Charlotte NC, June 8, 2015 – Today the Urban League of Central Carolinas (ULCC) makes history by announcing the renaming of the 23 Annual ULCC annual golf tournament after Dr. Charles L. Sifford. This year’s tournament will be held on September 21, 2015 at the beautiful Piper Glen Country Club, in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a Shotgun Start at 7 a.m.

During a time when Charlotte struggles with economic mobility for impoverished people, the historical significance of the 2015 Dr. Charles L. Sifford Golf Tournament is a huge step for the Urban League and this community,” Said ULCC President and CEO Dr. Patrick Graham. “ Sifford’s legacy for breaking barriers in sports marries well with the League’s legacy of economic and social inclusion for all.”

After a decade of attempting to break through racial barriers, Sifford, a native Charlottean, was the first African American to join the PGA Tour in 1961. During his career he had 22 professional wins. In 2004, Sifford became the first African American inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2014. Tiger Woods referred to Sifford as “the Grandpa I never had,” and without Sifford, “I probably wouldn’t be here. My dad would have never have picked up the game. Who knows if the clause would still exist or not? But he broke it down”.

Proceeds from the tournament go directly to support ULCC Youth and Adult Workforce Programs. Last year, ULCC provided over 600 students (grades 3-12) technology and workforce skills training. Adult workforce and entrepreneurial programs served over 2,600 Charlotte residents by providing free national certification courses in HVAC, Fiber Optics/Broadband, Premise Cabling, Customer Service, Microsoft and Entrepreneurship. ULCC program graduates earned $12.1 million in income.

Features Include Tribute to Pioneers Charlie Sifford, Calvin Peete and Pete Brown;
Record Setting Bethune-Cookman University Coach Loritz ‘Scooter’ Libby, PGA
Among those Showcased

What: 29^th PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship Highlight Show
When: July 1 at 7 p.m. ET       July 7 at 3 p.m. ET       July 21 at 2 p.m. ET
Where: Golf Channel
                          
Golf Channel will air the 29^th PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship Highlight Show beginning tomorrow, Wed., July 1 at 7 p.m. ET. Re-airs will occur on Tues., July 7 at 3 p.m. ET and Tues., July 21 at 2 p.m. The show will feature the champions and compelling stories that arose out of the competition, which was recently conducted at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

The Championship featured 220 players representing 50 colleges and universities, 12 countries and two U.S. territories. The Champions highlighted include:

• NCAA Women’s Division I: Bethune Cookman, which won its fourth consecutive title and 12^th overall under the guidance of Head Coach Loritz “Scooter” Clark, PGA, who is featured prominently.
• NCAA Men’s Division I: Alabama State, which captured its first crown
• NCAA Men’s Division II: University of Texas at Brownsville
• Men’s NAIA: Cal State-Dominguez Hills
• Men’s Individual Champion: Branson Ferrier of Alabama State
• Women’s Individual Division Champion: Tiana Jones, of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore PGA Professional Golf Management Program, won for the second-consecutive year.
• Overall Medalists: As the women’s overall medalist, Heather Shake of the University of Houston-Victoria earned an exemption into the Symetra Tour’s Mission Health Wellness Classic with her win. The Men’s overall medalist was Branson Ferrier of Alabama State.

Other special features shown in the 29^th PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship Highlight Show include:

• A Special Tribute to Golf Pioneers Charlie Sifford, PGA; Calvin Peete, PGA;  and Pete Brown, PGA: A special feature honoring the memories of these three trailblazers in golf, who passed away in 2015 will be shown. Peete coached in the Championship previously for Edwin Waters College. His two daughters, Elaine and Ireanna competed in the 2015 Championship just days after their father’s passing.
• Earl Cooper, PGA, one of the featured speakers in the event got his start at the host PGA Golf Club and has gone on to be a PGA Professional at Detroit Golf Club and now at Wilimington Country Club in Delaware. Cooper has written children’s books about his alma mater, Morehouse College in Atlanta.
• Chua Sisters: Cheri, Cheryl, and Grace Chua competed in the Championship for Texas Southern, Hampton University and the University of Delaware, respectively. Seniors Cheri and Cheryl are identical twins, while Grace is a sophomore.
• William White: The 53-year old military veteran is a sophomore at Elizabeth City State University and competed in the Championship as a Conference Champion.

