PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – As PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan handed a PGA Tour card for the 2025 season to Alejandro Tosti, he leaned over and said, “You know who looks down on you, don’t you ?
Tosti smiled and didn’t hesitate to say the name of their mutual friend, Pete Fox.
“I thought about him all day,” Tosti said.
The 28-year-old Argentine, who was 5 after 36 holes, rallied with a 65 at Sawgrass Country Club, the lowest round of the day Saturday, and birdied three of the first six holes Sunday at Dye’s Valley at TPC Sawgrass. shoot 66 and finish T-4 to regain his exempt status for next season.
Monahan walked with Tosti for a few holes on the back nine Sunday and waited behind the green to congratulate him, where he wrapped his left arm around his neck in an affectionate nod.
“I had a good feeling,” Monahan said of Tosti. “He made a few birdies early and I was like, ‘This guy has a lot of fight in him.’ »
Among the 170 players in the field fighting to finish in the top 5 and earn a Tour card, Monahan admitted he had a soft spot for Tosti because of Fox, who died of Ewing’s sarcoma, a tumor rare cancer. which forms in bones or soft tissues, in 2017 at 46 years old.
After Monahan moved to Florida to join the Tour in 2008, he created a Golf Fights Cancer event, an offshoot of the nonprofit organization he started with friends in memory of a colleague who died of ‘cancer, and Fox helped support him. He loved golf, and the University of Florida graduate, who met his wife there — who he considered his best sales job — lived for his Gators. Fox worked at Boston Scientific Corporation, rising to vice president of corporate sales, and, through his two loves, he developed a special place in his heart for the UF golf team.
“Of all the players, I would say Alejandro and Pete had the closest bond,” Monahan said.
Florida men’s coach JC Deacon said Fox liked Tosti and understood he had a different experience than most students who grew up in the United States and spoke English fluently. Describing Tosti as being a little rough around the edges, Deacon explained that Tosti came from poverty and meals were not always guaranteed. “The kid went through a lot to get to where he is now,” Deacon said.
Throughout his career, Tosti, who has been called a fiery player, has rubbed some of his competitors the wrong way. He was suspended in 2023 during the Korn Ferry Tour playoffs for conduct unbecoming a professional. One Tour veteran said Tosti was a lover of pro-ams and described him as a “Dr Jekyll, Mr Hyde type”. He continued: “I asked him one morning at breakfast, ‘Why are you such an idiot?’ He said: “I’m just a fool from Thursday to Sunday. This is my chance to make money and I don’t like anyone stopping me from getting my money. »
Tosti is the first to admit that he gets hot and struggles with the mental aspect of the game. “It’s been a challenge for me my whole life, managing it myself,” he said. declared.
In the first round at Q-School, he was 3 under at Dye’s Valley before entering the par-5 16th.th and failed to make a birdie despite having a 6-iron in hand for his second shot. “Then I made a bogey 17, a triple 18, so I gave away about five shots. Yes, it was a round plus one,” he recalls.
But that afternoon, he had a positive discussion with his sports psychologist, who reminded him that the tournament was only the beginning. He tried to play with a positive mindset even after a bad stretch Friday that left him with 5 points and a long shot to improve his conditional status for next season. On Saturday, his putter caught fire and he finished the final hole with his seventh birdie of the day, thinking, “Maybe tomorrow it will be the other way around and we’ll get a chance to compete on the PGA Tour again.”
Is this a sign of maturity and growth at Tosti? Time will tell, but Deacon is encouraged that he’s making progress.
“He’s not there to be your friend, he’s not there to have conversations; he is here to win. It’s like a matter of life and death for him,” Deacon said. “We tried to educate him on the sporting aspect of the game. It took him a little longer to learn and understand that. Pete only saw the best in him and Ale really liked him.
Fox proved to be a great influence in Tosti’s life. Before he passed away after a 15-year battle with cancer, Fox put a plan in place to create the Gator Good Guys Collegiate Cup, now in its 12th year.th year, the profits of which will be donated to Golf Fights Cancer (as well as to fund groundbreaking research into Ewing’s sarcoma). Tosti had never known anyone with cancer.
“He was an inspiration, definitely for me, and made me see life in a totally different way,” Tosti said on Sunday. “He had a passion for life even though he was battling cancer. He would be so happy to be with me.
And maybe that’s why Tosti, without being invited by anyone else, jumped in his car and drove from the Gainesville campus to Fox’s home in Ponte Vedra Beach to see Fox in his last throes of his fight against cancer. So did Monahan, who stopped by Fox to say goodbye to his dear friend at the same time. When he glanced into Fox’s room, Tosti was at his bedside, an open notebook in his hands.
Tosti then asked Fox a series of questions about life and leadership, trying to extract as much knowledge as possible from someone he admired for his zest for life.
“I’ll never forget it,” Monahan said. “They were talking and I thought, you know what? I’m going to go hang and wait in another room.
Tosti finally came out, his eyes red with tears. And so forgive Monahan if he felt some joy seeing Tosti, who finished No. 137 in the 2024 FedEx Cup fall standings as a rookie and had only conditional status for next season , stand out in critical moments.
“He’s finding his way,” Monahan said. “It’s a big moment for him.”
Fox, who asked a friend to keep an eye on Tosti when he was gone, would be very proud. So did Deacon, who said it was a shame the golf world couldn’t see Tosti’s gentle, caring and caring side.
“It just doesn’t show when he’s competing, and I don’t think you’ll ever see it while he’s competing,” Deacon said. “He’s probably the most talented player I’ve ever had and that says a lot about the 11 years I spent at Florida. If he can ever settle down and get comfortable , I believe he will win major tournaments, I really do, he is that good.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Untold Story of the Special Bond Between Alejandro Tosti and Jay Monahan