GREEN BAY, Wis. - On December 21, 2024, Green Bay golf alum George Kneiser secured a spot on the 2025 PGA Asian Tour, after finishing tied for eighth (-14) at the Asian Tour Qualifying School at Lake View Resort & GC-Hua Hin, Thailand. Kneiser will play at select PGA Asian Tour events throughout 2025. 

To recap his weekend, and five-year journey to securing his Asian Tour card, George had a conversation with his former coach - Lee Reinke.

Below is a transcript of their conversation:

Lee: I want to take you back to April 2019, when you won the Horizon Championship by three strokes… earned an automatic qualifier to Louisville Regional, that probably seems like an eternity ago.

George: That's crazy. How long ago it feels like.

Lee: Now that you've done other things; and seen the bigger picture over the last five years, did that victory now, looking back, signify or mean anything big picture to you that you could take into your golf career the last five years?

George: It was just like a stepping stone, confidence boost, like something to validate the kind of player I can be in the future and build on.

Lee: When you think of those Green Bay days, are there any memories stirred of fellow players or memories, or do you still stay in contact with many of them, teammates?

George: I'm still very close with the core group, the five of us, Brady, Pat, Bennett, and Jeff. There are too many memories to hang up just one of them, but a bunch of good memories in the van, a bunch of good memories on the golf course… Bunch of memories just joking around with guys.

Lee: Jumping ahead to the Spring of 2020, it was the Grover Page Classic in Jackson, Tennessee, you fired off rounds of 68, 68, and 73 to be a medalist, and led our team to a third-place finish out of nine teams. It was our way back home that we learned about COVID and the 2020 spring season obviously came to an abrupt halt meaning no Horizon League title defense. Your college career ended literally overnight. Do you remember any emotions from those events and now, looking back, are able to learn any lessons from the COVID years? It had to be obviously a letdown where you couldn't even go and defend your title.

George: It definitely was. I remember that tournament quite vividly. I just got in a groove and I played really well. I think I won by like four or five. Yeah, it was mixed emotions because I had just won a golf tournament by like five strokes, so I was very happy with the work I put in off-season because that was kind of the first showing on grass. I was very, very pleased with that, and then hours later, the season was over. It didn't hit me immediately, that I wouldn't be able to defend the title, but I think in the coming weeks, there was just so much emotion going on with COVID and everything. It was a weird time and I was definitely disappointed to not be able to defend.

Lee: Thinking back on that I know your career ended earlier than you had hoped, but did COVID cause any issues with you getting started, like on the mini tours or other tours you started? I don't remember that part of it so just refresh my memory.

George: No nothing crazy was paused, there were still many tour events going on. I think I played a handful of qualifiers that summer. I got through one qualifier in Missouri, I got started on Korn Ferry, which was another kind of just stepping stone, confidence boost for myself. Not quite as much, but comparable to winning conference. You know, it was 'I'm a player that's capable of this caliber of golf', which, with the whole late start with golf that I had in general, those were significant stepping stones.

Lee: Well, speaking of your late start, I'm going to go back a little bit further to high school. I take a LOT of pride in knowing that I was your lone Division I offer and I take, a LOT of pride in that I was able to find that diamond in the rough, which is really hard to find. Just thinking back to your high school days, you started at quarterback, you started at point guard, you played high-level tennis, you played golf. In some high schools you're not able to play all the sports because of the size of the school. But looking back on that, what advice would you give high schoolers regarding playing as many sports as possible and what that teaches you?

George: I'm one hundred percent in the boat of "play them all". Play every sport you can. What you realize, especially in my last couple of years of golf, you learn a lot about your body in pro golf. You learn about how your body moves, how it doesn't move, and you realize that, like playing all the sports and being a well-versed athlete, especially in your younger years, acquiring skills, hand eye strength that you get from other sports, you can't really substitute that. You'll learn over the years that, like a lot of work that I put into those sports kind of developed my body into how it moves today. How good a golfer you can be is how well your body can move in some aspects. Even though I didn't start golf until I was 16, I wouldn't change it. I wouldn't go back and start golf sooner and quit other sports, I would play them all.

