10 Golf Players That RUINED Their Careers

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10 Golf Players That RUINED Their Careers

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00:00 Special one
01:47 Crazy one
02:55 How?
04:29 Blew it
06:05 Best that never..
07:41 Ruined
08:47 Disaster
10:12 Prodigy
11:31 Future Star
12:52 Deep Dive
14:08 No Way
15:34 Unbelievable
17:19 Icon

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From major champions being banned from the sport to the greatest golfers who turned out to be one day wonders, these are the 10 golf players that ruined their careers. Picture a major champion, one of the smoothest swings on tour. A putter so deadly that pros studied his technique. Now picture that same player shooting 92 in a major championship, ripping up his scorecard in disgust and walking away from competitive golf forever. That’s exactly what happened to Ian Baker Finch. And it’s one of the most brutal mental collapses golf has ever witnessed. Baker Finch wasn’t some journeyman who got lucky. He won the 1991 Open Championship at Royal Burkedale with a final round 66, playing golf so pure it looked effortless. His putting stroke was textbook perfection. Everything pointed toward a long career filled with victories. Then the yips arrived. And they didn’t just damage his game, they annihilated it. What started as minor confidence issues mutated into full-blown terror in 1995 and 1996. Baker Finch entered 29 PGA Tour events. He missed every single cut, withdrew mid tournament, or got disqualified. 29 attempts, zero made cuts. That’s not a slump. That’s a psychological massacre. The breaking point came at the 1997 Open Championship at Trun. First round, 92 strokes. For context, that’s the score a decent amateur might shoot on a brutally hard course. Baker Finch tore up his scorecard and walked off, never to return to serious competitive golf. Here’s the detail most people miss. Baker Finch later admitted he would sometimes aim 40 yards left of his target because he knew the ball would slice that far right. Imagine being a former major champion who literally cannot trust his own swing. He was golf’s ultimate underdog. A construction worker with a self-taught swing and an unforgettable nickname. Fans loved him because he wasn’t polished or corporate. He was real. Two gloves, bluecollar attitude, and a story that made you believe anyone could make it on tour. Then came the mug shot that destroyed everything. Tommy two gloves. Gainy wasn’t supposed to be a cautionary tale. He went on the PGA Tour in 2012 at the Mcladri Classic, proving that his homemade game could compete with the best. His unique style, wearing gloves on both hands, made him instantly recognizable. But in 2019, Gayy was arrested in a Florida prostitution sting operation with the almost comically unfortunate name Operation Santa’s Naughty List. The mug shot went viral instantly. Social media exploded. The guy who represented Everyman Golf was suddenly a punchline. Here’s what makes it worse. Gayy wasn’t some washedup hasband when this happened. He was still grinding on the corn ferry tour trying to rebuild his career. The arrest didn’t just embarrass him. It permanently stained his reputation. Two majors. A swing so powerful it redefined distance. A personality so big it turned every tournament into a spectacle. He was golf’s ultimate wild card. the beer drinking, cigarette smoking, every man who somehow conquered the sport’s biggest stages. Then he spent the next 30 years proving that talent means nothing when you can’t stop destroying yourself. John Daly didn’t just have demons. He invited them in, gave them a drink, and let them drive the bus. Gambling addiction, alcohol problems, failed marriages, and endless off-c course chaos turned his career into a cautionary tale wrapped in a mullet and loud pants. Here’s the number that tells the whole story. Daly admitted to losing between 50 and $60 million gambling. Not over a lifetime of bad investments. Gambling. Slot machines, blackjack, poker rooms, money that could have secured his family’s future for generations gone. Despite winning the 1991 PGA Championship and the 1995 Open Championship, Daly collected just five total PGA Tour victories. That’s it. For someone with his raw talent and fan following, it’s shockingly thin. He was suspended, fined, and repeatedly humiliated by his own choices. The talent was Hall of Fame caliber. The discipline was non-existent. Fans still love him for being unapologetically himself, but there’s no denying it. John Daly’s biggest opponent was never another golfer. It was John Daly. She was 10 years old when the media declared her the future of golf. By 15, she was playing against men in PGA Tour events. The hype wasn’t just big, it was suffocating. Tiger Woods and Heels, they called her. The savior who would finally make women’s golf mainstream. The weight of those expectations crushed what could have been a Hall of Fame career. Michelle Wii West turned professional at 15 with endorsement deals worth millions and a spotlight so intense it would have broken most adults. Every missed cut became a crisis. Every swing change was dissected on national television. The pressure wasn’t just to be good. It was to revolutionize an entire sport. Her career numbers tell a complicated story. Five LPGA victories and one major championship, the 2014 US Women’s Open. Those are respectable achievements, but for someone who was supposed to dominate for decades, it feels heartbreakingly incomplete. Here’s the detail that gets overlooked. Michelle’s highest world ranking was fourth in 2015, and she spent most years outside the top 10. While she was collecting media attention, InB Park won seven majors during that same stretch. Lydia Co became world number one. The players who stayed out of the spotlight achieved the dominance Michelle was predicted to have. Injuries certainly played a role. Chronic wrist problems derailed crucial seasons, but the real damage was psychological. Michelle Wi didn’t ruin her career through scandal