JogginFrog
Active Member
Was DeChambeau the reason the SMU golf team got probation?
Not really. Most of the NCAA-cited illegal contact with recruits came the summer after DeChambeau graduated from high school and related to the rising senior high-school class. It also involved a few hundred dollars in free/discounted merchandise and apparel to current players, which might have included DeChambeau.
The SMU golf coach, Josh Gregory, who had previously recruited Patrick Reed to Augusta State and won two national championships there, admitted to knowing and breaking the rules intentionally. Guy played fast and loose to go after top recruits but there was little financial value to players in what the NCAA turned up.
The probation hurt DeChambeau's amateur career, as he was prevented from defending his individual NCAA title and, deciding to turn pro early, forfeited his exemptions (as U.S. Amateur champion) into the next summer's U.S. and British opens. He then failed to gain full-time tour status through exemptions and had to go through the Web.com tour.
DeChambeau's mistake was trusting in a successful coach willing to chase every advantage, within and beyond the rules.
Gregory now is a golf teacher to pros, including Reed, but DeChambeau is, understandably, not a client.
SMU web site indicates that DeChambeau earned his physics degree but I couldn't turn up a specific story about his finishing after leaving school early.