The 13^th annual pioneer golf tournament was held June 26-28, 2015 at the historic Cleearview Golf Course in East Canton, Ohio, where legendary Renee Powell (PGA/LPGA) is owner and Head Golf Professional.   Due to heavy rain on Saturday the tournament was cancelled, but despite that, guests enjoyed a terrific time socializing and getting to know each other better at the Hampton Inn, the host hotel, where the staff provided us with excellent service and comfort.

 
Above, l-r: Gloria and Ellis Mack enjoy lunch at Clearview with Renee Powell center and Ike Smith

Above, l-r: John Stevens with his sister-n-law Valerie Stephens and his brother Charles Stevens with Tournament Director Jessie Brooks (standing).

I heard a comment from a person that played Clearview for the first time; he thought it would be an easy course.  The yardage is 6140 yds from the white tees with a 66.2/104 slope/rating.  The course plays longer than the scorecard says, especially on the back side, because of the hills.  The best part about Clearview is its greens.  They can be fast and hard to read.  Walking on the greens at Clearview is like walking on carpet.  Larry Powell, course superintendent (and Renee’s brother) does a magnificent job of maintaining the course, especially the greens.  Ohio winters can be harsh but Larry always finds a solution to keep the course in pristine shape.  Kodos to you Larry!

A delicious Pioneer Celebration Cake was made by the Foltz Center

Sunday morning was misty and things outdoors improved as time passed.  We enjoyed the one day of golfing.  Lowest scores went to Dana Shoulders for the men and to Cheryl  James for the ladies.  We had players from CA to NC, FL to NY and states in between.  92 players registered from 13 different states.  NY and MI had the most players; OH was not far behind this year.

Thanks go out to everyone who attended and to those who sent money to support the tournament. thank you again for helping spread the word about the Historic Clearview Golf Course.  There’s still several great golfing weeks left up here in Ohio, so come on out and play and support this great course. www.clearview-gc.com.  –Much Love, Jessie Brooks, Tournament Director.

Left: Gail Brooks and Gloria Reynolds

By Bill Vilona

One important element of local golf history began in such a serendipitous way.

Raymond Griff was in his car one day in 1968, just thinking about golf when an idea entered his mind.

Hey, why not form our own club, he thought? One where black golfers, the guys he played with back then at the old par-3 course at Saufley Field, could get together and bring some unity and fellowship.

“Some of the guys were already playing when I came out of the (U.S. military) service,” said Giff, 70, who founded the club. “So I just decided to send out letters and arrange a meeting.”

And just like that, after a meeting of nine men at a friend’s home, The Par Four Golf Club was formed.

“Everybody just started throwing out names and Par Four stuck,” Griff said.

And also?

“Well, because we couldn’t make many birdies so we couldn’t call in the Under-Par Club,” said Charlton Charles, 70, laughing, who is another one of the original members.

From the first Par Four Club tournament in 1975 at Perdido Bay Golf Club, all these years later, a celebration awaits.

This week, the 40th anniversary Par Four Charities Tournament will be at Osceola Municipal Golf Course with a field that includes Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward. The tournament is now one of the few amateur, open-to-public, two-day stroke play golf tournaments remaining in the entire region.

“It’s special, because I have seen the good things we have done in this community,” said Walter Wallace, 68, president of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of Escambia and Santa Rosa County, located on North Devillers Street, who has been involved in the tournament since its inception.

“I have seen the kids we have affected,” Wallace said. “I have seen the growth in us. And the main thing is being a good example to other folks. To know that you can thrive and you can survive. You can move things forward and be here for 40 years.”

