played the Moonlight Golf Tour, where I would pay a $90 entry fee and the winner got $300. The one-day events on the Minor League Golf Tour were $150 to $200 to get in, and the winner got just under $1,000. Over the years, I won 56 times on the Minor League Golf Tour.

I was able to pay my bills and go to Q school every year, but I wasn’t getting through. I was frustrated, but my parents reassured me: If you’re good enough, it can start to happen quickly. I believed in myself, so I kept going. In 2015, a group of guys at my club, Tequesta Country Club, raised some money so I could travel to play in tournaments outside of Florida. It was hard for me to take the money, but I realized it’s OK to accept help. Getting out of Florida and playing new courses helped my game. After going to Q school six times, I finally got through in 2016 and earned status on the Korn Ferry Tour. The dream of reaching the PGA Tour felt new again.

Just when I was closer to the tour than ever, I was diagnosed with a stress fracture in my back. I don’t know what caused it, but I had to stop playing. I spent 2018 teaching golf at Abacoa, a course in Jupiter. The juniors I taught were so excited about the game, and I could help them like the pros helped me when I was young. I wasn’t pursuing my dream, but I was still happy. I realized that if I never make it to the tour, I’ll be OK. When I started competing again, I felt less pressure.

I came back to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020. I made about half the cuts that season. In 2022, I settled in. I had five top-10s and finished inside the top 25 to get my PGA Tour card. It felt like a reward for all the hard work and validation for everyone who had helped me.

I got off to a rough start during my rookie season: I had COVID-19 at the Fortinet, my clubs were stolen at the Shriners, and I missed several cuts in a row, but I trusted my game. I saw enough guys get to the tour, change their games and struggle even more. After 13 years of mini-tours, I have a lot of patience. In February 2023, I almost won the Honda Classic. My dad won on the PGA Tour. It would be cool to share that with him.

Hope you enjoyed this story! If you have someone who loves golf in your life, there's no better gift this holiday season than  Golf Digest+ , the ultimate experience on how to play, what to play and where to play your best golf.

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Charlie Woods takes part in first PGA Tour pre-qualifier event for 2024 Cognizant Classic

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Charlie Woods has just wrapped up his first round at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches' pre-qualifier as the the 15-year-old makes his first attempt at qualifying for a PGA Tour event.

The son of 15-time major champion Tiger Woods was one of the first golfers to tee off at Lost Lake Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida, and he arrived more than an hour before his 7:39 a.m. tee time to get some practice on his putting. Woods was paired with longtime mini-tour pro Olin Browne Jr., son of three-time Tour winner Olin Browne, for the round.

Overall, Woods struggled in the opening round, finishing 16-over-86 with four bogeys, two double bogeys and taking a 12 on the par-4 7th hole. But the teen got the experience of playing in a qualifying event and appeared to enjoy the round.

Billy Basham was the leader with a 65 as of early Thursday afternoon with only a few groups finished with the round.

The top five and ties at Woods' pre-qualifying site will advance to Monday's open qualifier (Lost Lake is one of four pre-qualifying sites). The top four from the Monday qualifier will advance to the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, contested next Thursday-Sunday at PGA National's Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Woods was trying to make his first start on the PGA Tour at 15 years, 21 days old, younger than when his dad made his debut on the tour at 16 years old.

Although this is Woods' first time competing to qualify for an official PGA Tour event, he has played alongside his father in the PNC Championship – which features PGA Tour players partnering with family members in an alternate-shot competition – since 2019.

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PGA Tour winner worked as nightclub bouncer to keep golf dream alive before $1.5M payday

T he origin story of Jake Knapp, the PGA Tour 's most recent winner at the Mexico Open, is one of the more interesting on the way to earning a tour card.

For most golfers trying to reach the highest levels of play all over the world, it is common to work various jobs to help pay for travel and compete in various tournaments.  

Knapp, who was running out of funding for golf, worked as a nightclub bouncer to make the money necessary to keep that dream of going pro alive. 

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The story goes like this for Knapp. After losing his Korn Ferry Tour card in 2021, Knapp was looking for ways to make some quick cash. So, he decided to become a bouncer at a nightclub for nine months. 

While one may shake their head at this career choice, Knapp was able to work on his golf game during the day and get work done at night as well. He would use the money he made at night to participate in mini-tour events as well as PGA Tour Canada tournaments. 

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Knapp did not want to be at the front of a nightclub checking IDs for patrons, but he always had golf on his mind. 

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"I was the one standing at the front door checking IDs and doing all that kind of stuff," he said on "The Smylie Show" with fellow PGA Tour winner Smylie Kaufman. "And it was like, ‘Man, what am I doing here?’ This isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing, but I had somebody give me a good piece of advice. ‘You are where you are for a reason. If you don’t want to be there, work your way out of it.’"

Knapp eventually got back to the Korn Ferry Tour last year, and he was able to secure his PGA Tour card this year. 

Now 29 years old, Knapp can say he is a PGA Tour champion, finishing 19-under at Vidanta Vallarta in his ninth career start. 

Knapp did not have the prettiest final round of the tournament, but he got the job done, shooting even-par 71 to hold off Finland’s Sami Valimaki, who finished 17-under to claim second place. Valimaki had a chance to potentially force a playoff when he stepped up to the par-5 18th hole, but his tee shot ended up underneath a fence. He was forced to take relief, which meant giving up one stroke. 

From there, Knapp tapped in his final putt and the celebration ensued. 

Knapp’s impressive third round, which included a front-nine 28 after seven birdies, saw him finish 8-under for the day to take the lead heading into the final round Sunday. 

Of course, Knapp wants to continue playing well to remain in the Top 60, which would secure a spot at this year's U.S. Open . However, he will be sure to take a step back and celebrate not just the win, but the bumpy road it took to get to this point in his career. 

Knapp went from No. 101 to No. 52 in the world after the win, while also sitting eighth in the FedEx Cup standings. 

Original article source: PGA Tour winner worked as nightclub bouncer to keep golf dream alive before $1.5M payday

Jake Knapp of the United States kisses the trophy after winning the Mexico Open at Vidanta Vallarta on Feb. 25, 2024 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images

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