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NCAA votes against allowing substitutes in Men's golf and .500 rule in Women's golf
19 Oct 2016
by Sam Dostaler of AmateurGolf.com

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Oregon following National Championship victory <br>(NCAA.com Photo)
Oregon following National Championship victory
(NCAA.com Photo)

(October 19, 2016) -- The no substitution rule took centerstage last year at the Division I NCAA Championships when Texas' Beau Hossler tore his labrum in the semifinals and couldn't play in the championship match. Under the current rule, Texas was forced to play shorthanded and forfeit one of the the five championship matches. Pegged to a 1-0 head start Oregon was then able claim the title by way of a 3-2 final tally.

Earlier this month the NCAA Oversight Committee met to talk about changes in a number of different sports, one of the topics discussed was a rule change to allow substitutions in NCAA match play. The rule change had some momentum heading into the meetings based on what happened a season ago but the change was ultimately voted down.

Part of the NCAA's explantation for not initiating a change read, "While the oversight committee received some support for the substitution concept in match-play competitions, it didn’t support substitutions in the stroke-play portion of the championships.”

With that said there still is time for the rule to be altered prior to the 2017 championships if the Division I Men’s Golf Committee decides to submit a recommendation. For the rule to go into effect this year the recommendation would likely have to submitted by January.

Among other topics decided upon was the committees decision to continue allowing teams with less than a .500 record to receive NCAA regional at-large bids in women's golf.

“Oversight committee members were concerned the change could negatively impact scheduling by potentially weakening, rather than strengthening, tournament fields and in turn hinder the sport rather than promote its growth,” the NCAA report read.

-Golfweek contributed to this story

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