Reigning U.S. Amateur and NCAA men’s golf champion Bryson DeChambeau is leaving the Southern Methodist University golf team.
“To best prepare myself for the next six months of competition and future events, I felt it was appropriate to make this decision now to be fair to my coaches and team,” he said to Golf Channel.
As a response to the former men’ gold coach Sean Gregory’s behavior, the SMU men’s golf program faced severe NCAA sanctions two weeks ago. A postseason ban was included in the penalties, for the 2016-2016 season. This means that DeChambeau is banned from defending the championship he won on Monday, even as an individual. The school is appealing the sanctions.
Meanwhile, as a U.S. Amateur champion, DeChambeau has a spot in the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open, if he remains an amateur. If he turns pro, he forfeits these exemptions.
As Golf Channel reports, the expectation is for DeChambeau to turn pro after the Masters, after which he will have enough time to attempt to qualify for the U.S. Open, the British Open, or both of them.
In November, DeChambeau plans to play in the Argentina Open, played Nov. 5-8, and the Australian Open from Nov. 26-29.
(via Yahoo! Sports)
