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.
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.
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!
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.