Pro golf has seen some bizarre stories over the past year. From Wyndham Clark’s locker room antics to Rory McIlroy’s non-conforming driver controversy. But none were as shocking as the incident involving Ryan Ang. The Singaporean pro was caught blatantly cheating after he dropped a ball out of his pocket on the fairway, swapping it for his actual ball in play. He was suspended, but turns out that has opened the doors to a new opportunity.

As Monday Q Info reported, “It all started in February of 2025 [Late January 2025], when Ryan Ang was DQ’d from a Webex Players Series Mixed event. He was suspended from the Aussie Tour [Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia]. This week, Ryan Ang is playing on the DP World Tour, based on his Order of Merit finish last season on the China Tour, again something that likely wouldn’t have been possible if he had played the full season in Aussie [Tour].”

Ang is teeing off at the 2026 Hainan Classic, which is a DP World Tour event with a purse of $2.55 million. Last year, the Singaporean golfer was caught dropping a ball from his pocket on the 17th hole at the Webex Players Series Murray River, claiming the new one was his actual ball in play. A fellow pro reported it to the rules official, who apparently found Ang’s original ball afterward.

Later, the golfer was suspended from the tour, but curiously enough, the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia officials decided not to make his cheating incident public. In fact, Ryan French of Monday Q Info cited an insider source to report that the officials held a player meeting where pros were “encouraged” to keep their mouths shut.

That allowed Ryan Ang to tee off in the Asian Development Tour before playing a full schedule of the China Tour. The Singaporean pro had seven top-tens across both tours, which helped him reach the sixth spot in the China Tour’s Order of Merit, earning a spot at the 2026 Hainan Classic.

In contrast, before getting DQ’d from Murray River, Ang had a missed cut at the Webex Players Series Victoria and managed only two top-15s in his last eight starts. Clearly, playing at the China Tour helped him earn a DP World Tour event qualification. He is competing against Francesco Molinari, Thriston Lawrence, and the Dubai Invitational 2026 champion, Nacho Elvira. After two rounds, Ang is tied at 107th, outside the projected cut line.

French revealed he reached out to Ang after the incident. The Singaporean International said he had made a big mistake, but didn’t specify the details. A similar incident unfolded in the DP World Tour’s developmental tour as well. The European Tour Council was swift to ban Cedric Gugler, a 25-year-old from Switzerland, who was caught improving his lie multiple times in a tournament.

However, Ryan Ang evaded punishment and public backlash at that time. A year after the rules fiasco, he may be excited to receive the new opportunity. But the golf community is not too thrilled to see him in action.

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Netizens are outraged over Ryan Ang’s inclusion in the DPWT event

Even Ryan Ang might feel that he is fortunate to find his way back to professional golf. However, those who followed the story aren’t fans of his journey.

One fan wrote, “Sorry, guy should not be playing on any tour anywhere. Blatant cheating like this should be a permanent lifetime ban from competitive golf.”

The comment highlights a problem in modern-day golf. Cross-tour collaboration is almost non-existent. A player banned or suspended on one tour gets to tee off in another tour quickly. For instance, Ang, after his DQ, teed off at the Lexus Open on the Asian Developmental Tour two months later. One fan suggested a solution to stop that.

Another fan wrote, “Any suspensions for rules infractions should be handled through R&A and USGA. That will allow for uniform handling of cases, decent appeals procedures, and justice will be seen to be done. It will also protect the smaller tours from litigious lawsuits.”

The Australian Tour evaded media attention on Ryan Ang’s suspension to avoid negative publicity. However, that ended up helping the Singaporean International revitalize his career. Had the situation been handed over to the R&A, then they would have perhaps imposed a global ban on him.

One of the comments read, “If it doesn’t start with a certain gentleman who fended off Tiger at Riviera what are we even doing? 🤷‍♂️”

They believe this situation is similar to the one involving Billy Mayfair. The veteran pro, who famously stopped Tiger Woods from winning the 1995 Genesis Invitational, was involved in a number of controversies on the fairway. He is most famously known for anchoring the putter to gain an advantage on the green. More recently, Akshay Bhatia has been accused of the same.

Lastly, someone said, “And with that, Q’s invites from all tours, stopped…! 🤔”

The PGA Tour had already restricted the Monday Qualifiers to only a few events from 2026 onwards. The fan believes that after Monday Q Info‘s exposé, even the DP World Tour might take action against them.