This one doesn’t involve any cheating or any famous golfer, but it is one of the more interesting rulings we’ve ever heard of. And Michael gave us an additional gift by drawing what happened. Have a look:

One of the crazier moments I’ve ever been a part of at a tournament. A true @KylePorterCBS normal sport moment:
Playing the 2010 western junior tournament, 2nd round, I was 20 ft away on the fringe, short and in line with the pin. One of my playing partners (3some) was 25 ft away… pic.twitter.com/5LpIHdx5Qo

— Michael S. Kim (@Mike_kim714) September 12, 2023

OK, so we’re guessing he wasn’t an art major at Cal. Love the “bang!” though. But seriously, what a wild story from his amateur days.

Two golfers stroking a putt at the exact same time? And having their golf balls collide? What are the odds?

As Kim tells it, his putt from the fringe was going in before banging off his opponent’s golf ball. But it got even worse with the ensuing ruling from an official. Because Kim’s attempt was from closer to the hole (even though he was off the green), it had been his playing partner’s turn to putt. So therefore, Kim was assessed a two-stroke penalty for a hitting another golf ball being played on the green.

Had the balls not collided, there would have been no penalty for playing out of turn. And Kim says he went on to lose the tournament by three shots, which can be traced back to that two-stroke penalty plus his original putt being kept out of the hole. Ouch.

On the bright side, other golfers can use Kim’s account of what happened that day as a learning opportunity. It’s good to know the rules. Of course, this also could have all been avoided if he and his playing partner had just communicated better. Or, at all.

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When Florida senior Fred Biondi rolled in his final putt to secure the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship on Monday, Georgia Tech’s Ross Steelman stood in the shade of a video board and sportingly clapped for the winner. Inside, Steelman must have been feeling a heavy churn of emotions. Yes, he’d lost the individual title to a golfer who trailed him by five shots at the beginning of the round at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. But in many ways, Steelman had truly climbed to a higher peak.

With his tie for second, the Missouri native jumped from No. 6 to No. 4 in the PGA Tour University rankings, and that could have an enormous impact in the early stages of his professional career.

Texas Tech’s Ludvig Aberg already had the PGA Tour U title wrapped up before the NCAAs began, and he officially finished atop the final rankings on Monday night. With the accomplishment, the Swede becomes the first PGA Tour U No. 1 to earn fully exempt status on the PGA Tour, beginning this year and extending through the 2024 season. The Nos. 2 through 5 finishers get some very nice perks themselves. They earned fully exempt Korn Ferry Tour membership for 2023, as well as an exemption to Final Stage of 2023 PGA Tour Q School. They also can accept unlimited PGA Tour sponsor exemptions for the remainder of 2023 and all of 2024.

Steelman is a member of that group, along with Biondi at No. 2, Adrien Dumont De Chassart, of Illinois, at No. 3, and Texas A&M’s Sam Bennett, who tied for 16th at this year’s Masters, at No. 5. The toughest setback was suffered by Pepperdine’s William Mouw, who began the NCAA Tournament in the No. 5 spot and fell to No. 6 when he tied for 40th on Monday.

Ludvig Aberg becomes the first PGA Tour University rankings winner to earn full status on the PGA Tour for the rest of 2023 and 2024. David Cannon

Aberg had what would be considered a poor week in the NCAAs. Not only did the two-time Ben Hogan Award winner and World Amateur No. 1 manage only a T-29 finish during the individual competition, his Red Raiders weren’t one of the eight teams that reached match play. But Aberg, an eight-time winner in college, had already secured the top spot with his strong play throughout the season.

The PGA Tour U Second Team, for those at Nos. 6-10 in the standings, is composed of Mouw, Ryan Burnett (North Carolina), Patrick Welch (Oklahoma), Ricky Castillo (Florida) and Yuxin Lin (Florida). Those players earned conditional Korn Ferry Tour membership for 2023, fully exempt membership on PGA Tour Canada for 2023, an exemption to Second Stage of 2023 PGA Tour Q School, and exempt status through the Latin America Swing of the 2024 PGA Tour Americas season.

The Third Team is made up of those who finished Nos. 11-20. They are Sam Choi (Pepperdine), Travis Vick (Texas), Reid Davenport (Vanderbilt), Derek Hitchner (Pepperdine), Tommy Kuhl (Illinois), Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira (Arkansas), Ben Carr (Georgia Southern), Connor Howe (Georgia Tech), Chase Sienkiewicz (Arizona), and Maximilian Steinlechner (North Carolina State). They earned fully exempt membership on PGA Tour Canada for 2023, an exemption to Second Stage of 2023 PGA Tour Q School, and conditional status through the Latin America Swing of the 2024 PGA Tour Americas season.

