Kevin Chappell played in over 300 PGA Tour events and won more than $17 million in his career, but the 39-year-old pro recently decided it was time to retire.<\/p>\n
Chappell\u2019s best seasons were from 2013 to 2017 \u2014 which included his only win, at the 2017 Valero Texas Open \u2014 but he needed back surgery in 2018, missed almost all of the next season and returned during an odd time on Tour after Covid hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was basically a year and a half when I didn\u2019t play a lot of competitive golf, and I really struggled to find any form after that,\u201d Chappell said on this week\u2019s episode of GOLF\u2019s Subpar podcast. \u201cAnd in that time I started to grow as a person, started to grow as a father, and priorities started to change. I realised my work ethic was going down and my results were going down.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his 90 starts since his back surgery, Chappell made about half his cuts but failed to record a top 10. Although oddly enough, it was one of his final starts that helped him come to his decision.<\/p>\n
In April of this year, Chappell got into the Zurich Classic of New Orleans as an alternate and teamed up with Tom Hoge. That duo was paired with Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry for the first two rounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019m watching Shane and Rory play, and I might not have ever been Rory, but I certainly was a top-30 player in the world, and I\u2019m like, Man, the amount of work it\u2019s going to take to get back there, and the things I\u2019m going to miss out on, I\u2019m not sure this is worth it to me,\u201d Chappell said. \u201cSo I kind of sat on that thought in the spring and into the summer. Took the family to Europe and played two DP World Tour events and was like, I think this is it.\u201d<\/p>\n
With limited status, Chappell made five PGA Tour starts and six Korn Ferry Tour starts in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think my priorities have changed, and to watch the level [McIlroy and Lowry] were playing at and level that I had \u2014 I just never played the game just to get a tee time,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s always been to compete and win and have chances to win and it was just going to take a lot of work and I was going to miss out on a lot of things I didn\u2019t want to miss out on.\u201d<\/p>\n