Jake Staiano is benefiting from his Q-College return.
It was a few yr in the past that the 27-year-old Staiano, then a conditional member on the Korn Ferry Tour who had performed his manner into the primary playoff occasion, was suspended from PGA Tour-sanctioned competitors for 3 months for betting on golf.
Now, Staiano is 2 levels away from competing for a PGA Tour card after rolling by means of his first-stage web site in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the place he shot 13 below and received by seven pictures on the College of New Mexico’s Championship Course.
“It was a bizarre yr, after every thing that occurred, figuring out I didn’t have something to essentially plan for,” Staiano mentioned through cellphone on Saturday morning. “The whole lot was just about up within the air, I didn’t play a ton of golf, however I virtually wanted it. I loved life extra, acquired to hang around with some buddies, do some enjoyable stuff and, in a manner, not be an expert golfer for a yr.
“It helped me reset, I put a number of onerous work in, and it undoubtedly gave me extra starvation going into Q-College this yr.”
Staiano and fellow KFT professional Vince India have been every suspended final fall for violating the PGA Tour’s integrity program. Staiano positioned 4 bets totaling $116.20 in 2021 – one was a $25 prop wager on Bryson DeChambeau to birdie a par-5 throughout a PGA Tour occasion that season whereas the opposite three have been wagers on DeChambeau in his pay-per-view match in opposition to Brooks Koepka in Las Vegas.
Staiano was first contacted about potential violations in Could, a couple of weeks earlier than he acquired a sponsor exemption into the BMW Charity Professional-Am, tied for nineteenth in simply his second KFT begin of the yr and reshuffled into a daily KFT schedule for the rest of the season. Staiano’s yr resulted in Boise, Idaho, and by early September, he had been notified through letter by PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan that he could be levied a three-month suspension for playing. The suspension spanned from Sept. 11 to Dec. 10, that means Staiano was prohibited from competing within the first stage of PGA Tour Q-College.
“It may very well be career-altering,” Staiano mentioned on the time, talking to Monday Q Data’s Ryan French. “I’m treating it prefer it’s not, however you by no means know, I’d by no means get an opportunity to get again to Q-College.”
His fame blemished and feeling ashamed, Staiano leaned on his household and pals for energy. He moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from Englewood, Colorado, to stick with a buddy for a couple of months throughout the winter, and with a lighter taking part in schedule, he took the chance to go on a couple of journeys, together with first-time visits to Vegas, for a bachelor occasion, and Nashville.
Competitively, Staiano cobbled collectively a handful of Monday qualifier however by no means acquired by means of. He excelled extra domestically, tying for sixth on the Colorado Open in July and putting solo fourth on the Rocky Mountain Open in August. He credit his robust summer season to a placing change a pair weeks earlier than the Colorado Open. A lifelong blade consumer, Staiano switched to a TaylorMade Spider mallet, the primary putter he tried throughout a becoming with a pal.
“I began rolling my buddy’s putter and he goes, ‘We don’t want to check anymore,’” mentioned Staiano, who quickly after had his TaylorMade rep construct him his personal.
“I’ve actually been placing nice for the final 4 or 5 months, which it’s normally my weak spot.”
Staiano entered the primary stage of DP World Tour Q-College final month in Rosersberg, Sweden, wanting “to get my toes moist once more as a result of I do know that Q-College is only a completely different sort of golf for 4 days, no lower, and your nerves and all that, they simply sort of kick in.” Admittedly, Staiano had “slightly an excessive amount of enjoyable” throughout the journey, wasn’t as locked in as he ought to’ve been and missed by eight pictures.
That wasn’t the case in New Mexico, the place Staiano, along with his high-school teammate Tim Amundson on the bag, was competing on a course the place he’d twice superior by means of second stage. He was a shot again after two rounds earlier than rattling off seven birdies and dashing away from the sector with a 5-under 66. His final-round 68, additionally the spherical of the day, left him 15 pictures away from the lower line as he simply superior to second stage together with different notables equivalent to Ryan Corridor, Michael Feagles, Connor Black Rodolfo Cazaubon, James Hart du Preez, Sam Choi, Johnny Travale and novice Bastien Amat, who performed at New Mexico and lately earned Problem Tour standing through the DP World Tour’s World Novice Pathway rankings.
Staiano’s first alternative for second stage is the Valdosta, Georgia, qualifier Dec. 3-6 at Kinderlou Forest Golf Membership. To organize, Staiano is planning to go again to South Florida in a pair weeks to get accustomed to sea stage and Bermudagrass. He doesn’t have any tournaments on the schedule till then, although he might join the RSM pre-qualifier.
If not, it’s not as if he’s not used to lengthy layoffs.
In truth, he’s confirmed higher for them.
“On the finish of the day, every thing goes to occur for a purpose,” Staiano mentioned. “I sat again and watched a bunch of my buddies get their PGA Tour playing cards this yr, guys I do know, guys I’ve performed with, and one among them is Matt McCarty, who clearly has balled out (three KFT wins and lately his first PGA Tour title, on the Black Desert Championship in Utah). It sucked, however on the identical time, I needed to remind myself that there’s going to be good that comes from it, and as an alternative of being down on myself and wallowing in it, I took it as motivation to get again there [on tour].
“I undoubtedly attribute the success this previous week to that, and there’s undoubtedly that further starvation and drive that I possibly didn’t have earlier than.”