To think how it all began. At a time when black golfers had few options to play tournament golf. Not just in Pensacola, but many places throughout the country.

Now, the Par Four Tournament is one of the few options for weekend, amateur golfers seeking fun competition.

“That is what is so awesome about it,” said Debert Coletta Cook, publisher of the African American Golfer’s Digest, located in New York City. She is also coming to Pensacola to play in next weekend’s Par Four Charities Tournament.

“All these men have been through generations of change and changes in golf throughout the country. They’ve gone through times when there were two (separate) clubhouses and no place to play, and now to see Augusta National (Golf Club) has African American members. It is very special.”

Among those who can relate is Adrian Stills, general manager of Osceola Golf Course and former professional tour player. He won the second Par Four Tournament in 1976 at Perdido. After winning his second one in 1979 he turned pro the next week.

Read more at PNJ.COM

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. (AP) — He won the first one the way players like to take majors, leading from the start at the Masters on a romp to the green jacket.

The second for Jordan Spieth came Sunday night with a bit more difficulty. Had Dustin Johnson been a little more steady with the putter on the final green Sunday, they might still be playing for the U.S. Open trophy.

Johnson wasn’t, much to the astonishment of the 6,000 or so who crowded the grandstands at maligned Chambers Bay for an Open finish like no other. He had to settle for holding his infant son off the 18th green on Father’s Day, instead of the U.S. Open trophy.

That belonged to Spieth, the phenom from Texas who impressed so many by not only winning the Masters but the grace and composure he showed while doing it. He spoke after that win about bringing a present home to his special needs sister, and it was clear that meant almost as much to him as winning his first green jacket.

He’s now halfway to history, yet still barely old enough to drink. The last player who did things like Spieth was named Tiger Woods, which seems so long ago.

Now he’s the youngest since Bobby Jones nearly a century ago to win back-to-back major championships. Spieth has a chance to do what even Woods couldn’t and win all four of golf’s major tournaments in one year.

Watching him Sunday on the crunchy greens at Chambers Bay, it was hard not to get the sense that he’s only just begun.

“He’s gritty, he’s fiery, he doesn’t give up on any shot,” caddie Michael Greller said. “If anything, this week just validated who I know he is, which is just a world-class player with an unbelievable mind.”

The story line at this Open unfolded easily, like it was written by a golf historian of the future. Woods came here to try and salvage his game, while Spieth came to cement his mark as a generational champion in the making.

Woods didn’t even make it to the weekend in yet another display of how humbling golf can be. The greatest player of his time seems forever stuck on 14 majors, and it remains to be seen how long he will keep embarrassing himself like he did here when he couldn’t even come close to beating a 15-year-old amateur before getting out of town on his private jet before the weekend began.

It was Spieth who salvaged this Open, making it one to remember for all the right reasons instead of the wrong. His 3-wood to the 18th green on Sunday was the kind of shot that will live in Open lore, even if Spieth didn’t make the eagle putt and even if he had to rely on Johnson 3-putting from 12 feet to seal the deal.

“This was just an odd deal, very odd,” Spieth said. “I very much feel for Dustin. He deserves to be holding the trophy just as much as I do, I think, this week. It just came down to him being the last one to finish and I was able to have one hole to rebound from my mistakes, and he wasn’t able to get that hole afterward.”

That Spieth did it without his best game should give his fellow competitors pause. His ball striking was just a bit off, he said, his putting not always up to his standards.

It was the kind of thing Woods used to say, then go out and beat everyone anyway. It didn’t seem possible another player of that caliber would come along in his time, but here Spieth is at the age of 21 brimming with confidence as the British Open at St. Andrews approaches and the possibility of a Grand Slam looms.

“I’m just focused on the Claret Jug now,” he said of the British Open trophy. “I think that the Grand Slam is something that I never could really fathom somebody doing, considering I watched Tiger win when he was winning whatever percentage of the majors he played in and he won the Tiger Slam, but he never won the four in one year. I figured if anybody was going to do it, it would be him.”

Read more at AOL NEWS