Schmidt may have seen the last of the amateur golfing greens(credit:
digitalrookie)
The green felt and golfing greens go hand in hand. Traditionally seen as a pastime for the wealthy, the intricate skill, and most importantly the ability to bet on golf, makes it a magnet for poker pros.
The likes of Phil Ivey, David Benyamine and Patrik Antonius are all avid golf players in their spare time, making wild proposition bets over who can shoot the lowest score. In his Pokerroad blog, Daniel Negreanu has alluded to taking golfing lessons several times in order to compete.
It’s online pro Dustin ‘Leatherass’ Schmidt, however, who is perhaps most well known for his poker and golf exploits. Similar to the ‘durrr challenge’, Schmidt made a $1 million challenge for anyone that could beat him at both the poker table and over 72 rounds of golf. This caused the United States Golf Association to revoke his amateur status, as it deems an amateur golfer to be someone, ‘who plays the game as a non-remunerative and non-profit-making sport and who does not receive remuneration for teaching golf or for other activities because of golf skill or reputation’. So, by using golf as a potentially profitable means, and undermining the spirit of the game with a gambling proposal, Schmidt has jeopardised his golfing future as he can no longer compete in amateur tour events.
Schmidt seeks to take the USGA to court over its decision, insisting, ‘I consider myself a golfer that more or less stumbled into this poker thing, and along the way picked up what I believe are these misconceptions about who I am and what I do’.
Schmidt’s brief professional golfing career came to a traumatic end when he suffered a heart attack aged just 23. Now 28, he has spent the last five years amassing a $3 million fortune through online poker.
Dustin’s hearing, at a US District Court in Portland, is scheduled for later today.