Former PGA pro wins US Senior Amateur

1,584 Views | 22 Replies | Last: 5 days ago by TheRatt87
bagger05
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11:10p, 9/3/26
AG
Over $2.1MM in career earnings, hundreds of professional starts on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour (back when it was Nationwide).

Personally I'm not a big fan of these reinstatements.

Maybe he'll join the LSU golf team.
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jja79
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In reply to bagger05 • 12:03a, 9/4/26
AG
I hate that guy. Who is he?
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lazuras_dc
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6:30a, 9/4/26
AG
They really need to stop this
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Ezra Brooks
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6:31a, 9/4/26
AG
I hear he's playing for LSU in the spring.
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Peter Piper
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7:45a, 9/4/26
Colt Knost is tryring to regain his amateur status so he can be eligible to become the captain for the Walker Cup.

However, looks like his application has been suspended while the USGA reviews their guidelines.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/usga-colt-knost-am-process-2026
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Peter Piper
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In reply to jja79 • 7:46a, 9/4/26
jja79 said:
I hate that guy. Who is he?

https://golfweek.usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/amateur/2026/09/03/us-senior-amateur-2026-winner-mike-sposa-former-pga-tour-player/91595996007/
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RealMcCoy09
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8:15a, 9/4/26
AG
He's not Sposa be playing there....
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Fdsa
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8:18a, 9/4/26
Maybe I have a pride problem, but I don't think I could let myself do that.
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Sooper Jeenyus
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In reply to RealMcCoy09 • 8:34a, 9/4/26
AG
RealMcCoy09 said:
He's not Sposa be playing there....
Not bad.
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khaos288
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10:11a, 9/4/26
AG
There's got to be better guidelines for that. I saw somewhere he had 300+ starts in pro tournaments, and multiple wins.

I get some leniency if you have a couple tournaments, and never won. You tried and didn't make it. 300 starts is 6 full years of playing every weekend.
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Gigem314
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In reply to bagger05 • 12:44p, 9/4/26
AG
Quote:
Maybe he'll join the LSU golf team.

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TheRatt87
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9:39a, 9/5/26
My hunch is that most/all future Sr & Mid-Am champions will be professionals.

It happened at last year's Mid-Am and it has happened previously at the Sr Am. I know a pro who won the Sr Am. Great guy, but he's not an amateur. He played & won on multiple professional tours.
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Got a Natty!
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8:54a, 9/6/26
AG
Golf has always had a path to regain a player's amateur status. This in not new for golf.
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AgLA06
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In reply to Got a Natty! • 10:56a, 9/6/26
AG
Got a Natty! said:
Golf has always had a path to regain a player's amateur status. This in not new for golf.


They've changed the rules the last couple years and now re-looking at them because of that outcome.
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TheRatt87
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In reply to Got a Natty! • 8:22p, 9/6/26
Got a Natty! said:
Golf has always had a path to regain a player's amateur status. This in not new for golf.

Always?? Hardly. It wasn't even considered until the 70's and it was rare until the last decade or so.

Now, it's so common that six of the eight quarterfinalists at this year's Mid-Am & two of the last three US Sr Am winners were pros. And a 33 yr old Irish pro has played in the last two Walker Cups.

And these guys probably wax eloquently about the integrity and honor of the game. Bobby Jones is rolling over in his grave.
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Got a Natty!
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In reply to TheRatt87 • 9:31p, 9/6/26
AG
"Always" was an overstatement but I think that path pre-dates the 1970s.
I had no idea former pros were playing in amateur tournaments in those numbers. Glad the USGA is considering changes.
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Enrico Pallazzo
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5:01a, 9/7/26
The most ridiculous aspect is the Mid-Am was created for true amateurs because college players with plans to turn pro were (and still are) dominating the Amateur. The whole reason it exists is for the man with a non-golf career and is specifically intended to exclude not just pros but future pros. The Mid-Am was to be the most true amateur event. Letting former pros in defeats the whole purpose.

Saying there was a path back very much overstates the past. The current state is not remotely comparable
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The Milkman
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9:55a, 9/8/26
AG
Its really pathetic that guys are going in as re-instated Ams to the Mid-Am. As others have said the mid-am is supposed to be for people who have fulltime jobs, let alone the professional status. These guys see this as an opportunity to play against what they think will be an easier field to get some wins and try to backdoor their way into the Masters and US Open.

They won't be able to compete at the US Am for the most part because thats dominated by the highest level college players.
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The Milkman
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In reply to Peter Piper • 9:57a, 9/8/26
AG
Peter Piper said:
Colt Knost is tryring to regain his amateur status so he can be eligible to become the captain for the Walker Cup.

However, looks like his application has been suspended while the USGA reviews their guidelines.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/usga-colt-knost-am-process-2026

I hope Stu Hagestad gets to be captain, but he'll probably still be playing as the team's mid-am another 10 years ha
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Yesterday
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In reply to The Milkman • 8:54p, 9/8/26
AG
The Milkman said:
Peter Piper said:
Colt Knost is tryring to regain his amateur status so he can be eligible to become the captain for the Walker Cup.

However, looks like his application has been suspended while the USGA reviews their guidelines.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/usga-colt-knost-am-process-2026

I hope Stu Hagestad gets to be captain, but he'll probably still be playing as the team's mid-am another 10 years ha

Hagestad is a pro. He's a trust fund baby who literally plays golf for a living. His only goal is to make the walker cup and play/win the mid am. He doesn't need the money that turning pro would provide and his investment banker role is (taking his +7 handicap to exclusive clubs with clients).

I'm not hating on the guy because if I had his ticket I would cash it as well, but he's not exactly what the mid am was made for either. IMO the mid am was for guys who have to work for a living and get to play golf on the side. Not golf for a living.

Sorry for the random rant, don't take that as me directing it at you, just wanted to vent a little.
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bagger05
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In reply to Yesterday • 9:11p, 9/8/26
AG
I agree with you. The concept of the professional amateur wasn't what they built the Mid Am for.

Golf being mostly for rich kids has been a thing for a long time. Back in the heyday of amateur golf a lot of "amateurs" were doing the same thing.

Overall I think it's the exception. And I see a big difference between trust fund baby being an amateur for life and someone like Colt Knost being reinstated.
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The Milkman
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In reply to bagger05 • 10:00p, 9/8/26
AG
Exactly. Being a rich kid with a cushy job is much more in line with the Mid Am than Colt Knost, Justin Huber or Mike Sposa.

Any serious mid am competitor isn't going to have a "real job," it's all salesmen who can spend their workday on the course with clients.
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TheRatt87
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In reply to Yesterday • 7:47a, 9/9/26
It's really simple. Hagestad and any other player who has never renounced his amateur status and declared his professional status is an amateur. Any player that has renounced his amateur status and declared himself a professional is, and always will be, a professional.

There should be no reinstatement of amateur status. Period. Every player that ever declared their professional status fully understood that they were permanently renouncing their amateur status.

But now that they found out they weren't good enough, or are no longer good enough, they want to backtrack. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. Or it shouldn't.

But when you have the current USGA President saying this, it's no wonder things are so screwed up - "I have many friends that are reinstated amateurs that have come through the mid-amateur game... Is the game better with those reinstated professionals back in the amateur game, in a reinstated way? I think the answer is yes."
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