August 20, 2020 | BY AAGD STAFF
In case you missed it, former world No. 1 golfer Lee Westwood told CNN that golf has a lot of work to do in bringing racial diversity to the sport. Westwood, an English professional golfer most know for his playing consistency is one of the few golfers who has won tournaments on five continents – Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Oceania. Westwood’s victories also include the European Tour and the PGA Tour.
In looking at the golf industry from the front nine, executive leaders who control the massive funding golf receives from ticket sales, sponsorships, vending and other revenues, are not easily swayed into parlaying those dollars towards grass-roots organizations in uban neighborhoods across America.
There is also a lot of shaking of heads going on when one notices, according to Westwood who said: “You know, arguably, the best player in our sport is Black [Tiger Woods] and he’s done a lot to promote golf in different ethnic quarters. But I think we can always do more for sure,” he said in July in an Instagram Live interview with Amanda Davies on CNN.
For the c-suite golf industry executives who are at the helm of an $84 billion industry and trying to shun public criticism, it is becoming nearly impossible for their lacking and slacking to go unnoticed, especially in this day of the Black Lives Matter movement. There is plenty of pressure on to diversity their board rooms and their locker rooms in a sport that is “dominated by White people.
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“While many other sportspeople and sports organizations like Formula 1, the NFL and Premier League soccer have been vocal in support of the Black Lives Matter movement since the killing of George Floyd, Westwood agrees that golf has been far quieter.
Read more at CNN.com
