November 29, 2021 | BY AAGD STAFF
Editor’s Note (source: PGATour.com):
Condolences may be sent to: Lee and Sharon Elder, c/o Dori O’Rourke, PO Box 461899, Escondido, CA 92046
Former professional golfer Robert Lee Elder died on November 28, 2021. He was 87.
Born on July 14, 1934, in Dallas, Texas, Elder was one of 10 children and took up golf to help his parents financially. He caddied at the all-white Tennison Park Golf Club in Dallas, but soon the golf pro began allowing Elder to play the course in the years when a Caucasian-only clause barred Black players from competing on the pro tour.
In 1959, Elder turned professional and joined the United Golfers Association (UGA) where he dominated the all-Black group. In 1966, he won 18 of 22 UGA tournaments that he participated in. The next year, he won a fourth UGA National Negro Open Championship.
In November 1967 Elder qualified for the PGA Tour and won the 1974 Monsanto Open in Pensacola, Fl. to earn the Masters invitation, the most prestigious tournament in golf. He also became the first Black player invited. Elder broke the color barrier in professional golf when he played at the Masters. Constantly receiving death threats, he had to rent two homes to be safe. This was among the many other challenges he faced outside of the golf course. Unfortunately, Elder missed the cut for the Masters tournament by four strokes but went on to play in five more Masters. He won three PGA tournaments and was named to the 1979 Ryder Cup Team. He had a combined 12 tournament victories on the PGA and Senior Tours, earning more than $1 million on each tour. Tiger Woods was the first African American to win the Masters, and Elder was one of the people he credited.
In 1971, Elder made history as the first Black player invited to participate in the South African PGA Tournament. His entry into that event made this the first integrated sports event in South Africa since the establishment of the official Apartheid policy in 1948.
In the ’70s and early ’80s, he managed Langston Golf Course in Northeast Washington, D.C., where Black golfers could play and build their skills. He worked to incentivize and grow golf participation for Blacks by bringing in sports celebrities from basketball star Bill Russell to boxing’s Joe Louis. He hosted Bob Hope at Langston golf course and lent his name and his work to public golf in a historically Black community.
Among his many awards and honors, Elder was named an honorary starter for the 2021 Masters. This past April he joined fellow legends Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player at Augusta National as they opened play on the first tee in the first major championship of the year. Elder is a member of the National Black Golf Hall of Fame and the African American Golfers Hall of Fame. His most recent honors include two college scholarships in his name at Paine College in Augusta, Ga. that endow one man and one woman on the golf team.
Elder is survived by his wife Sharon.
