Should professional players revert to amateur status? What do you say about midfield champion?
Brandon Holtz notched the biggest victory of his career last month when he won the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, even as his title and resume of those deep into the tournament sparked a larger conversation in the golf world.
Should former professional golfers be allowed to regain amateur status?
The recent midfield champion was a guest on this week’s Golf Subpar Podcast, and part of the conversation focused on this controversial topic.
The U.S. Mid-term Championship is one of the USGA’s signature championships, open to amateurs 25 years of age or older with a handicap index of 2.4 or lower. Any professional can reapply for amateur status—as long as the USGA approves it. Even though 14 of the 16 players in this year’s midterm finals are former pros, that fact didn’t sit well with everyone.
But Holtz wanted to address those who believe former pro players should not be granted amateur status.
“In my opinion, the Mid-American Conference is basically built for this. … I’m a working man, I have a couple of kids, I have a wife, and for me, as far as competing, what else can I play?” Holtz said. “My normal city event in Bloomington, a town of 160,000 people? It’s fun, don’t get me wrong, it’s great, but if we don’t have halftime, what else am I going to attend?”
Holtz, 38, played college basketball at Illinois State University, played professional golf for six years and regained amateur status in 2024. He now works as a real estate agent and lives in Bloomington, Illinois.
“If you really want to understand the logistics of it all, from 2010 to 2014, I was playing full-time, if you want to call it full-time — working, traveling alone, doing everything on my own with the help of my dad,” he said. “But we’re losing money. I’ve been [my professional status]but my job has flexibility and I have to be able to go play ball and hopefully, ‘Hey wife, I’m going to play ball this weekend; hopefully I can bring some money home. “
However, there is no set of rules for every pro trying to regain amateur status. The USGA reviews each application and makes a ruling based on factors such as career longevity and success.
Although Subpar co-host Drew Stoltz says it’s not a perfect system.
“There comes a time when the work you did ten years ago no longer matters,” Stoltz said. “There comes a point where it’s almost irrelevant. I’m not saying the first year after playing professionally you should be able to play in the amateurs, but once you start working and have kids and play once a week, it’s like, yeah man, nine years ago I played a lot of golf, but a lot has happened since then.”
Holtz added: “Rules are rules, right? Follow the rules, that’s the way it is.”
