Boston College Golfer Can’t Accept Prize Money For Hole-In-One Because NCAA Hates Nice Things

SteveHolt10 years ago

Brian Butler’s amazing hole-in-one on the 158-yard, par-3 18th hole at the Benrus Open qualifier left him with a tough decision.

Final year of college golf or $10,000?

Unfortunately for Butler, there was no way around it. If he were to accept the prize money for his ace, the NCAA would revoke his amateur status and kick him to the streets. Had he hit the same shot during the actual tournament, he would have pocketed $1,000,000.

From Golfweek:

Butler, who recently completed his junior year at Boston College, where he’s a member of the golf team, turned down a $10,000 prize May 18 after making a hole-in-one in a qualifier for a unique tournament called The Benrus Open at the Preserve.

…

After talking briefly with his father, Butler, who lives in West Hartford, Conn., had no problem turning down the prize. He’s got one more year of college, and this finance major was able to calculate swiftly that one more year of college golf was worth a lot more than $10,000.

We’ve actually seen stories exactly like this in years past. In 2006, Iowa quarterback Drew Tate nailed a hole-in-one at a charity golf tournament to win $25,000. His athletic director told him he couldn’t accept that money. Luckily, Tate made that money back as a Pro-Bowl NFL quarterba– what’s that? He never made an NFL team’s 53 man-roster? He’s currently the backup quarterback for the Calgary Stampeders? Bet he wishes he had that $25k right about now.

Yeah, $10,000 isn’t a lot of money in the long run. It’s probably just a portion of his future annual income as a finance major (maybe the decision would be different if his diploma read, say, political science), but can we all agree rules that prohibit college athletes from collecting prize money for sinking amazing golf shots is stupid as fuck?

At least let him come back and collect the money in May of next year..

[via Golfweek]

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