Trip Kuehne was positioning his cellphone camera when one of his fingers blocked the lens. That could happen to anyone — but he had just been asked whether pro golfers should be reinstated as amateurs, and it made him joke.
“I got to figure out where my hand is, in the way the damn camera,” Kuehne said.
“So, you made me nervous on this question.”
For sure, the question has been a touchy one. Should one-time pros regain amateur status, allowing them to play in amateur events, a move several players have done at the mid-amateur level? Or should pros be blocked from doing so? Or maybe there’s some kind of middle ground? As one of the country’s best-ever amateur players — he won the 2007 Mid-Amateur and was runner-up to Tiger Woods at the 1994 U.S. Amateur and has never turned pro — Kuehne is more familiar than most with the subject.
His answer? Appearing on the most recent episode of GOLF’s “Subpar” podcast, he started it by referencing minor league baseball.
“My heart of hearts tells me, listen, if you only made it to the triple A in baseball, you were never a major leaguer,” Kuehne said. “So you’re not a professional, you know. You’ve never played in the major league, you can get it back.”
But what about those who did play in the big leagues, in this case, the PGA Tour?
Kuehne also said he could see that, to an extent.
“I think what we probably need to do, it might need to be starts or vests in in the retirement fund,” he said. “I don’t know. I think drawing a hard line at the PGA Tour is probably a little harsh. Maybe two years, three years max. I don’t know.”
Still, Kuehne also said he remembered what it was like playing former pros in amateur events.
“The hardest guy in the world to beat for me was the guy that played 10 years on tour, made his living — not on the Tour, but on a satellite tour — made his living that way,” he said. “Man, the guys just didn’t make mistakes and they were really, really hard to beat.
“So, I know I didn’t really give you an answer, but I think the answer lies somewhere in the number of starts, whether it’s 50 starts, 75 starts, I think 100’s probably too much. I mean, I don’t know.
“It’s a tough deal because I mean these kids are so good, so young. I don’t think they’re going to have this longevity on the PGA Tour that you used to have. I think there’s some ways around it.”
Editor’s note: To listen to the entire Subpar episode featuring Kuehne, please click here or scroll immediately below.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: golf.com
