Jake Staiano is profiting from his Q-Faculty return.
It was a few 12 months in the past that the 27-year-old Staiano, then a conditional member on the Korn Ferry Tour who had performed his means into the primary playoff occasion, was suspended from PGA Tour-sanctioned competitors for 3 months for betting on golf.
Now, Staiano is 2 phases away from competing for a PGA Tour card after rolling by way of his first-stage website in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the place he shot 13 beneath and received by seven pictures on the College of New Mexico’s Championship Course.
“It was a bizarre 12 months, after every little thing that occurred, figuring out I didn’t have something to essentially plan for,” Staiano stated by way of telephone on Saturday morning. “All the things was just about up within the air, I didn’t play a ton of golf, however I nearly wanted it. I loved life extra, bought to hang around with some buddies, do some enjoyable stuff and, in a means, not be an expert golfer for a 12 months.
“It helped me reset, I put quite a lot of arduous work in, and it positively gave me extra starvation going into Q-Faculty this 12 months.”
Staiano and fellow KFT professional Vince India had 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 guess on Bryson DeChambeau to birdie a par-5 throughout a PGA Tour occasion that season whereas the opposite three had been wagers on DeChambeau in his pay-per-view match towards Brooks Koepka in Las Vegas.
Staiano was first contacted about potential violations in Could, just a few 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 12 months and reshuffled into an everyday KFT schedule for the rest of the season. Staiano’s 12 months resulted in Boise, Idaho, and by early September, he had been notified by way of 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, which means Staiano was prohibited from competing within the first stage of PGA Tour Q-Faculty.
“It may very well be career-altering,” Staiano stated on the time, chatting with Monday Q Data’s Ryan French. “I’m treating it prefer it’s not, however you by no means know, I would by no means get an opportunity to get again to Q-Faculty.”
His fame blemished and feeling ashamed, Staiano leaned on his household and pals for power. He moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from Englewood, Colorado, to stick with a buddy for just a few months through the winter, and with a lighter enjoying schedule, he took the chance to go on just a few journeys, together with first-time visits to Vegas, for a bachelor get together, and Nashville.
Competitively, Staiano cobbled collectively a handful of Monday qualifier however by no means bought by way of. He excelled extra regionally, tying for sixth on the Colorado Open in July and inserting 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 person, 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,’” stated 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 point.”
Staiano entered the primary stage of DP World Tour Q-Faculty final month in Rosersberg, Sweden, wanting “to get my ft moist once more as a result of I do know that Q-Faculty 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 “a little bit an excessive amount of enjoyable” through 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, together with his high-school teammate Tim Amundson on the bag, was competing on a course the place he’d twice superior by way 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 comparable to Ryan Corridor, Michael Feagles, Connor Black Rodolfo Cazaubon, James Hart du Preez, Sam Choi, Johnny Travale and newbie Bastien Amat, who performed at New Mexico and lately earned Problem Tour standing by way of 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 arrange, Staiano is planning to move 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 reality, he’s confirmed higher for them.
“On the finish of the day, every little thing goes to occur for a motive,” Staiano stated. “I sat again and watched a bunch of my buddies get their PGA Tour playing cards this 12 months, guys I do know, guys I’ve performed with, and certainly one of 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 similar time, I needed to remind myself that there’s going to be good that comes from it, and as a substitute of being down on myself and wallowing in it, I took it as motivation to get again there [on tour].
“I positively attribute the success this previous week to that, and there’s positively that additional starvation and drive that I perhaps didn’t have earlier than.”
