The PGA Tour has taken a hard stance against gambling on golf after suspending two Korn Ferry Tour players for wagering on golf events last week.
The PGA Tour suspended Jake Staiano for three months and Vince India for six months after reportedly hiring a third-party investigator to find if any PGA Tour members were wagering on golf events. Members include those on the Korn Ferry Tour, Canadian Tour and Latin American Tour in addition to PGA Tour members.
Both players did not wager on events they were playing in. Nonetheless, the players were suspended for violations of the PGA Tour Integrity Program.
The Tour created the integrity program in order to create a strict one-strike policy against wagering on professional golf. Every member of the PGA Tour (including members of the three other tours in the umbrella) is forced to take an integrity course. The course outlines the PGA Tour's strict policies on wagering, accepting bribes, etc.
"They hired a third-party investigator to basically do background checks on everyone affiliated with the Tour," Staiano said. "And anybody betting on golf was going to be flagged."
Staiano joined the Any Given Monday podcast with Ryan French to discuss his side of the story. Staiano gained Korn Ferry status in 2022 and has played in 17 events over the past two seasons.
Staiano placed the four bets in 2021. One was during the FedEx St. Jude Classic when he placed a $25 bet on Bryson DeChambeau to make birdie on a specific hole. Staiano said when he placed that bet, he had conditional status on the Forme Tour (a tour that replaced the Canadian and Latin America Tours during COVID), but he had yet to play in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event.
The other three were on an exhibition match between DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka.
“I did not consider it a professional golf event," Staiano said, acknowledging the lines could be blurred when it comes to exhibition matches between just two players. Neither DeChambeau nor Koepka are current members on the PGA Tour but were members when the event took place.
In total, Staiano wagered $116.20 on the four total bets, all for a three-month suspension.
Staiano finished 169th in points on the Korn Ferry Tour last season, which means he no longer has status on the tour. Staiano would have to go to back to Q-School in order to regain status.
“I get an email from Mr. Monahan that says, ‘Hey you’re suspended three months starting September 11 through December 11,'" Staiano said. "And I’m doing that math, and I’m like man, that’s Q-School.”
With Staiano having to miss Q-School, his three-month suspension will feel more like a full season because he doesn't have an opportunity to regain status before the season. The only way he could regain status on the Korn Ferry Tour would be through Monday qualifying once the season begins.
