ST. SIMMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Why does Vince Covello keep doing it?
Why does Neese, a University of North Florida graduate, continue to improve and strive for the best possible start in golf tournaments? Whether it’s on the PGA Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour or perhaps next year’s DP World Tour, a good enough performance at this week’s RSM Classic at Sea Island Resort will give him one last chance to break into the top 200 on the FedEx Cup fall points list and earn a spot overseas.
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If not this week, it will be held at the Hammock Beach Conservatory Course from December 2nd to the 5th. If he finishes in the top 15 or so in that tournament, Covello will compete in the PGA Tour Q School in Ponte Vedra from Dec. 11-14 in an attempt to earn one of five 2026 PGA Tour cards.
Vince Covello of Ponte Vedra Beach looks down at his tee shot during the first round of the Texas Children’s Houston Open on March 27, 2025.
Of course, there was always a chance he would win the RSM Classic, which started on November 20th. Ten of the previous 15 winners had never won on the PGA Tour before coming to Sea Island.
Isn’t there something to that?
“I think I’m playing well,” he said. “It’s a question of whether you’re going to get an 8- to 15-foot putt.”
Even if he can’t do it all, Covelo has earned some ground on the Korn Ferry Tour and will likely repeat in 2026. Since turning pro in 2004, he’s been doing the same for the past 21 years, working on seven PGA Tour-run professional circuits and more mini-tour events than he cares to remember.
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Covello will turn 43 on November 26th. His previously red stubble has turned gray, but he said he feels younger every day he grows a beard.
“I feel like I’m still 30 in my heart,” he said on the putting green at Sea Island on the eve of the first round of the final PGA Tour event of the season. This round will be his 13th start of the season and 24th of his career, and he’ll be looking to make some money on medical exemption. “Why do I do it? I love it.”
The answer to this is fixed. The golf world doesn’t necessarily love Vince Covello. But like a man who keeps having his advances and advances rejected by the woman he admires, Covello will wake up the next day to find the sun shining and ask Golf to take him into her arms.
“He doesn’t give up,” said John Brooks, Covello’s coach at UNF. “He’s very focused. He always has been.”
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Is Vince Covello the “Rocky” of golf?
Covello is from the Philadelphia area and has shirts, hats and club headcovers emblazoned with the Phillies, Eagles, Flyers and 76ers logos.
They will explain various things to you.
Vince Covello shows off his PGA Tour card after the Portland Open on the Korn Ferry Tour on August 11, 2019.
The City of Brotherly Love is full of comeback legends who are facing insurmountable challenges. Vince Papal worked his way into a roster spot with the Eagles. In 1993, the Phillies rose from the worst to the top. The 2010 Flyers lost the series 3-0 and won the series against the Boston Bruins, 3-0. The 1985 Villanova Wildcats were the No. 8 seed and defeated the powerhouse Georgetown Hoyas to win the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
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Philadelphia Special. With Kids. Moses and the Doctor. The list goes on.
But in 1993, Joe Carter and the Toronto Blue Jays walked the Phillies. The Chicago Blackhawks finally ended the Flyers’ dream in the NHL Finals. In 1950, the New York Yankees swept the Whiz Kids. And three years later, Doug Pederson looked at Nick Foles and said, “Do you want Philadelphia?” he was fired.
Even Rocky, the fictional boxer from South Philadelphia who came to define this city as much as the real-life athlete, had a .500 record, along with Apollo Creed and Clubber Lang, defeating Ivan Drago and losing to Mason Dixon.
For Covello, failure is easy to understand. In fact, failure is something that golfers are familiar with. You won’t birdie every hole, hit every fairway and green, or win every tournament. Even Tiger Woods proved deadly (though he won 82 tournaments and 15 majors to get there).
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“My life has had more failures than successes in golf,” Covello said. “I’ve had successes as well, but I think every failure is an opportunity to learn and that leads to growth through the game of golf, whether it’s through your technique, your skill set, what you need to work on or who you are as a person. And I think that’s something I’ve really learned that I’ll value over the years.”
Beyond his Philadelphia roots, Covello said there are life lessons he learned from his father, Jim, who passed away in 2009. Covello said in a 2010 interview that his father never gave up on anything and had high expectations for his children.
“That’s carried over to me,” he said.
Covelo quickly became popular on the First Coast
After his family moved to Ponte Vedra Beach, Covello led Nice to a state championship in 2000, winning an individual title. Brooks said he saw in the brash northerner a talent for the game beyond his years.
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“He had a better understanding of his golf game,” Brooks said. “He was always working on his swing and equipment. He learned all of that. Mistakes didn’t hurt him. He kept the ball in play and was a very good wedge player and putter for a young guy. He was more like an old-school golfer. He liked to shape his shots, but back then he was a grinder.”
Covelo played three years at UNF before turning pro. That’s when the challenge began.
For the next 15 years, Covello played on the Canadian and Latin American circuits operated by the PGA Tour, OneAsia Tour, Tour de la America, and European Challenge Tour.
He played his first full season on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2013, lost his card, but returned to the tour full-time in 2017.
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Covello thought his breakthrough came in 2019. He won the Louisiana Open in a playoff against Justin Lower, finishing 20th on the money list and earning his tour card for the 2019-20 season.
Injury derails rookie tour season
Then life decided to shake Covelo around a little more. He injured his lower back shortly into his first season on tour, starting only 10 games and missing eight.
Covelo earned $51,276 this season. He earned $417,837 in 124 starts on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour combined.
Athletes will earn even more prize money if they finish solo in third place at Sea Island this week.
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That was a long time ago. Covello was able to start this season with a medical exemption from Korn Ferry and a series of cuts on the PGA Tour. He has played four times over the weekend, most recently at the Worldwide Technologies Championship in Mexico.
Covello is 215th on the FedEx Cup points list. A successful week will open the door for the DP World Tour to begin next year. If I can do another decent week or two in the second round and Q-school, I might be able to do even better.
Covelo has past champion status on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour, which will allow him to make several starts. With a few cuts and a few good weeks, he could get more starts after the changes.
And the struggle continues.
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“All you can do is control what you can control,” he said. “I just try to stay on top of those things and try to do my best. And some weeks you play great, some weeks you don’t. I mean, that’s the nature of golf. Other than the top 50 people in the world who show up every week and play great. Everybody else is fighting the same battle, right?”
Few fought more than Covello.
he’s not going anywhere.
This article originally appeared in the Florida Times-Union: Vince Covello continues his push to make the PGA Tour at age 43