Lee: I agree, you actually changed my outlook on that in that I now look for that multi-sport athlete, because my thought is if they can excel at golf and they're playing quarterback and point guard and other sports when they can designate all their time to one sport, the sky is the limit for their golf ability.

Lee: Jumping ahead to 2024, I know August 5, 2024, is a huge date in your journey, one that you'll never forget. -6, 65, T-1 Monday qualifying. You got into the Wyndham Championship, which was your first PGA Tour start. I'm sure it's a day you'll never forget. What was that day like for you?

George: You know, it was cool; a lot of support reached out, which is cool to see. It's one of those things where you get through the qualifier and, the first PGA tour start is going to be something that's going to be a huge day in your professional golf career for everyone that's not already on the PGA Tour, you know? So, it was really cool, it all happened so fast, because you're like, okay, now I have to get plans for the weekend, get the golf course, check in, register. But in the coming days, let it settle in. I had a really good experience that week, it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot.

Lee: Who did you play with?

George: Hayden Springer and Jorge Campillo.

Lee: Were they super great to you, knowing that it was your first experience, or it was pretty low-key for them like another day on tour?

George: (Campillo's) from Spain, he did speak English, but our conversation was pretty brief. I had known Hayden because he had played in Canada the year before and he was very very nice, and fun to play with and watch play and learn from because he had obviously been out there for the full year and it was a big week for him, points wise. He needed a good finish so it was good to see good to see and watch him play and chat with him a little bit.

Lee: Remind everybody how did you play Thursday and Friday, and what happened.

George: Thursday was completely rained out from a tropical storm, so we played on Friday. So, it's kind of a weird little day off, and the golf course was a lot different because it was really firm, and softened up a bunch. I played a little longer, but I played much more receptive to the greens. I got off to a bad start on Thursday. I just made a couple of bogies right out the gate. I played steadier from there on out, but just couldn't get the ball in the fairway enough. The rough is pretty thick. When you're in the rough, I draw a good line. You're pretty much looking at three good shots to make a par at best. So, it was just kind of a scrambling day on Friday, I didn't shoot a good score. The next day I played a lot better because I was just in the fairway. If you're in the fairway all day, you know, you can make stuff happen out there. I made plenty of mistakes the second day too but I played a lot better, shot a better score, and shot one under the second day.

Lee: What an awesome learning experience though. It had to be just awesome. Which brings us to the present day. You elected to enter the PGA Agent Tour pre qualifier in Florida in October, what went into that decision?

George: Going into last fall, I was exempt in the second stage, and I didn't do the DP World Tour, Q school, or the Asian Tour Q school. Partly because I was exempt on the second stage, and I felt like I put all this focus on the second stage for Korn Ferry, and I didn't get through, so going into this fall I was like, it can't hurt to have more options. Obviously, I'd prefer the idea of playing on the Korn Ferry at a PGA tour in the States, but I feel like having more options at Q school. I thought, ideally it was also if you put, like the DP Q scores before the Korn Ferry so if you're going to go make some mistakes let's go do it over there and be ready to roll for Korn Ferry. It didn't work out that way, so I signed up for the Asian Tour just to have more chances.

Lee: You ended up taking fifth in Florida, which got you into the final stage over in Thailand, which is five rounds, from December 17th to 21^st, and never doubted you were going to Thailand, I would assume, right?

George: Yeah, I missed the Korn Ferry, so that was my only chance.

Lee: So just speak to a couple of obstacles, because I found them quite intriguing. For you, you've got fish allergies, and obviously, probably 95 % of the menu over there (Thailand) is seafood. It had to be a 20-plus hour flight and other elements, you know, speak to the cobras in the rough. I found all that pretty interesting things obstacles that you have to encounter along the way.

George: So first of all, I played the first stage in Florida and Tom Longbella, my good buddy, also played it and got through, so if he hadn't gotten through the second stage of Korn Ferry, he was going to be going with me. He got through the second stage, and I was happy for him, but then that meant I was going to Asia alone. I wasn't nervous, but I think maybe my mom was. It's long travel, it takes two days to get over there. Thai food is, um, I mean, they use, like, fish sauce or oyster sauce.

Lee: Nothing you can take a chance on giving what was at stake, you couldn't afford to get ill.

