Posted on 06/16/2013 6:13:27 AM PDT by Kid Shelleen
--snip-- A teenager named Michael Kim, a student at Cal, needed a caddie for the U.S. Open. This was not a big-dollar gig. Kim is an amateur. Even if he won the whole blasted tournament, he couldn't take a dime. Not that a 19-year-old was about to contend for the U.S. Open. Unless he did. Kim and Temple got along great, and the boy wonder, who earned college player of the year honors, actually made the cut.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
*** US Open Ping ***
If he wins, why can’t he take the purse?
I can understand that might have to be held in escrow, due to his age. But if he wins it, it should be his.
If he wants to continue his college golf career (he’s only a sophomore) he has to play as an amateur.
partee at the 19th.
Because NCAA & USGA rules won’t even allow that. It’s not about his age, it’s about maintaining his amateur status for college and other USGA events in the future.
Makes no sense to me either - maybe it's because he isn't a card-carrying PGA pro. Seems like such a feat would validate the concept of awarding him full status as he would be beating the world's best golfers in a prestigious event.
It may take him out of the amateur competitions, but what's to say he couldn't be a pro while attending college - last I knew there was no prohibition for a college kid to earn money before he graduates/drops out.
I think the rational is that, people who are pro’s, tend to play at a significantly higher level than the amateurs.
If they didn’t have this rule, many of the pro’s would stay amateurs so that they could just rack up wins and not allow the amateurs, who aren’t capable of playing at a pro level, to ever win a round.
Pathway to the qualification is different for amateurs. Certain pros qualify based upon their standings and history. Those pros who do not qualify outright, and amateurs qualify by going through elimination tournaments. Amateurs, since they are not pros, do not play for purses. Why would one do that? Either they are monumentally wealthy, or a lover of the game as a game, or do not want to impact their amateur standing say for a college scholarship or mental cases!
One thing for sure....Tiger ain’t gonna win it.
Sorry to get off the subject, but I just read about Adam Scott and Steve Stricker eyed about possible rules violations that were called in by viewers. The two were eventually cleared, but it leads to two observations by me:
1. Where is everyone saying that these two should disqualify themselves for bringing shame on the game even though they weren’t guilty of anything? You say you didn’t hear about it? That’s why Tiger gets so much coverage, with the exception of Phil or Rory nobody cares about anyone else.
2. When is golf going to quit taking phone calls from viewers claiming rules violations? If these no-lifes want to referee golf so damn bad, let them volunteer as PGA marshals. At any rate, they should at least have to provide their names, addresses, and work place so that someone can monitor their activities 24 hours a day and see if their not violating some obscure law.
Their = they’re
I have provided my name, address, and work place so that someone can monitor my activities 24 hours a day and see if I’m not violating some obscure law.
My point(which was mostly tongue-in-cheek) is that no other sport allows TV viewers to make rulings that can decide outcomes. The marshals on the course have to take responsibility for their rulings. The TV viewer doesn’t and if they had to shed their anonymity they wouldn’t be so quick to call. The point I was serious about was not taking the calls in the first place.
Good story, thanks for the ping.
Taking action based on viewers’ calls is blatantly unfair to those best golfers who are televised more often than others, Tiger chief among them. It is a scandal that it has not been discontinued long ago. Craig Stadler’s towel should have ended it.
By rule, an amateur must declare himself to be professional prior to the beginning of the tournament in order to collect prize money. But I suspect, as another poster suggested, that it was precisely Kim’s amateur status that allowed him into the field in the first place, by way of qualifying through a venue open only to amateurs.
ya, but I am a member of the usga so they hafta take my call ....
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