Jake Staiano is making the most of his Q-School return.

It was about a year ago that the 27-year-old Staiano, then a conditional member on the Korn Ferry Tour who had played his way into the first playoff event, was suspended from PGA Tour-sanctioned competition for three months for betting on golf.

Now, Staiano is two stages away from competing for a PGA Tour card after rolling through his first-stage site in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he shot 13 under and won by seven shots at the University of New Mexico’s Championship Course.

“It was a weird year, after everything that happened, knowing I didn’t have anything to really plan for,” Staiano said via phone on Saturday morning. “Everything was pretty much up in the air, I didn’t play a ton of golf, but I almost needed it. I enjoyed life more, got to hang out with some buddies, do some fun stuff and, in a way, not be a professional golfer for a year.

“It helped me reset, I put a lot of hard work in, and it definitely gave me more hunger going into Q-School this year.”

Staiano and fellow KFT pro Vince India were each suspended last fall for violating the PGA Tour’s integrity program. Staiano placed four bets totaling $116.20 in 2021 – one was a $25 prop bet on Bryson DeChambeau to birdie a par-5 during a PGA Tour event that season while the other three were wagers on DeChambeau in his pay-per-view match against Brooks Koepka in Las Vegas.

Staiano was first contacted about potential violations in May, a few weeks before he received a sponsor exemption into the BMW Charity Pro-Am, tied for 19th in just his second KFT start of the year and reshuffled into a regular KFT schedule for the remainder of the season. Staiano’s year ended in Boise, Idaho, and by early September, he had been notified via letter by PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan that he would be levied a three-month suspension for gambling. The suspension spanned from Sept. 11 to Dec. 10, meaning Staiano was prohibited from competing in the first stage of PGA Tour Q-School.

“It could be career-altering,” Staiano said at the time, speaking to Monday Q Info’s Ryan French. “I’m treating it like it’s not, but you never know, I might never get a chance to get back to Q-School.”

His reputation blemished and feeling ashamed, Staiano leaned on his family and friends for strength. He moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from Englewood, Colorado, to stay with a buddy for a few months during the winter, and with a lighter playing schedule, he took the opportunity to go on a few trips, including first-time visits to Vegas, for a bachelor party, and Nashville.

Competitively, Staiano cobbled together a handful of Monday qualifier but never got through. He excelled more locally, tying for sixth at the Colorado Open in July and placing solo fourth at the Rocky Mountain Open in August. He credits his strong summer to a putting change a couple weeks before the Colorado Open. A lifelong blade user, Staiano switched to a TaylorMade Spider mallet, the first putter he tried during a fitting with a friend.

“I started rolling my buddy’s putter and he goes, ‘We don’t need to test anymore,’” said Staiano, who soon after had his TaylorMade rep build him his own.

“I’ve really been putting great for the last four or five months, which it’s usually my weakness.”

Staiano entered the first stage of DP World Tour Q-School last month in Rosersberg, Sweden, wanting “to get my feet wet again because I know that Q-School is just a different kind of golf for four days, no cut, and your nerves and all that, they just kind of kick in.” Admittedly, Staiano had “a little too much fun” during the trip, wasn’t as locked in as he should’ve been and missed by eight shots.

That wasn’t the case in New Mexico, where Staiano, with his high-school teammate Tim Amundson on the bag, was competing on a course where he’d twice advanced through second stage. He was a shot back after two rounds before rattling off seven birdies and speeding away from the field with a 5-under 66. His final-round 68, also the round of the day, left him 15 shots clear of the cut line as he easily advanced to second stage along with other notables such as Ryan Hall, Michael Feagles, Connor Black Rodolfo Cazaubon, James Hart du Preez, Sam Choi, Johnny Travale and amateur Bastien Amat, who played at New Mexico and recently earned Challenge Tour status via the DP World Tour’s Global Amateur Pathway rankings.

Staiano’s first choice for second stage is the Valdosta, Georgia, qualifier Dec. 3-6 at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club. To prepare, Staiano is planning to head back to South Florida in a couple weeks to get accustomed to sea level and Bermudagrass. He doesn’t have any tournaments on the schedule until then, though he may sign up for the RSM pre-qualifier.

If not, it’s not as if he’s not used to long layoffs.

In fact, he’s proven better for them.

“At the end of the day, everything is going to happen for a reason,” Staiano said. “I sat back and watched a bunch of my buddies get their PGA Tour cards this year, guys I know, guys I’ve played with, and one of them is Matt McCarty, who obviously has balled out (three KFT wins and recently his first PGA Tour title, at the Black Desert Championship in Utah). It sucked, but at the same time, I had to remind myself that there is going to be good that comes from it, and instead of being down on myself and wallowing in it, I took it as motivation to get back there [on tour].

“I definitely attribute the success this past week to that, and there’s definitely that extra hunger and drive that I maybe didn’t have before.”