The name that has been dominating leaderboards and Connecticut player-of-the-year standings for the past two years is quite recognizable. What’s perhaps less well known is the journey that Cody Paladino has taken to get here.
Born and raised in Connecticut, Paladino traveled to Texas to play college golf at Baylor University. Then he really branched out after graduating, seeing the world through the golf tours and tournaments he could get into, committing to 10-hour work days, day after day, in his quest to make it to the PGA Tour.
Just because Paladino didn’t make it to golf’s biggest stage doesn’t mean this story is about failure. Anything but. Life has never been better for Paladino, who was reinstated as an amateur two years ago, got married last year, has a baby on the way, and has been working the same steady job at Lyle Health for nearly four years.
His golf? Paladino is making that look remarkably easy. He recently won the Russell C. Palmer Cup, viewed as Connecticut’s stroke-play championship for amateurs. He lapped the field at Wampanoag Country Club in West Hartford, shooting 72-67-67 to finish 10-under-par and win by eight strokes. That came one week after he was the medalist at U.S. Open local qualifying.
“The last couple of weeks have been really special,” Paladino said. “It might look easy, but it’s not. Competitive golf is so hard, especially when you have a work and family life in addition to that. You just appreciate it so much when it feels easy, because you know it’s not going to last.”
He’s been known to ride a hot hand. Paladino was twice the Connecticut Junior Player of the Year (2004 and 2005), then advanced to the final match of the 2007 U.S. Amateur Public Links as an 18-year-old. College was more of the same: He became the first player in Baylor history to qualify for the NCAA Championship as an individual, and ended his Bears career with nine top-10 tournament results.
Turning professional seemed like the logical choice, but Paladino didn’t take the plunge right away. In fact, 2013 was one of his best years as an amateur, before he joined the for-pay crowd a year later. Paladino was confident he’d succeed because of his work ethic.
“My whole life, I was determined and driven to play on the PGA Tour,” he said. “All those practice sessions, all that time spent in the gym, it was for that. That pursuit totally consumed my life. I thought that was the way you did it. I’ll work harder than everybody else and get to where I wanted to be.”
“My biggest goal now is to win the U.S. Mid-Am over the next five years; that’s what pushes me.”
Cody Paladino
Golf doesn’t always work out that way, though. A decent tournament finish one week might lead to missed cuts during the next two. Add in travel, expenses, and the constant chasing of status on whatever developmental tour someone such as Paladino was playing – Canada, Latinoamérica and China among them – and it can quickly become overwhelming.
It wasn’t without highlights. Paladino won the Connecticut Open in 2015. But when first stage of qualifying school for what is now the Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA Tour’s top developmental circuit, ended unsuccessfully in 2018, Paladino knew that he had a difficult decision to make.
“I had some good stretches, but I wasn’t consistent. Getting into that fourth, fifth year as a pro, knowing I had to make it, not having much money and being under so much pressure from myself, it created a lot of stress,” he said. “It’s a very, very, very hard life. I’m very proud that I accomplished what I did. I wanted to make it more than anything in the world. I feel like I came up short of my goals, but as I get older and reflect, I’m very proud.”
Now that he’s no longer spending 10 hours a day on his game and his body, or playing in competitive tournaments every week, Paladino the amateur says he’s a better golfer than Paladino the professional.
“I’m definitely a better golfer now than I was as a pro,” the 33-year-old said. “It’s the same game, but it’s totally different. With maturity, my relationship with golf is so different.”
After earning his amateur status back in 2020, Paladino advanced to the championship match of the Connecticut Amateur that year, then again in 2021. He lost to Chris Fosdick both times. But Paladino won the New England Amateur in 2021, and is the two-time reigning Connecticut Player of the Year.
Paladino also is still driven by goals. Instead of playing on the PGA Tour, he’d like to play in a major championship. He came close to qualifying for the 2008 Masters, losing in that 2007 U.S. Amateur Public Links final to Colt Knost. His next opportunity comes next week, when Paladino plays in a 36-hole U.S. Open sectional qualifier in Purchase, New York. He’s also got his eyes set on the U.S. Mid-Amateur, a national USGA event for players 25 and older that awards its champion a spot in the next year’s Masters and U.S. Open.
“My biggest goal now is to win the U.S. Mid-Am over the next five years; that’s what pushes me,” Paladino said. “Staying motivated to do it will keep you up there. I’m keeping a chip on my shoulder and plan to outwork everybody.”
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