[Photo: Minas Panagiotakis]
The PGA Tour has suspended PGA Tour Champions player Matt Gogel for violating the tour’s Integrity Program for gambling on “tour competition”. The story was first reported by Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch.
In a statement released on social media, the tour clarified the bets made by Gogel were not in tournaments he played in and that he co-operated throughout the process. However, beginning this week, he is suspended for six months from tour-related events.
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In a follow-up release, Gogel said he placed small recreational wagers in 2024 and 2025, saying the bets were not on “regular PGA Tour events, PGA Tour Champions events”.
“I would never knowingly violate the integrity of the game of golf,” Gogel wrote. “I made an honest mistake and I look forward to playing in 2027 on the PGA Tour Champions.”
Among the prohibited actions in the manual is “Betting on Professional Golf Events”. The text of the rules read: “Any Covered Person, directly or indirectly, Betting on the outcome or any other aspect of any PGA Tour event, any other professional golf competition or any elite amateur golf competition (including Olympic Golf) anywhere in the world (‘Professional Golf Event’). In this Manual, ‘Betting’ means (A) placing any money or other thing of value on the occurrence of an uncertain outcome with the expectation of return or (B) participating in any fantasy or other game that awards a prize of value, including any free-to-play, paid or daily fantasy game, unless expressly approved by the PGA Tour.” Penalties range from mandatory education to fines up to $US500,000, suspension to lifetime bans.
The most notable example of this policy is when two Korn Ferry Tour players were suspended in 2023.
Gogel recently finished co-runner-up at the ISPS Handa Senior Open, which is a major on the circuit. He is 20th on the PGA Tour Champions’ season-long points list.