The road to the PGA Tour got more inviting for college seniors earlier this year when the tour’s policy board approved the current PGA Tour U process that gives the top players an 18-month runway to begin their pro careers. The changes came about after the tour also instituted significant change to its qualifying process while also creating $20 million designated events with limited fields.

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Still, as the golf world gets used to the changes, there was still something unusual to the announcement that the 22-year-old Tar Heel senior made on Tuesday, revealing that he had signed an agreement to work with Excel Sports Management to represent him moving forward — despite still having one semester to go as a college and amateur golfer career.

Greaser, a two-time All-American who played in the Masters (MC) and the US Open (T-61) this year after finishing runner-up at the 2021 US Amateur, said he’s not looking so much for Excel to help line up more NIL deals between now and the NCAA Championship in May (he currently has one arrangement with TaylorMade). Rather, he is looking for the company, overseen by Mark Steinberg with Lance Young working as his principle manager, to help him work out off-the-course details to prepare for the next step: professional golf.

“I wanted to put myself around a group of guys that is out there doing what I want to do and being very successful at it,” says Greaser. Excel’s golf roster including Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, Matt Fitzpatrick and Collin Morikawa among others. “I think in that way I can really further my game and get better and better and hopefully learn a lot from those guys and get to be around them maybe a little bit more. I think that’s kind of one of the reasons I chose to go with Excel. Just the experience and the talent within this group is a lot. There is a lot here, and it’s pretty special.”

By taking this step in November, Greaser hopes to be able to focus more on the short-term task at hand: finishing his college career by bringing a national title to Chapel Hill and improving his prospects in the PGA Tour University ranking in order to earn a place to play come next summer.

The Tar Heels proved one of the top teams during the autumn semester, winning four out of five events to rise to No. 5 in the most recent Bushnell Golf Golfweek Coaches’ poll. Greaser missed the first tournament of the autumn while playing for the US at the World Amateur Team Championship, but returned to post two top-fives and finish no worse than T-20 while carding a 70.75 stroke average.

“I mean we have a really, really baller team this year,” Greaser says, with teammates David Ford, Ryan Burnett, Dylan Menante and Peter Fountain all also sporting sub-72 stroke averages in the autumn. “Everybody works really hard and everybody is really, really good.”

Meanwhile, the Vandalia, Ohio, native is No. 2 on the PGA Tour University rankings as the winter break approaches. PGA Tour U is another development that’s taken place since Greaser entered college. In its third year, the programme rewards college seniors who have stayed in school by giving them a path to PGA Tour affiliated tours.

Currently the top five on the PGA Tour U ranking earn membership on the Korn Ferry Tour immediately after the NCAA Championship. Those ranked Nos. 6-10 earn conditional status and those ranked Nos. 11-20 earn eligibility on PGA Tour Canada or PGA Tour Latinoamerica. However, the PGA Tour Policy Board is set to discuss next week a change to the programme that would give the top ranked players membership on to the PGA Tour come June. Those familiar with the discussions believe the change will be approved and in place for the 2023 season.

“The fact we have a path now from college to Korn Ferry or PGA Tour, or both, is unbelievable,” Greaser says. “Before you could win every college event and you still have to climb the ranks like everybody else. So in that manner I’m extremely grateful for it and it’s obviously given myself and others playing for it an opportunity that wasn’t here just a few years ago, and have got to take an advantage of it.”

Another option available to Greaser that wasn’t around when he started school: LIV Golf. James Piot, who defeated Greaser in the US Amateur final at Oakmont in 2021 signed with the circuit for its inaugural season last summer, as did a pair of college All-Americans in Eugenio Chacarra and David Puig. In just his fifth LIV start, Lopez-Chacarra pulled out a victory in Bangkok and earned $4 million.

Greaser sees the money that’s available on the LIV circuit, but says that he has not been approached by LIV officials and doesn’t have interest. “I think I have mixed feelings about it but at the end of the day my focus is on the PGA Tour. I feel like it’s always been there,” Greaser says. “I’m in a good spot in this PGA Tour U system. I think if I can play how I want to play in the spring that will get me where my focus is, which is the PGA Tour.”

In turn, Greaser’s attention now turns to working on his game — he’s among the longest hitters in college golf and compliments it with an impressive short game — and finishing up his class work to graduate with a degree in sports administration in the spring. Along, of course, with enjoying his last semester of college golf.

“I going to do my best to enjoy my time here at UNC,” Greaser says. “I can’t believe it’s already over. I just want to enjoy the team, the special bond I have here with the guys and the time I’m getting to spend with them that I realistically probably will never get to spend with them again.”

