Colt Knost did not help in the long-standing ‘pros turning amateur’ debate when he announced he would be dipping his toes in the waves. The internet, since he made his intentions clear on his Subpar podcast, hasn’t been merciful to him. It is a question worth asking why a player with nearly 200 Tour starts and over $5 million in career earnings would want to return to the amateur ranks? Is a backdoor to Augusta the only reason? Well, Knost has put to rest all the head-scratching as he reveals the real reason.

Speaking to Gravy & The Sleeze, Knost made it clear that it’s neither a Master’s win nor a regenerated career that he is looking for. Rather, it is a bigger vision. “I wish people would just sit back and take a second and ask why I’m doing this instead of just assuming that I’m going to be like our buddy Stuart Hagestad and play 25 events a year. Like, I have several jobs. I don’t really have time to play a lot on the amateur circuit when most of them are during the summer and I’m traveling around the country for CBS.”

Stuart Hagestad, as Knost references, is one of the most accomplished mid-amateurs of our time. Hagestad’s career involved being a full-time amateur, in which he won the US Mid Amateur three times and played in five straight Walker Cups. But that is not who Knost is aiming to be. Even if he wanted to, he doesn’t have the time for it. His schedule is jam-packed with co-hosting the Subpar podcast, co-anchoring SiriusXM’s Gravy & The Sleeze, and, as he mentions, his reporting duty to CBS.

He further continues, “My biggest thing in this is I’m very proud of my USGA resume. Playing on the Walker Cup team was the biggest honor of my golfing career, and I would like to one day lead the United States Walker Cup team if at all possible. And I figure being an amateur would probably help.”

So this is what Knost wants. It is not about trying to take away the spotlight from those in the amateur field, but it’s about preserving a connection, and maybe one day, leading it. And his resume can vouch for that.

He achieved the feat of winning two USGA Championships in the same year (2007), something that only two men before him had done — Bobby Jones and Jay Sigel. Knost captured both the US Amateur and the US Amateur Public Links, earning the inaugural Mark H. McCormack Medal as the world’s top-ranked amateur. And if that was not enough, he represented the US on the victorious 2007 Walker Cup team at Royal County Down.

Now, at 39, he is looking to connect with the game through this golden experience that he holds. His vision of captaining the US Walker Cup team, though, might seem a breakaway from the amateur tradition. Historically, the USGA has favored lifelong amateurs for that honor, like Nathan Smith, who never turned pro and won US Mid-Ams. He captained this year’s US Team. But there has been a gradual shift.

Recently, the R&A broke precedent when it appointed former European Tour pro Dean Robertson as Great Britain & Ireland’s representative for 2025 and 2026. Knost likely saw this opening and thought of it as an opportunity for the US to do the same in the future. Thus, hoping for a reinstatement. Since he last played in 2020, his gap exceeds the reinstating requirements anyway.

Yet, not everyone’s on board. Critics have argued against it, and fans have expressed their anger. And this will probably continue for a while. Not everyone will be on board ever with Knost coming back to the amateur field, which is a hard pill that he will have to swallow.

But what can soothe him is the knowledge that he will not be the only person in history to do it.

The rising trend of reinstated pros

Colt Knost is not the first former professional to seek a return to the amateur ranks. Recent years have shown that the path is becoming more common, which is why Knost’s decision was received with much criticism.

Irish golfer Stuart Grehan, for instance, spent eight years chasing the professional dream on the EuroPro and Challenge Tours before deciding that all this grind was not worth it. In a strategic move during the 2024 D+ D Real Czech Challenge, he filed for reinstatement mid-event. And the decision worked wonders for him. He won both the Irish Amateur Close and the Irish Open Amateur before making his Walker Cup debut this year.

Then, on the other side of the Atlantic, Brandon Holtz is an example. Holtz, an Illinois realtor, regained his Am status in 2024 after spending six years on the pro circuit (2010-15). Of course, his pedigree proved worth as he won the 2025 US Mid-Amateur at Troon Country Club. In fact, this year, 7 of the 8 quarterfinals were former professional golfers. Another name on the roster was Jeg Coughlin III.

The list is long. The rising trend of such participation poses several questions regarding the integrity of the USGA and golf. And with Colt Knost’s marquee name being added, it is probably not going to help golf’s image of rooting to age-old traditions.