A year after his playing ban, Jake Staiano is completing the first level of Q-School

Jake Staiano is making the most of his return to Q-School.

It had been about a year since the 27-year-old Staiano, then a conditional member of the Korn Ferry Tour who had played his way into the first playoff event, was there excluded from PGA Tour-sanctioned competition for three months because of golf betting.

Now Staiano is just two stages away from competing for a PGA Tour card after completing his first stage in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he shot 13 under and seven at the University of New Mexico Championship Course strokes won.

“After everything that happened, it was a strange year because I knew I couldn’t really plan anything,” Staiano said by phone Saturday morning. “Everything was pretty uncertain, I didn’t play much golf but I almost needed it. I enjoyed life more, got to hang out with some friends, do some fun things, and in some ways wasn’t a professional golfer for a year.

“It helped me relearn, I put in a lot of hard work and it definitely motivated me even more going into Q-School this year.”

Staiano and fellow KFT pro Vince India were each suspended last fall for violating the PGA Tour’s integrity program. Staiano placed four bets totaling $116.20 in 2021 – one of which was a $25 prop bet on Bryson DeChambeau, who made a par-5 birdie during a PGA Tour event this season, during the The other three bets on DeChambeau in his pay-per-view match against Brooks Koepka were in Las Vegas.

Staiano was first contacted about possible violations in May, a few weeks before he received a sponsor exemption for the BMW Charity Pro-Am, finished 19th in just his second KFT start of the year and transferred for the rest of the year into a regular KFT plan the season. Staiano’s year ended in Boise, Idaho, and in early September he was informed by letter from PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan that he would be given a three-month suspension for gambling. The suspension lasted from September 11th to December 10th, meaning Staiano was banned from taking part in the first leg of the PGA Tour Q-School.

“It could be career-changing,” Staiano told Ryan French of Monday Q Info at the time. “I treat it like it isn’t, but you never know, I might never get the chance to go back to Q-School again.”

With his reputation tarnished and ashamed, Staiano leaned on the strength of his family and friends. He moved from Englewood, Colorado to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to stay with a buddy for a few months during the winter, and since he had a lighter schedule, he took the opportunity to take a few trips, including first visits to Vegas for a bachelor party and Nashville.

In the competition, Staiano mastered a few qualifying games on Monday, but never progressed. He excelled more locally, placing sixth at the Colorado Open in July and finishing solo fourth at the Rocky Mountain Open in August. He attributes his strong summer to a putting change a few weeks before the Colorado Open. A lifelong blade user, Staiano switched to a TaylorMade Spider Mallet, the first putter he tried during a fitting with a friend.

“I started rolling my buddy’s putter and he said, ‘We don’t need to test anymore,'” said Staiano, who soon had his TaylorMade representative build him his own putter.

“I’ve been putting really great the last four or five months, which is usually my weakness.”

Staiano took part in the first leg of the DP World Tour Q-School last month in Rosersberg, Sweden and wanted to “get my feet wet again because I know that Q-School is just a different kind of golf for four days, no cut, and yours. “Nerves and all that, they just kick in.” Admittedly, Staiano had “a little too much fun” during the outing, wasn’t as locked in as he should have been, and missed the ball by eight shots.

That wasn’t the case in New Mexico, where Staiano competed with his high school teammate Tim Amundson at the front on a course where he had advanced to the second stage twice. He was a shotback after two rounds before making seven birdies and racing away from the field with a 5-under 66. His 68 in the final round, also the round of the day, left him 15 shots ahead of the cut line as he joined other notables such as Ryan Hall, Michael Feagles, Connor Black, Rodolfo Cazaubon, James Hart du Preez, Sam Choi, Johnny Travale and amateur Bastien Amat, who played in New Mexico and recently achieved Challenge Tour status, easily made it into the second phase of the DP World Tour Global Amateur Pathway rankings.

Staiano’s first choice for the second stage is the qualifying tournament in Valdosta, Georgia, which takes place December 3-6 at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club. To prepare, Staiano plans to return to South Florida in a few weeks to acclimate to the sea level and Bermuda grass. He has no tournaments scheduled until then, but may be able to sign up for the RSM pre-qualifiers.

If not, he’s not used to long layoffs.

In fact, he turned out to be better for her.

“At the end of the day, everything will happen for a reason,” Staiano said. “I sat back and watched a few of my friends get their PGA Tour cards this year, guys I know, guys I played with, and one of them is Matt McCarty, who obviously made a mistake has (three KFT wins and recently his). first PGA Tour title at the Black Desert Championship in Utah). It sucked, but at the same time I had to remind myself that something good will come out of it, and instead of beating myself down and wallowing in it, I used it as motivation to get back there [on tour].

“I definitely attribute last week’s success to that, and there’s definitely that extra hunger and drive that maybe I didn’t have before.”