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By Joel Beall
JR Smith will get a chance to shoot his shot.

Smith, who played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association before joining North Carolina A&T’s golf team this summer as a walk-on, will play in his first collegiate match next week the school announced. The tournament is Elon’s Phoenix Invitational, being played at Alamance C.C. in Burlington, N.C.

Smith earned his tee time by advancing in the team’s qualifying tournament by a stroke.

Smith, who bypassed college in his basketball career when drafted straight from high school to the NBA, enrolled in school following his NBA retirement and was given a waiver by the NCAA to play on the golf team in late August. He was drawn to North Carolina A&T due to his interest in HBCUs.

As for his game, Smith has been playing for the better part of a decade and said earlier this summer his handicap hovered around 5.

“Golf is one of those games that has you feeling really high and or can bring you down to your knees and humble you,” Smith told reporters earlier this year at the Wyndham Championship. “And to have that feeling and knowing that all of the game’s pretty much on my own hands, and I don’t have to worry about teammates to pass the ball and receiving passes and playing defence… I can play my game and just have fun.”

The post J.R. Smith to make college golf debut appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

As part of the decision, schools will be responsible for the financial costs associated with keeping on the student-athletes. Schools will have the option to provide equal or less aid to seniors who decide to return for the 2020-’21 season and had otherwise exhausted their eligibility, with the NCAA’s Student Assistance Fund available for schools to help finance the scholarships.

“The Council’s decision gives individual schools the flexibility to make decisions at a campus level,” said University of Pennsylvania athletic director M. Grace Calhoun, who chairs D-I council. “The Board of Governors encouraged conferences and schools to take action in the best interest of student-athletes and their communities, and now schools have the opportunity to do that.”

How the vote might impact the decision of some of college golf’s top-ranked seniors is unclear. U.S. Amateur champion Andy Ogletree and runner-up John Augenstein, seniors at Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt, respectively, have both indicated it is unlikely they would return to their schools. Each had expected to play as amateurs at the Masters and turn professional after the NCAA Championship in May. However, with pro tours on hold due to the coronavirus (and uncertainty over what happens when play resumes), turning pro in the summer and hoping to play on sponsor’s exemptions might be a more challenging prospect than previously expected for college golfers.

“It’s come up in conversations about going back, but that would probably be the last option,” Augenstein recently told Global Golf Post. “That may happen only if it’s the worst-case scenario. Just like when you get done with high school, you want to move on. That’s kind of how I feel.”

Andy Ogletree, John Augenstein
USGA (2)

However, making a return to school more attractive for some top players is an unusual carrot. The 2021 Walker Cup is set for next May at Seminole Golf Club in Florida. Given the unusually early date, and the potential difficultly of getting starts on the PGA Tour or Korn Ferry Tour, some players might go back to school to play for their schools another year and perhaps earn a spot on the U.S. team before then turning pro after the 2021 NCAA Championship.

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When Matthew Wolff made a birdie on the par-3 15th to close out Davis Riley, 4 and 3, and clinch OSU’s third point, the sound—and the result—was unmistakable. The Cowboys had claimed their 11th national title, ending the second-longest title drought for the vaunted program since it won its first back in 1963 and vanquishing its loss to Alabama in the 2014 NCAA final.

The cheers from the nearly 5,000 spectators in attendance were drenched with joy, but contained drops of relief, too. The fans didn’t mind that the climax to a historic season in which the 2017-’18 Cowboys matched the school record with 10 team titles (in 13 starts) was missing the usual drama associated with a match-play final. They just wanted the W.

The same went for the players.

“It’s a dream really,” said Wolff, the national freshman of the year, who’s unusual swing has turned him into a celebrity of sorts this week. “And to do it in front of all these people, it’s special.”

Domination.@OSUCowboyGolf sweeps Alabama to capture their 11th #NCAAGolf national title on home turf ? pic.twitter.com/wpDpdU0spg

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) May 30, 2018

How dominant a victory was it for Oklahoma State? Consider that the five-man lineup played the jaw-dropping equivalent of 21 under par on the day en route to a 5-0 victory, just the third match-play sweep in any round since 2012 and the first ever in the finals.

Arguably the most impressive part of Oklahoma State’s performance was the way the champions stared down the pressure of the moment and never flinched. The Cowboys were ranked No. 1 entering the championship and earned the No. 1 seed after they posted the low 72-hole score in stroke play. It was an open secret (some even calling it a curse) that no No. 1 seed had gone on to win the title since the NCAA added match play into the championship in 2009. Yet, anything less than a victory would have been considered a failure.

Shane Bevel
Hovland went 3-0 in match play during the 2018 NCAA Championship, including a convincing win in the finals against Alabama.

