AFRICAN AMERICANS and the PGA TOUR… Where’s the love!

The PGA Tour is one of the most prestigious professional golf tours in the world and has been a mainstay of the sport since its inception in 1929. Over the years, the tour has featured some of the greatest golfers of all time, including Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, and Arnold Palmer. However, despite the talent and success of these and other great players, the PGA Tour has historically been dominated by white players.

In recent years, however, there has been a significant increase in the number of African-American golfers competing on the PGA Tour. Today, there are several talented African-American golfers who have made a name for themselves on the tour, including Tiger Woods, who is widely considered one of the greatest golfers of all time.

Despite this progress, however, the number of African-American golfers on the PGA Tour remains relatively small compared to the overall population of the tour. According to a report by the National Golf Foundation, African-Americans make up just 2% of the total number of golfers in the United States, and this is reflected in the demographics of the PGA Tour.

Despite the challenges faced by African-American golfers in breaking into the mainstream of the sport, there have been some notable successes over the years. For example, in 1975, Lee Elder became the first African-American golfer to compete in the Masters Tournament, one of the four major championships in professional golf. In 1991, Calvin Peete became the first African-American golfer to win a PGA Tour event in over 20 years, and in 2019, Cameron Champ became the first African-American golfer to win a PGA Tour event in over 10 years.

Overall, while the number of African-American golfers on the PGA Tour remains small, the progress that has been made over the years is encouraging and demonstrates the increasing diversity of the sport. As more young golfers of color are given the opportunity to compete at the highest levels of the game, it is likely that we will see even more African-American golfers making their mark on the PGA Tour in the years to come.