Going For Broke

Lee Trevino once said pressure is playing for ten bucks when you don’t have a dime in your pocket.

Michael Graboyes was on the 12th hole of a 36-hole Minor League Tour event in Coral Springs, Fla., when an email came through. He opened it and his heart sank. It was from the South Florida PGA informing him his credit card had been declined for upcoming Korn Ferry Tour qualifiers.

He was officially broke.

Making matters worse, he and his wife, Melissa, had just moved into a new place in Jacksonville. Rent was due in two weeks.

That’s the pressure Trevino was talking about.

Graboyes was all in. As all-in as a pro golfer fighting for his career can be. At 29-years-old, the former Cornell grad had finally clawed out some Korn Ferry Tour status after surviving Final Stage of Q-School.

The run through Q-School had cost him more than $15,000, draining his bank account and nearly maxing out his credit card. He’d struggled at Final Stage, leaving him with only conditional status and a season of Monday qualifiers — knowing one start early in the year could change everything.

“I knew I was close to the limit, but I try not to check too often. That email was proof I was out of fake money too,” Graboyes told me.

Pro golf is about betting on yourself over and over again. To get to the Monday qualifier, Graboyes did what he’s done his entire six-year pro career.

He bet on himself.

The last charge that went through on his credit card was the $695 entry fee for the Minor League Tour’s first major of the year. The winner would receive $10,000, and Graboyes needed it badly. Now all he had to do was beat 106 other players.

Graboyes had been here before. A lot of mini-tour players have. Being broke comes with the territory. Last year, he caddied at a club four or five days a week after he ran out of money. He’d had sponsors at times but most of that support had dried up. Even his brother Luke, who had also played professionally, had stopped chasing it and found a job.

But Michael refused to give up. And anytime he thought about it, his wife Melissa wouldn’t hear of it.

“I told Michael, when we have kids one day, I want them to know their dad chased his dream even when it was hard.”

Standing on the 12th hole, having just read the email informing him his credit card was maxed, Graboyes was two-under, well off the lead — and broke. He had no choice. He had to play better.

Three birdies on his final three holes were just what the doctor (and his debtors) ordered. The closing turkey gave him a five-under 65, leaving Graboyes just two shots off the lead heading into the final round.

An opening birdie the next day at Coral Springs Country Club helped settle the nerves, and three birdies in a five-hole stretch on the back nine gave Graboyes the lead. The $10,000 check, a trip to the qualifiers the following week, and rent money were suddenly just a few holes away.

“Oh, of course I was thinking about it,” Graboyes told me when I asked about the sloppy three-putt bogey on 17 that trimmed his lead to one. The demons from the last time he was in contention crept into his mind.

Ten months earlier, Graboyes had stood on the 72nd hole of another Minor League Tour major with a two-shot lead. A blocked tee shot found the water. Double bogey. Angus Flanagan made birdie. A three-shot swing. A devastating runner-up finish.

That one swing cost Groboyes $6,000 — which might as well be a million when you’re broke.

On the final tee, he steered the drive a little, but it found dry land and the fairway. A short iron left a makeable birdie putt. He left it just short, but the par was good enough for the win — and the giant check.

Scott Turner, the owner of the Minor League Tour, called me after the event.

“I’ve seen a lot of players run out of money, but this one was special. You could tell he was nervous on 17. It was great to watch him pull it off,” Turner said. “You could tell he was emotional.”

Before he even got back to the clubhouse, Michael FaceTimed Melissa. She started crying as soon as she heard the news. Melissa had been there for the low points, too — she was on the bag when Michael missed at first stage in 2024, which she called “a pretty big low point.”

What did Michael do when he got home from his win?

He bet on himself again and signed up for the two qualifiers this week.

On Monday he shot 71 and missed, but he has another chance Wednesday.

Ten thousand dollars doesn’t go far in pro golf. But it meant a few more chances. It meant rent was paid. It meant Michael Graboyes could bet on himself again.

And at least for a little while, he had the ten bucks in his pocket to avoid the pressure Lee Trevino was talking about.

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