George: My allergy is pretty severe, like I have a severe reaction. Most of the menus had some sort of Western food, but it's not very good usually.

Lee: And I'm thinking back to the college days. Your hotel might have had breakfast, but I know you were never one keen on breakfast. So, you know, you survived on peanut butter and white bread, right?

George: I mean, I ate the breakfast they had, kind of like a Western breakfast at the resort I was at. So, I just ate that. I think it's possible my mother, may have overstated the peanut butter. I would eat western food off the menus but you'd be there for five days with three options - a cheeseburger, chicken wings, or some sort of pasta. So, a lot of times I just wouldn't have the appetite to eat the same thing again for dinner so peanut butter sandwich or two, and called it a night.

Lee: Well, with the five rounds, you shot under par all five rounds, finished 14 under, Top-8. What does that earn you on the Asian Tour?

George: It's a little complicated. Basically, they have all their playing categories, and top 35 are all in the same category, it's category 16. We play out of that, and we are ranked accordingly in that category. So, my T-8 finish puts me near the top of that category, which is good because that category is behind categories like prior tournament winners, LIV golf players, 2024 order merit finishers... So staple guys on the Asian Tour are going to play out of a category that's ahead of me. For the very biggest international series events, I think that category is on the bubble a lot, so there'll only be a handful, maybe that get out of that category. They did a relatively good job of explaining it, but there are a lot of variables from event to event. So, the international series are the ones that are going to be the real big ones. The odds are not great of getting a start in the real big ones, but some of the smaller ones, where there might be, say, a LIV event also happening that week or something, it sounds like there's a good chance I'll get those starts. Then all the regular season Asian Tour events - I'll get all those starts

Lee: There are 22 events with $30 million American prize money available on the 2025 Asian PGA Tour - I know, as you mentioned, some of the LIV tour guys do play in those international events, such as Bryson DeChambeau has committed to play that first one at the end of January or the beginning of February and you touched on what that means for you of the 22 events. How many starts are you hoping to gather in the in the summer?

George: That's an interesting question. You know, it kind of goes back to that, like, playing status. I mean, I'm a full member of the Asian Tour, but I play out of category 16. So they basically told us it's unclear how many starts I will get.

Lee: Okay, so in your mind, are you thinking ten, or are you thinking five?

George: No, I would I would think there's got to be at least at least a dozen or 15 that I would get in.

Lee: And those are similar to United States events, where it's 140 players start and then a cut to 70 is that similar?

George: Yeah, that's my understanding.

Lee: I noticed that a lot of them have either a $1 million or $2 million purse so everybody that makes the cut gets a payout, right, similar to the United States?

George: The purses do vary in a couple of countries, it's a weird tour in that they plan so many different countries.

Lee: The schedule takes you to the Philippines, India, New Zealand, China, Korea, Morocco - it takes you everywhere. One of the questions that I find interesting is, where will you set up a home base. I mean, it's obvious you can't fly 23 hours every week. It's likely still in the early stages of thought and you haven't even thought about it yet, but where do you set up base?

George: I'm trying to figure that out. Honestly, I'm trying to predict how many events I'll get into. If there's just one free-standing event, where I would just have to fly over there, play the event, go home, then it's possible there's some event some events that I might skip just because the schedule towards the latter part of the year is conducive to, I can fly over there play a handful of events in a row be over there for a month and then go home. At the beginning of the year, the events are more spaced out, so it could be tricky, although there is a midway re-rank or reshuffle. So, the beginning of the year events are weighted and just in terms of getting into events later in the year.  I've been trying to kind of piece that together, but I don't have plans to have a base in Asia yet. Basically, what I'm trying to get to is where I can figure out what events I'm going to get into. I'll try and make a plan to travel from the States and just try to be over there for a while, come back for a couple of weeks, and not have to go over there, back over there, back over there back as much.

Lee: Does finishing at a certain spot in Asian tour gain you access to any tours over here? Is there any correlation or not?

George: They are totally separate. They, I know to some extent, correlate with the LIV tour. I think it might just be like the winner of the order of merit gets into the LIV golf promotions event, or something like that. But they don't correlate with any of the tours over here.