Adding to the pressure was the fact that other recent Cowboy squads facing similar circumstances had been unable to come through. OSU’s 2009 team was ranked No. 1, but lost in the quarterfinals. OSU’s 2010 team was ranked No. 1, but lost in the finals. OSU’s 2011 squad had future PGA Tour pros Peter Uihlein, Morgan Hoffmann and Kevin Tway, and was hosting the national championship at Karsten Creek, but they too stumbled, losing in the semifinals to eventual winner Augusta State.

But this was no repeat of the 2011. To the delight of the locals, every putt the Cowboys lined up on Wednesday seemed to drop. And it wasn’t just OSU coach Alan Bratton’s All-Americans, sophomore Viktor Hovland (a 4-and-3 winner over Lee Hodges to up his match-play record this week to 3-0) and Wolff carrying the load. But it was the entire lineup, freshman Austin Eckroat (1-up winner over Davis Shore) and senior Kristoffer Ventura (3 and 2 over Wilson Furr) each earning a point, Eckroat going 3-0 in match play for the week.

Nobody, though, was more dominant than Zach Bauchou. The junior from Forest, Va., teeing it up in the anchor fifth match against Jonathan Hardee, played the front nine in the equivalent of seven-under 29, including a hole-out for eagle from a greenside bunker on the par-5 ninth, to take a 7-up lead at the turn. Amazingly, his would the first point on the board for the Cowboys when he closed out the match, 8 and 7.

“The strength of my game was putting, and I kind of got it going,” Bauchou said.

And LeBron James kind of knows what it’s like to play in the NBA finals.

Shane Bevel
Oklahoma State had plenty of fan support at Karsten Creek to help the team rally to win the NCAA title.

Even without hindsight, it was clear Alabama needed to get off to a hot start early to try to silence the spectators and keep OSU’s golfers from feeding off the cheers. But it just didn’t happen. Oklahoma State players won the first hole in three of the first four matches and took 22 of the first 45 holes overall. Furr was the only Alabama player able to get in front in his match as the team could only win eight holes on the front nine. Yet they shot the equivalent of four over par, hardly a horrendous number.

“We didn’t play that bad today. I know the score looks awful. They had like three guys seven and eight under,” said Alabama men’s coach Jay Seawell, who is now 2-2 in NCAA Championship matches, having lost in 2012, but won in 2013 and 2014. “You tip your cap. Our guys fought their tails off. They did it with class. I’ll never forget them.

“We wish it was the other way. It hurts a little bit, but they did everything we could ask from them as a coach.”

Related: Augusta’s Broc Everett saves best for last in winning NCAA individual title

Since the start of the match-play era in 2009, Oklahoma State’s record in the championship has been as frustrating as it was disappointing. Five previous times, the Cowboys have advanced out of stroke play to get into the knock-out stage of the championship, but they never could be the last team standing.

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics
Bratton (right) now has a NCAA title as both a player and a coach at OSU.

In this midst of this, OSU did the unthinkable, failing to actually qualify for the NCAA Championship in 2012 and ending a string of 64 appearances at the national championship. A year later, OSU athletic director Mike Holder, formerly the school’s most celebrated golf coach, having won eight NCAA titles from 1973 to 2003, decided to change coaches. He replaced his successor, Mike McGraw, who coached the last OSU team to win NCAAs in 2006, and brought on one of his former players, Alan Bratton, in the summer of 2013.

Bratton is all Cowboy, a two-time first-team All-American who helped lead the program to the team title in 1995. No one is more aware of the school’s celebrated history, and its unwavering expectation for excellence. To Bratton’s credit, he’s been able to pass down the lore—OSU had finished in the top four at NCAAs 18 straight years from 1975 to 1992—to his players in a way that is meaningful but not overwhelming. The most recent example? He had their golf bags embossed with the years of the school’s NCAA titles.

“We’ve owed those guys a championship for a long time,” said Bratton, acknowledging OSU golfers from past title teams, several of whom were in attendance on Wednesday. “This is a special, special place, and today was about all those guys and this team. I’m just really proud of the performance. They took everything that people threw at them all year, and they got to live their dream right here.”

Shane Bevel

And as for the rest of the college golf world? Well, it might have been their nightmare. The squad loses only Ventura from this year’s championship lineup, leaving loaded for bear come the 2018-’19 season.

“We’ve got four of them back,” Bratton said, “so they have more legacy to write.”

The saving grace? Next year’s NCAA Championship will be played at The Blessings Golf Club in Arkansas. It’s going to be a lot harder for another 5,000 rabid Oklahoma State fans to get there than it was to Karsten Creek.

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