A Florida pro golfer made big money — and still ended up $300K in debt. Ramsey Show co-hosts say 2 smart moves could help him out of the rough

The bad decisions didn’t stop there. As Scott globetrotted in pursuit of his golf dream, his loans accumulated interest. Then the IRS came calling — and to top it all off, his agent stole about $250,000 of his earnings.

“I was traveling the country playing (and) obviously I wasn’t paying back my student loans,” said Scott. “That stuff was just racking up.”

Now, Scott’s tired of being in the bunker. He’s ready to stop playing around with his money and finally take a swing at paying off his debt.

Ramsey hosts weigh in

As his debt accumulated, Scott felt like he was making all of the right choices. He pushed himself academically — though it meant taking on significant debt — and when the chance came to compete globally, it felt like an amazing opportunity.

But after years of playing golf professionally and incurring substantial travel expenses, he was audited by the IRS. The audit revealed a discrepancy between his reported golf expenses and the deductions he claimed, ultimately leading to a back-tax bill of $80,000.

Only about 1% of tax returns were audited between 2013 and 2021, (1) but certain red flags can increase your chances. Math mistakes, excessive deductions and mismatched records are common triggers. (2) In Scott’s case, the auditor said the difference between his golf costs and his write-offs pushed his tax liabilities higher.

After sharing his story, Scott said he wanted to talk with someone who had climbed out of a similar debt hole. Ramsey Show co-host Jade Warshaw could relate — she paid off more than $460,000 in debt herself. (3)

How to move forward

If Scott keeps competing, even locally, it’s important that he chooses who to trust carefully. It’s not uncommon for agents to steal money from their clients. Stories of athletes getting fleeced by their agent or financial advisor are all too familiar.

Just recently, Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter and agent, Ippei Mizuhara, allegedly stole $16 million from the baseball star. (4)

Scott’s losses are significant, but he’s not alone. A 2019 EY survey found that fraudsters allegedly stole nearly $600 million from professional athletes between 2004 and 2019. (5)

In addition to choosing an agent he can trust, if he needs one, it’s also critical that he find a trustworthy accountant to help him file his taxes each year. With multiple streams of income, it’s easy for a tax return to get complicated and even easier to make a mistake that could haunt your finances later. That’s why working with a competent tax professional can come in handy.

Beyond finding the right people to work with, Warshaw urged Scott to focus on his “why.”

“Why are you doing this? Because that’s going to be the thing that you need to connect to every time you want to spend money on something else,” she said.