Lee: If all of a sudden you get into the LIV tour, you never know what's going to happen. You have to remember GB golf when you're talking LIV tour, right? The GB, golf program the alumni, your friends, myself, super proud of you with your tenacity and determination and we look forward to great anticipation of what this young man from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin can accomplish in the coming years. In closing, just give a little because you live in Florida. You're at home right now for the holidays in Oconomowoc. Just give a little insight into your next month. When you go back, what do you do? What do you work on? You know, as far as nutrition, swing, swing coach, everything.

George: Over the holidays the program has been halted for about a week and a half.

Lee: Mom's cooking probably looks pretty good I would suspect.

George: Yeah, on the holiday diet! So, it'll be good to get back in a couple of days and get back in the swing of things. But I have a pretty standard practice regimen. I try to play a lot more when I'm down in Florida. It can be tricky at times but usually, I eat a lot cleaner down there and work out three or four times a week, and I work with a trainer down there on golf specific stuff, and I see a PT down there once a week try to stay on top of some lower back trouble. I'll get back into that real quick. I practice at a couple of different courses down there, and it's like it's three-four hours a day, mostly short game. Then I try to swing a little and then go play. I don't hit, I try not to hit a basket of balls on the range. It's usually that I've got my drills and my stuff for my short game, and then I try to go out and play.

Lee: I'm just thinking of something I skipped. We have to go back to the Snake in the Rough can you speak to that?

George: So apparently Cobras are pretty prominent over there. They're not very rare. I saw the snake skin of a cobra in the rough, and then I saw one other snake just kind of going through some taller grass. It wasn't a cobra. I'm not entirely sure what it was, but, yeah, they got some interesting creatures you don't see in the States.

Lee: That is crazy, so so crazy. You used to see a deer, and here you see a cobra. That's nuts. In closing, and I know I've asked you this in the past, but as far as the pro game goes, anything that you can share with my current athletes or anybody playing college golf that surprised you surprises you.

George: I wouldn't say there's anything particular in terms of a shape or like a shot but I just think there's way more that goes into playing a round of golf for me now than there would have been in college. When I'm playing a round of golf for practice or a money game, I'm going to eat differently before it. I have a stretching routine. I've learned my body. I know some days this might feel weird, so I'm going to alter my stretching routine a little bit, but I'm going to have it no matter what and it's going to take a half hour. There's like three things before a round that I need to do. I'll get out my putting mat, that's one. I put the towel under my arms and hit little pitch shots, like, I just have these three things that I do all the time to prepare for a round now. Whereas, like, in college, I didn't learn my body, take care of my body, and prepare my body nearly as much. A lot of times, I would just, you know, roll out of bed and throw the clubs in the car, go to the course. Yep, that. But I'm not kidding you, I literally never do that. No, never. What needs to be done with my foam roller, watching what I eat, reading my body and how it feels. Sometimes I'll just notice my body's not moving that great so I'm going to hit more and get it moving a little bit. There's just so much thought that goes in, especially for tournament rounds. I get three hours of dedicated prep before a tournament round. I'm on a schedule, I'm going to try to eat at a specific time before I tee off. Then I'm going to plan whatever gym routine I need and then I'm going to plan whatever warm-up routine I need. So just overall, what I would say is just taking care of your body, reading your body, and preparing your body to play. It's tedious, it's probably one of my least favorite parts of pro golf, because there are 365 days in a year, and 330 of them, I'm spending hours just getting my body ready to play golf. But the process of doing that has made me a lot better player.

Lee: When you're not playing golf, I would assume you have to feel pretty darn good, health wise.

George: For the most part. I feel older. I try to take good care of my body you know as a professional athlete.

Lee: Awesome, well I really appreciate the time I wish you nothing but the best, and like I used to tell you in college, go put it on 'em G! Have fun, say hi to your Mom and Dad for me, and it's great talking to you, my man.

George: I think I've told you this before but I just wanted to reiterate how grateful I am to you for giving me an opportunity – it changed the path of my life forever. So, thank you again, I am very grateful. Talk to you soon.

Lee: Brings tears to my eyes hearing that, appreciate you so much! Thank you for the kind words. Talk soon!

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