or addiction. She was ruined by being anointed too early and expected to carry burdens no teenager should bear. Three majors before turning 24. A fixture in the world’s top five for eight straight years. ice water in his veins and a maturity that made veterans nervous. He looked like the next decadel long dynasty in golf. Then he turned 30 and hit an invisible wall that nobody saw coming. Jordan Spath’s decline isn’t about scandal or injury. It’s about how quickly greatness can just evaporate. Between 2015 and 2017, he was untouchable. The Masters, the US Open, the Open Championship. Clutch putts that defied physics, a calm confidence that suggested dominance for years to come. Then something broke. And nobody can quite explain what. The putting magic that defined his early career completely disappeared. His iron play, once a weapon, collapsed catastrophically. The numbers are shocking. Spath’s strokes gained approach sat at0.204, meaning he was actively losing strokes to the field with his irons. that ranked 138th on tour. His greens and regulation percentage of 65.87%. 130th. Here’s the strangest part. Spe actually got longer off the tea, gaining significant distance. But somehow he transformed into a below average iron player by professional standards. His world ranking tells the brutal story. Number one in 2015, barely scraping the top 30 by his early 30s. Sometimes careers don’t explode, they just fade, one missed green at a time. He had the talent to win on the PGA Tour, and he did twice. His swing was solid, his mental game was sharp when it mattered, and he’d climbed his way from Australia to golf’s biggest stage. But off the course, his life was falling apart in ways nobody could see. Steven Bodic’s career became a tragic mix of depression, alcohol, and public humiliation. The Australian golfer battled mental health demons throughout his professional life. Struggles he’s been remarkably open about, but openness doesn’t always stop the spiral. In 2017, while still an active PGA tour player, Bodic was arrested for drunk driving. The mugsh shot made headlines. The details were embarrassing. And suddenly, everyone’s suspicions about his offc course struggles were confirmed in the worst possible way. Here’s what makes his story particularly devastating. Bodic had won the Valero Texas Open in 2014, proving he belonged among golf’s elite, but by 2017, his game was collapsing alongside his personal life. He lost his tour card shortly after the arrest, never to regain it. He was supposed to be the next American superstar, fearless, aggressive, a rider cup hero who played with the kind of swagger that made Tiger Woods look conservative. At 23 years old, he’d already won three times on tour and looked destined for greatness. Then he vanished for over a decade. And the truth behind his disappearance is stranger than anyone imagined. Anthony Kim didn’t just fade away. He essentially disappeared from competitive golf around 2012, leaving fans confused and fellow players silent. The official story was injuries. Achilles tendon rupture, shoulder surgeries, hand problems, spinal issues. That alone would derail any career. But here’s where it gets dark. Kim later admitted he was battling addiction and severe mental health struggles during those lost years. The kid who once fearlessly took on the world’s best golfers was fighting demons nobody could see. And then there’s the insurance situation that sounds like a conspiracy theory but appears to be true. Multiple reports suggest Kim had a massive disability insurance policy rumored to be worth tens of millions of dollars that would pay out only if he stopped playing professional golf entirely. Think about that calculation. Keep grinding through pain and mental anguish for uncertain tour earnings or walk away and collect a fortune. When he finally returned through Live Golf, it was clear the magic was gone. He couldn’t compete and was eventually relegated from the league. World number one for 109 consecutive weeks, five major championships by her early 20s. A dominance so complete that women’s golf looked like it had found its next decadel long superstar. Then almost overnight, everything disappeared and nobody can fully explain why. Yanni Singh’s collapse is one of the most shocking in golf history. Because it happened so fast and so completely this wasn’t a gradual decline. It was a freef fall. One season she was untouchable. The next she was missing cuts and questioning everything about her game. Her confidence didn’t just fade. It evaporated. The swing that won five majors deserted her. She went from fearless aggression to paralyzed hesitation. Tournament after tournament, she’d show up looking lost, like someone who’d forgotten how to play golf entirely. Here’s what makes it heartbreaking. Sang had been under intense pressure since her teenage years, carrying expectations from an entire nation. Many believe burnout and mental exhaustion destroyed her from the inside. The spotlight that helped build her career eventually burned her out completely. Despite multiple comeback attempts and swing changes, she never regained that unstoppable form. Her last LPGA win came in 2012. She was only 23 years old, two-time major champion, the 2007 US Open, the 2009 Masters. A fearless gopher broke style that made him one of Argentina’s biggest sports heroes. Loved by fans for his laid-back personality and aggressive play. Then the truth came out and it destroyed everything. Angel Cabrera’s downfall wasn’t about losing his golf game. It was about losing his humanity. Behind the smiling champion was a man whose personal life was spiraling into violence and criminal behavior that would eventually land him in prison. Cabrera was arrested and convicted for assaulting and threatening multiple former partners. The charges were serious. Domestic violence, intimidation, illegal deprivation of freedom. These weren’t accusations. They were proven crimes that resulted in jail time in Argentina. Here’s the detail that makes it worse. Multiple women came forward with similar