Shane Bertsch

A promising junior tennis player, he gave up the game to concentrate on golf after losing a big match to future No.1-ranked player Andre Agassi. They played on the Korn Ferry Tour in 1995 and also between 1999 and 2005. He played on the PGA Tour in 1996, 1997, 2006, 2008, and 2011.
1995 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments entered - 24; in money - 10; top-10 finishes - 3; scoring average 71.27 (ranked 58th); money $26,099 (ranked 72nd); Best finish, T4th San Jose Open.
1999 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments entered - 27; in money - 13; top-10 finishes - 0; scoring average 72.08 (ranked 93rd); money $19,724 (ranked 97th); Best finish, T13th Hershey Open & Tri-Cities Open.
2000 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments entered - 28; in money - 18; top-10 finishes - 3; scoring average 71.12 (ranked 41st); money $148,940 (ranked 24th); Winner Upstate Classic
2001 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments entered - 24; in money - 11; top-10 finishes - 2; scoring average 71.40 (ranked 99th); money $60,900 (ranked 68th); Best finish, T14th Tri-Cities Open.
2002 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments entered - 20; in money - 12; top-10 finishes - 1; scoring average 71.05 (ranked 51st); money $37,354 (ranked 96th); Best finish, T10th BMW Charity Pro-Am.
2003 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments entered - 26; in money - 16; top-10 finishes - 2; scoring average 70.88 (ranked 61st); money $85,558 (ranked 56th); Best finish, T8th Envirocare Utah Classic.
2004 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments entered - 28; in money - 17; top-10 finishes - 4; scoring average 70.76 (ranked 30th); money $189,046 (ranked 25th); Best finish, T2nd Knoxville Open (lost playoff to Hunter Haas).
2005 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments entered - 26; in money - 16; top-10 finishes - 5; scoring average 70.78 (ranked 33rd); money $263,373 (ranked 8th); Winner BMW Charity Pro-Am. With the 8th place finish on the money, the list got his PGA Tour card for 2006.
In 2007, he was limited to just 4 starts due to vertigo, and he started feeling dizzy as he stood over putts at the end of 2006. He felt it again at the Sony Open in Hawaii in '07 and then again at the Bob Hope, but he played through it. Somehow, he made both cuts. Soon, the dizziness got so bad he couldn't play, and he withdrew from the Buick Invitational in San Diego. Bertsch underwent multiple MRIs and CT scans, but specialists were stumped. He has been prescribed two medications that helped, but 2007 was a bust as he only played one more time, missing the cut at the Players Championship.
Bertsch used a medical exemption to play in 2008. To earn exempt status for 2009, he says the Tour told him he would have to win as much in 28 tournaments as the 125th player made in 2007. When he did so with six tournaments left to play, he asked a Tour official if his standing was secure. According to Bertsch, the official assured him he was indeed safe. Bertsch had been meaning to bury his father's ashes for five years, and with his status settled by late October 2008, the time seemed right. He and his wife, Monica, and their daughters, Brianna, 7, and Stella, 3, joined Bertsch's mother and siblings in North Dakota to say a final goodbye. But Bertsch was not satisfied. His 2008 earnings were enough merely to give him status for the rest of 2008, not 2009. The week of the last official event of 2008, the Children's Miracle Network Classic at Disney, he learned he was in danger of losing his card for the next year, having fallen to 124th in 2008 earnings. They played at Disney but missed the cut, which dropped him out of the top 125 to 126th. With all of the problems, he couldn't enter Q-School that year. If that wasn't bad enough, in December of 2008, he slipped and broke his right foot going down a staircase in his home. I spent seven weeks in a cast, and the foot didn't heal. Eventually, he learned he had suffered ligament damage along with a broken metatarsal. He had surgery 24 weeks after his fall, which didn't totally work and necessitated another operation 12 weeks later. With that, the 2009 season was also a total loss. Bertsch got another medical exemption, which would only get him into 13 tournaments in 2010. It didn't matter because AT&T Pebble Beach in February broke his right hand while moving items into his RV, requiring surgery with pins inserted, and he wasn't able to play until September. He made five starts on the Korn Ferry Tour, with his best finish a T-5 at the Win-Dixie Jacksonville Open. They also played season-ending Disney, missing the cut.
In 2011, he played five more events on the Korn Ferry Tour, only making one cut, T-57th at the Albertson Boise Open. He played 20 events, with his best finish of T-4th at Frys.Com. He finished 143rd on the money list, returned to Q-School, and finished T-38th. He had limited access in 2012 via the top-150 category.
