Amateur Golfer Lee McCoy Turns Down $300,000 Despite Having $350 In Bank Account
9 years ago

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Lee McCoy is a phenomenal amateur golfer at the University of Georgia. I witnessed him get the better of Jordan Spieth for most of the back nine on Sunday at the Valspar Championship. The kid can flat out play the game. Lee’s four under par finish at the Valspar Championship was good enough for fourth place, three shots behind Bill Haas and Charl Schwartzel.

That fourth-place finish was good enough to take home $292,800. Since Lee is an amateur, he had to turn down the cash, unless he wanted to burn his amateur status. He picked amateur status despite having an abysmal $350 in his bank account he revealed in an interview after the round.

From ASAP Sports:

Jordan, we were sitting in the scoring tent and it was a sheet with the winnings there and he told me not to look. I looked. I shouldn’t have looked. Lot of money. Lot of money.

I think I got like 350 bucks in my bank account right now so it’s mostly gas money. It hurt but there’s so much going great for me right now. I’m just trying to take it all in, just really grateful to be standing here.

Obviously, he’s going to make some big bucks down the road once he graduates and turns pro. Looks like he and Spieth could make Under Armour a real player in the golf game. If you have that kind of money sitting right in front of you, you might want to take it. Especially when it comes to golf. You never know if you’re going to get back to this point despite your youth.

Take the money and run, Lee.

[via ASAP Sports]

Image via YouTube

    1. chuckescobar

      Probably a bad business move. He could have pocketed the 300k not returned to college, turned pro, and signed a sponsor deal for even more cash. Sponsors are throwing stupid money at young talent on the PGA tour now hoping to catch the next rising star. Got to strike while the iron is hot.

      9 years ago at 9:17 am
    3. TheEmperor

      You’re a Pike rushee with shitty comments. That’s pretty much three strikes …

      9 years ago at 4:41 pm
    1. Frats_n_hats

      He got into the tournament as an amateur because he lived in the neighborhood on the course growing up. He didn’t choose to leave the money he didn’t have the ability to accept it

      9 years ago at 9:31 am
  5. Jackpittman

    Would have taken the money and run. Buying beer is much more important than keeping your amateur status

    9 years ago at 4:19 pm
  7. tigerfan25

    Pretty sure you can’t take the money once you start the tournament as an amateur- you have to declare prior to hitting your first shot on Thursday. Good rule to protect the players who have a fluky good week.

    9 years ago at 5:52 pm
    2. cleavage

      It’s true. It’s also good for the players because if they were top 5 going into a Sunday scumbag agents would be all over them.

      9 years ago at 7:54 pm