stories, painting a pattern of abuse that had been hidden for years while he enjoyed fame and fortune. The man who was once celebrated as a national hero became a symbol of how celebrity can mask horrible behavior. You can’t separate the master’s champion from the convicted abuser. Tournament highlights are now unwatchable knowing what he was doing off the course. Angel Cabrera didn’t just ruin his career, he destroyed lives. And no green jacket can erase that. Imagine having a PGA tour card and spending it all on drugs. Not metaphorically, literally flushing away millions on cocaine and whatever else would keep the high going. That’s Willie Wilcox’s story, and he’ll tell you himself. I was a drug addict with a PGA Tour card. Most players who flame out blame injuries or bad luck or the mental game. Will Cox. He’s brutally honest about what destroyed his career. Substance abuse didn’t just derail his potential. It consumed every dollar he earned and every opportunity he had. The financial devastation was staggering. Tour earnings that should have set him up for life disappeared into addiction. Hotel rooms became places to get high instead of rest before tournament rounds. Practice sessions were skipped for dealers. The talent was there, but the drug use made consistency impossible. His health deteriorated alongside his bank account. You can’t maintain tour level fitness when your body is constantly fighting chemical warfare. Tournament after tournament, his performance declined until the card was gone and so was the money. The twist in Willox’s story, he’s now working as a caddy for Sunjm, grinding out a living, carrying bags for players living the life he threw away. It’s partial redemption maybe, but it’s also a daily reminder of what addiction cost him. a Mast’s champion with ice in his veins and a reputation for clutch performances. The kind of competitor who thrived under pressure and never backed down from anyone. Then came the cheating scandals. And suddenly Patrick Reed became golf’s most hated man. Reed’s downfall wasn’t about losing his game. His talent stayed sharp. He could still hit shots and win tournaments. But his reputation obliterated. The infamous sand incident at the 2019 Hero World Challenge started the avalanche. Television cameras caught Reed improving his lie in a bunker twice before taking his shot. The golf world exploded. What made it worse was his denial and excusem afterward, claiming he didn’t feel the sand move beneath his club. But that wasn’t an isolated incident. Accusations followed him throughout his career. Rules violations in college, questionable drops. fellow professionals publicly questioning his integrity. Brle Shamblé called him out on national television. Brooks Kepka made his disdain obvious. Rory Mroy addressed it in interviews. Reed went from respected competitor to the guy everyone assumed was bending the rules. Fans turned on him viciously. Gallery members heckled him relentlessly. Cheater, chance became routine. Winning doesn’t matter if nobody respects how you won. Patrick Reed learned that lesson the hardest way possible by becoming golf’s permanent villain. He reached world number one. 13 PGA Tour victories in just four years. An open championship trophy. The kind of meteoric rise that suggested decades of dominance were ahead. Then his body betrayed him. His mind followed. And David Duval fell off a cliff so steep it still doesn’t make sense. Duval’s peak was breathtaking. 1997 through 2001, he was nearly unstoppable. That iconic swing with the wraparound finish became his signature. The Oakley sunglasses made him instantly recognizable. He looked like golf’s next long-term superstar, finishing in the top 10 of the money list four consecutive years. After winning the Open Championship in 2001 at Royal Litham, Duval never won another PGA Tour event, not one. He made just seven cuts in 23 starts the following season. That’s not a slump. That’s a career ending in real time. Injuries devastated him. Back problems, wrist issues, shoulder surgeries. Each setback chipped away at the precision his game required. But physical pain alone doesn’t explain the complete psychological collapse that followed. Between 2002 and 2005, Duval’s world ranking plummeted from first to outside the top 200. His scoring average ballooned. The player who once averaged under 70 strokes per round was suddenly shooting over 72. Something broke mentally that doctors couldn’t diagnose. By 2005, he’d lost his tour card entirely, forced to rely on sponsor exemptions just to play. What makes Duval’s fall so haunting is the speed. Four years of brilliance, then 20 years of struggling to remember what greatness felt like. From world number one to Monday qualifiers, a freef fall with no parachute, untouchable, unstoppable, the most dominant athlete in any sport, 14 majors by his early 30s, and a path to obliterating every record Jack Nicholas ever set. Then came Thanksgiving weekend 2009, and the greatest career in golf history derailed in the most public, humiliating way imaginable. The car crash, the infidelity scandal, the addiction issues, the mugsh shot that broke the internet. Tiger Woods went from untouchable icon to tabloid punchline overnight. Sponsors fled. His marriage imploded. The aura of invincibility shattered into a million pieces. But the real tragedy wasn’t the scandal. It was the decade we lost. From 2009 to 2019, Woods won just four times. Four. In his prime years, he should have been collecting majors and cementing himself as the undisputed greatest ever. His body broke down repeatedly. Four back surgeries, knee reconstructions, nerve damage so severe he couldn’t walk without pain. Between 2014 and 2017, he dropped outside the top 1,000 in world rankings. A fall so steep it seemed impossible. The 2019 Masters comeback was magical, but it couldn’t erase what was lost. Woods finished his career with 15 majors instead of the 20 plus he was destined for. We didn’t just watch a career get ruined. We watched history get rewritten. And not the way anyone imagined.