Scott Langley
From competitor to listener
In 2021, after a 10-year career as a player on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour, Scott Langley passed the Series 65 exam to become an investment advisor and start a career in the financial services industry.
That career was short-lived because of unexpected changes within his company, and he turned back to golf. He phoned an old friend and fellow competitor, Jason Gore, who was the lead player relations official for the USGA.
“It was pretty serendipitous,” said Langley, 36.
“A few days before, he had been asked to think about a lieutenant to help with his role, and he thought of me before I even called him.”
Langley’s first job interview was at the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. During the summer-long process, Gore left the USGA to take a similar job with the PGA Tour.
According to Langley, he essentially filled Gore’s position, kicking off what he calls “the second chapter” of his golf life.
As the senior director of player relations for the USGA, Langley, a St. Louis native, serves in a hands-on role in U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open course setup, and directs a team that focuses on the comprehensive experiences of all players at USGA championships.
“What I try to bring to the role is active listening and genuine care for what someone has to say,” said Langley, who was a three-time All-American under coach Mike Small at the University of Illinois, winning the NCAA individual title in 2010 and finishing as the low amateur at that year’s U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
Langley employs the lessons he learned as a player, with experience on the Player Advisory Councils of both tours, to provide player experiences at USGA events that are consistent.
“I still feel plugged into the game. I get to see my old friends (he mentions former tour colleagues Zach Johnson, Jonathan Byrd, Cameron Tringale and Roberto Castro) and talk shop with them and do it in this new way.”
“In my role, it’s like a new competition,” said Langley, who won the Panama Championship on the Web.com Tour in 2018. “How good can I get at mastery of knowledge? How good can I get at conducting golf championships? How good can I get at explaining our position on something and/or being that great listener and distilling down a large amount of feedback into the most critical things that can advance our game and our championships forward?”
Langley believes he’s a strong communicator, which helps with conveying any news to his constituents, good or bad.
“I still feel plugged into the game,” he said. “I get to see my old friends (he mentions former tour colleagues Zach Johnson, Jonathan Byrd, Cameron Tringale and Roberto Castro) and talk shop with them and do it in this new way.”
Langley, who lives in New Jersey with his wife and two daughters, confesses that he’s “definitely a coffee guy,” which fortifies him against the championship days that might start at 4 a.m. and end at 11 p.m.
At those championships, he walks in the footsteps of the players.
“We’ve been shrewd about what we don’t know, but knowing the direction we want to go in,” said Langley, the first participant in The First Tee to earn a PGA Tour card. “And that direction is being consistent or better than what players experience elsewhere.”
Pete Kowalski