2012 Notes: Played in 17 PGA Tour events, making the cut in six of them. His best finish was T-31st at the True South Classic, and with his finishing 211st on the FedExCup list, he returned to Q-School. He finished T-32nd, which didn't earn him back his PGA Tour card. Thus, it was back to the Korn Ferry Tour.
2013 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments entered - 24; in money - 17; top-10 finishes - 2; scoring average 70.54 (ranked 55th); money $112,530 (ranked 38th); Korn Ferry Tour finals money $7,373 (ranked 93rd), Priority rank 100; Best finish, 3rd Colmbia Championship.
2014 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments entered - 24; in money - 16; top-10 finishes - 0; scoring average 70.62 (ranked 80th); money $71,945 (ranked 66th); Korn Ferry Tour finals money $12,572 (ranked 71st), Priority rank 85; Best finish, T-12th Brasil Champions and Nova Scotia Open.
2015 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments entered - 22; in money - 12; top-10 finishes - 5; scoring average 70.15 (ranked 46th); money $240,369 (ranked 9th); Korn Ferry Tour finals money $2,420 (ranked 103rd), Priority rank 27; Best finish, Winner Rust-Oleum Championship. He was able to regain his PGA Tour card for 2016.
2016 Notes: Despite making the tour had serious back ailments, he played in nine events, and his best finish was T-35th at the AT&T Pebble Beach. It would be his last event, taking the rest of the year off.
2017 Notes: He played a combination of the PGA Tour (nine events) and the Korn Ferry Tour (ten events). On the PGA Tour, he only made two cuts, T-50th at the Barracuda Championship and T-67th at the Barasol Championship. On the Korn Ferry Tour, he made four cuts, and his best finish was T-20th at the United Leasing & Finance Championship.
2018 Notes: Played in ten Korn Ferry Tour events, making two cuts. The best finish was T-55th at the Panama Championship. He played twice on the PGA Tour, missing the cut. He felt he was in "purgatory" with his age, so he opened an instruction business at the Telluride Ski and Golf Resort. The location also allowed pursuing his other love, fly fishing, by combining golf instruction with guided forays to the local trout streams. So, in his PGA Tour career, he played in 195 Tour events, making 90 cuts. He had 22 top-25 finishes and five top-tens, and his best finish was T-4th at the 2011 Frys.Com Open. On the Korn Ferry Tour, he played in 325 events, making 179 cuts with 30 top-ten finishes. He won three times: the 2000 Upstate Classic, the 2005 BMW Charity Pro-Am at The Cliffs, and the 2015 Rust-Oleum Championship.
As he approached turning 50, he participated in the PGA Tour Champions Qualifying tournament in December 2019 and was the medalist.
2020 & 2021 Notes: Played in 31 PGA Tour Champions events with two top-tens and finished 37th in the Charles Schwab Cup. Because of COVID-19, he wasn't able to make his debut in April at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic. He made that debut in August at the 2020 Ally Challenge, finishing T-45th. In his next start, he made a 25-foot eagle putt on the first playoff hole to win a four-man playoff at the 2020 Charles Schwab Series at Bass Pro Shops Big Cedar Lodge. He became the first player out of the Q-School category to win since Ken Tanigawa won the 2018 Pure Insurance Championship. It was his first PGA Tour-sanctioned victory since 2015, and the $450,000 paycheck was the biggest of his career. Since then, his best finish was T-6th in the 2021 Principal Charity Classic, three shots back of winner Stephen Ames. He ended his season with a T-20th finish at the TimberTech Championship.
2022 Notes: Played in 26 PGA Tour Champions events with three top-ten finishes. He was 38th on the Schwab Cup rankings and 40th on the money list, earning $560,669. Was T-8th at the Senior PGA Championship and Shaw Charity Classic. He was T-10th at Dick's Sporting Goods. His final start of the season was T-18th at the Dominion Energy Charity.
2023 Notes: He played in 26 PGA Tour Champions events and had two top-ten finishes. He was 39th in the Schwab Cup rankings and 43rd on the money list, earning $497,640. He shot a final-round 67 to finish T-7th at the Hoag Classic, three back of the winner, Ernie Els. Co-leader after the first round of the TimberTech Championship, he finished T-4th at 8-under. Carded scores of 67-68-70.
2024 Notes: Played in 26 PGA Tour Champions events with five top-ten finishes. Was 28th on the Schwab money list with earnings of $843,613. Was T-10th at the Insperity Invitational and American Family Insurance Championship. Shot a final round 66 to finish T-7th at the Rogers Charity Classic. Shot a final round 64 to finish T-4th at the Ascension Charity Classic. Was 3rd at the SAS Championship. Finished T-19th in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
2025 Notes: Best finish T-16th at the Regions Tradition.