(BY MICHAEL COOPER)  I’ve enjoyed being a golf fan this year! Part of my fun has been following familiar names. Of course I followed Tiger. Everybody does! I’ve also enjoyed following Harold Varner III, Tony Finau, Cheyenne Woods, and Sadena Parks. Another source of fun and entertainment has come from personally traveling and working at each of the five Advocates Pro Tour golf tournaments in 2015, where the quality of play continues to increase and more names are becoming familiar to the avid golf fan.

I first met Harold Varner III at Rogers Park Golf Course (Tampa, FL) during the March 2013 Advocates Pro Tour event. Nice young man with exceptional talent! I’d heard plenty talk about Harold prior to actually meeting him. My good friend Tom Woodard, a seasoned veteran and former PGA TOUR player, was paired with Varner during the first round at Rogers Park. After the round Tom raved at Harold’s talent and demeanor, and predicted he would make it to the tour. I’ve been following his progress ever since.

HAROLD VARNER

Harold Varner III shot 141 for 36 holes at the 2013 event at Rogers Park GC. He finished fourth and earned $1,750. On August 30, 2015 he finished 25^th on the money list on the WEB.COM TOUR with earnings just over $161,000. The top 25 on the money list earned their PGA TOUR card for next season. Congratulations Harold, what a difference two years can make! I’ll continue to be a fan of yours and wish you the best.

TONY FINAU

My first exposure to Tony Finau was at the August 2013 Advocates Pro Tour event in Los Angeles. Tony scored 137 for the 36-hole event and finished tied for third place. He earned $2,125. Two years later in August 2015 Tony Finau is a rising star on the PGA TOUR. He carries himself well and hits it a mile. He is ranked 80^th in the world…in the WORLD, and 39^th in PGA TOUR earnings, with over $2 million in prize monies this season. He’d be my pick for Rookie of the Year honors. How’s that for making the most of 24 months?

Golf is a $68.8 billion industry with a total impact on the U.S. economy of $167.8 billion. The above-mentioned are positive signs and glimmers of hope that golf is making progress regarding diversity and inclusion. Yet, as a game/industry we still remain woefully behind major industry trends. Overall, participation rates from minority groups continues to hover around 20%, with less than 4% from black Americans. At last count, approximately 20% of minorities made up the workforce in the golf industry, 8% of them black. Less than 2% of blacks play college golf. So it comes as no surprise that even less than 2% make it to the professional ranks.all that, to say, we (blacks) continue to be grossly underrepresented in the sport.

Nevertheless, we continue to root for those who pursue their lifelong dreams. I wonder who will be the next one to break through despite the odds. Maybe it will be Willie Mack, Christian Heavens, or Justin Stills, who finished one, two and three in points accumulated on the 2015 Advocates Pro Tour. Maybe it will be Mariah Stackhouse from Stanford University. Or Ginger Howard, Shasta Averyhardt, or someone else reading this article today.

I congratulate all the grass roots organizations committed to bringing more minorities into the game/industry and ask them to press even harder until we finally achieve appropriate representation and equity. And to the players who are grinding everyday I offer that it is better to be prepared for an opportunity that hasn’t come yet, than to have an opportunity come and you not be prepared. Stay the course and your time might be next. If you don’t believe it, just ask Harold Varner III or Tony Finau!

Send Michael a Comment!

ABOUT MICHAEL COOPER, PH.D. Dr. Michael W. Cooper is the former Director of Diversity for the World Golf Foundation/The First Tee and past Assistant Dean/Campus Director for Springfield College-Tampa Bay campus. Contact him at [email protected].

When destiny intersects with history, the result can be enlightening if not transformational. So it was this past week in North Carolina’s Triad, a three-hour drive from my birthplace in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Coming home again never was more entertaining or nerve wracking. That’s because Tiger Woods was in contention for a much-needed win at the Wyndham Championship. There was also a berth in the FedEx Cup playoffs on the line for the former world No. 1 in the regular-season-ending event.

That he failed to end a two-year victory drought and stymie talk of his demise (for the moment) is only part of the story. Just as important is the historical significance of the site where he sought to capture career-win No. 80—Greensboro’s Sedgefield Country Club.

Fifty-four years ago another man of African American descent entered the PGA Tour event in Greensboro. Like me, Charlie Sifford was a native Tar Heel having cut his golfing teeth as a caddie in Charlotte. He was also the first black man to receive a PGA Tour card, which made him eligible to compete in the Greensboro tournament.

In 1961, black faces were part of the scenery at private clubs in the South and much of the rest of the country for that matter. In starched uniforms, we dominated the service staff. And very few golf bags were carried by anyone else. So news that a black man was going to tee it up with white professionals at Sedgefield shocked and angered golf fans of southern gentility from Maryland to Mississippi.

The backlash was immediate. Sifford received death threats as soon as he pulled into town. Hoteliers shunned him. Most restaurants didn’t allow blacks either. Sifford found refuge among his own people. A local black college provided room and board. Locals not only fed his body but his spirit. And man, did he need the nourishment.

In his autobiography “Just Let Me Play,’’ Sifford details the harassment by fans, who rained down on him insults and racist remarks. Every time his tee shot wandered in the direction of the rough the ball found a nearly unplayable lie. Coincidence? Perhaps. Sifford and his supporters didn’t believe so.

Undaunted by the harsh treatment, Sifford remarkably finished in a tie for fourth place. In so doing, he demonstrated mental toughness, true grit and talent while proving that a black man could compete against the world’s best if given an opportunity. A plaque commemorating his brave accomplishment is displayed on the wall of champions at Sedgefield.

Fast forward 5½ decades and we bear witness to the vagaries of time and circumstance. Greensboro rolled out the red carpet for Sifford’s adopted grandson, Tiger Woods, making his first appearance in the Wyndham an unforgettable experience.

The gushing began the moment Tiger committed to the tournament. Officials had to print an additional 49,000 tickets to accommodate the anticipated crush. The massive galleries followed him from the parking lot to the 18^th green each round, paying scant attention to anyone else including local favorites Webb Simpson, Bill Haas and eventual champion Davis Love III. For the record, Love’s one-stroke victory was his third in the event and, at 51 years old, distinguished him as the third-oldest winner in tour history.

As for Tiger, his season ended on a promising note, despite a crippling triple bogey on the 11^th hole that exposed a persistent weakness in a once-stellar short game. He managed to birdie four of the final six holes as a sign of his enduring will but it was too little too late. Tiger’s early off-season should include some reassessment of where he is and where he’s headed.

As for Greensboro 2015, in the old Woolworth building—the same one made infamous when a group of students held a sit-in at the lunch counter during the civil rights movement–resides a museum that highlights the history of African Americans. From native North Carolina civil rights leaders to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to President Barack Obama, it is a narrative of change hoped and prayed for and, in some ways, realized.

There is no mention of Charlie Sifford’s inhumane treatment by the uncivilized golf patrons back in 1961. Nor is there any mention of the “Greensboro Six,’’ barrier breakers in their own right in the fight to desegregate golf courses in the city. Tiger’s grand reception probably won’t make the cut either. However, when history does embrace positive change instead of rejecting it, the world is a much better place.

ABOUT PETE McDANIEL Pete McDaniel is a veteran golf writer and best-selling author. Contact him via Email. His blogs and books are available at petemcdaniel.com