Golf’s governing bodies waiving most NIL-related rules for college golfers
College golfers can start grabbing their pens.
The USGA announced Tuesday afternoon that it will begin waiving most name, image and likeness breaches of its Rules of Amateur Status for NCAA-eligible golfers. This decision will bridge the gap between last week’s NCAA announcement and Jan. 1, 2022, when the USGA and R&A are scheduled to put into effect their modernized amateur rules.
“We have kept this pretty focused, looking at roughly 20,000 college golfers,” Craig Winter, the USGA’s senior director of Rules of Golf and Amateur Status, told GolfChannel.com shortly before the announcement. “…The basic tenant of what we’re doing is if you’re still eligible to play college golf and still on a college golf team, then your activities provided they are OK with the NCAA are going to be OK with the rules of amateur status.”
However, Winter added: “It’s not saying you can do anything you want.”
The USGA’s interim policy does not cover non-college amateurs, nor does it cover every aspect of Rule 6 (Use of Golf Skill or Reputation), which generally states that “an amateur golfer of golf skill or reputation must not use that skill or reputation for any financial gain.” The important distinction for college golfers compared to their student-athlete peers in other sports is instruction. College golfers will still be prohibited from earning money through providing golf instruction and giving lessons.
The USGA still “strongly encourages” college golfers to clear any NIL-related deals with their respective school compliance departments.
“You look at what we’re doing in ’22, what we proposed, and we still feel like that’s the right direction for this; we’re looking at a full lift of name, image and likeness,” Winter said. “We’ve been comfortable with this for the better part of four years, this is just a little hiccup along the way because the NCAA and our rules, the timing didn’t really work out with the way a lot of state legislatures picked July 1 of 2021.”