Korn Ferry golfer Ryan McCormick plays with mouth taped shut

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Ryan McCormick has not been having much fun this year on the Korn Ferry Tour, so he decided to control his anger Friday by taping his mouth shut.

The Korn Ferry Tour posted video of McCormick playing with clear tape over his mouth and explaining the peculiar move.

“Been having not-so-fun times this year on the golf course. Pretty angry and mad,” McCormick said. “So I figured I’ve tried a lot of things, and I just figured I’d shut myself up. So I put tape over my mouth.”

Golf is hard.

Ryan McCormick resorted to taping his mouth during R2 of @clubcarchamp. pic.twitter.com/rBjreDoNfN

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) April 4, 2025

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Did it work? Not judged on his score. After opening with a 1-over 73 at the Club Car Championship, he posted a 72 and was certain to miss the cut.

McCormick, relegated back to the developmental Korn Ferry Tour after a year on the PGA Tour in 2024, has only played the weekend three times in six starts and has yet to finish in the top 40.

He said he has read books and talked to people. Nothing seems to work.

“I’ve run out of ideas, and I thought about the tape thing a couple of weeks ago,” McCormick said. “So just unfortunately it came down to that today. I was hoping maybe it would help me. Can’t say that it did or didn’t.”

One reason for the extraordinary move was McCormick said he didn’t want to create a negative experience for his playing partners.

“Having a tough time, and that was my solution today,” McCormick said.