That could be a windfall -- except for two little words the NCAA embraced in the past year: amateur certification. It already requires high school students to apply for academic certification through the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse (ncaaclearinghouse.net) to determine whether they have met its benchmark on core courses.
Members of the class of 2011 enrolling in Divisions I and II, however, were the first to complete a separate amateurism section. Among the information the NCAA seeks is whether a prospect received equipment or expenses from outside their family, teams on which they play or athletic contest organizers.
According to Bill Saum, the NCAA's director of amateurism certification, more than 167,000 youngsters had submitted applications by early July. The NCAA spent the past year wading through those to identify players who strayed beyond its strict rules against booster support -- donations that, in the USGA's eyes, help young golfers.
"When you let a country club, or an individual at a country club, provide financial backing to a young person, our membership immediately starts thinking about booster involvement," Saum says. "If you don't have to think about booster involvement, you start thinking, 'Oh, this is wonderful, we're helping a young person.' We have an extra conflict we have to regulate."
Saum had no numbers on golfers who applied for certification, or who might face penalties like sitting out part or all of a season and repaying amounts received.
What does that mean for the student in the class of 2012 and beyond who has accepted financial support, or is thinking about soliciting donations? One key question in any review, Saum says, concerns what a family knew about NCAA rules when it accepted compensation. "It's important that the young person is honest," he said.
It might take well into their freshman year for class of 2011 golfers to sort through any penalties and appeals. In the meantime, stories of amateurism certification will join the other tales passed from one recruiting class to the next. One thing is certain about recruiting's newest wrinkle: There's no exception to the rule.
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