For the a long time that Sifford and different Black golfers fought to grow to be P.G.A. members, they handled bigotry, dying threats and numerous humiliations whereas merely attempting to play golf with and towards the most effective gamers of the period. As a result of the P.G.A. had explicitly codified racial discrimination in its bylaws, Black golfers not solely couldn’t compete as PGA Tour members, additionally they couldn’t discover jobs in P.G.A.-affiliated professional outlets — which, till the Fifties, had been the normal route golfers took to affix the P.G.A. The P.G.A. frequently thwarted the efforts of Black golfers, abetted by star gamers who failed to talk up for inclusion.
The battle to combine skilled golf stalled till Legal professional Normal Mosk, enraged by Sifford’s exclusion from the P.G.A., threatened to sue the affiliation to stop it from holding its segregated tournaments in California. A number of different state attorneys joined Mosk within the struggle, and their resolve compelled the P.G.A. to eradicate the Caucasians-only clause. The elimination of what Mosk known as “this obnoxious restriction” paved the best way for Sifford to grow to be a full-time member.
However Sifford’s breakthrough didn’t open the gates to Black gamers. Fifteen years after Robinson broke baseball’s colour line, Black gamers represented over 10 p.c of Main League Baseball rosters. But a long time after Sifford’s breakthrough there was nonetheless solely a handful of Black golfers on the professional tour. The Masters waited an unforgivable 41 years from its inception earlier than inviting a Black participant to take part, when Elder broke the colour barrier in 1975. Even after Sifford gained two PGA Tour occasions, the Masters refused to ask him to its event. Sifford by no means set foot on the grounds of Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership.
Little has modified. The 2022 Masters featured simply three Black gamers, which was a file excessive for the event. There have been no Black golfers final 12 months in america Open, and this 12 months’s Masters options solely Woods — who has publicly credited Sifford with making his profession doable, calling him “the grandpa I by no means had,” and named his son Charlie in Sifford’s honor. However Woods, who’s 48 and oft-injured, can now not play a full schedule, which suggests there are solely two Black golfers right this moment who play professionally with any regularity. One is Cameron Champ, a three-time PGA Tour winner. The opposite, Harold Varner III, is now not a member of the P.G.A., having joined the Saudi-backed LIV tour.
There are at present efforts to advertise variety in golf, such because the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption on the Genesis Invitational, which units apart a spot within the event for a golfer of colour yearly. Why not introduce such an exemption at each P.G.A. event? The P.G.A. also needs to be funding extra packages to develop younger Black golfers, in addition to curiosity in golf amongst Black athletes. This 12 months, the basketball star Stephen Curry — who funded the revival of the golf program on the traditionally Black Howard College — might be honored on the World Golf Corridor of Fame induction ceremony with the Charlie Sifford Award for advancing variety in golf. The P.G.A. ought to comply with Curry’s lead.
