When Tiger Woods became the first golfer of color to win the Masters at Augusta in 1997, he dedicated his first emotional words to Lee Elder: “I’m the first member of a minority to win here, but I’m not the first to play it. Before me was Lee Elder, and hats off to him and to Charlie Sifford and Ted Rhodes, who made this possible for me.”
Who was this Elder referred to by the fantastic Tiger? Well, none other than the first African-American to play in the Augusta Masters, back in 1975, precisely the year Tiger Woods came into the world. Robert Lee Elder was one of the protagonists in the history of overcoming racial discrimination in the United States.
One of ten siblings, Elder was born in Dallas, Texas, on July 14, 1934. His childhood was shattered prematurely. He was only nine years old when his father died in Germany during World War II, and his mother, depressed by that event, died three months later. At the age of 12 he moved to Los Angeles, California, to live with his aunt. Elder often missed school to work as a caddy, and after two years at Manual Arts High School he dropped out for good.
Elder met his future wife, Rose Harper, at a golf tournament in Washington. They married in 1966 and after a while Rose gave up her golf career to become her husband’s manager.
Lee did not play a full 18-hole round until he was 16 years old. He worked in pro shops and golf club locker rooms, as well as caddying, so he improved his game by watching his clients, and playing when he had the opportunity to do so. Elder’s game developed enough to start playing professionally. His career took a big step forward after he played a match with boxer Joe Louis, who commissioned his golf teacher, Ted Rhodes, to take Elder under his tutelage for three years. That’s how Elder honed his game and began playing tournaments.
In 1959, Elder was drafted into the Army and sent to Fort Lewis, Washington. While there, he had the good fortune to be under the command of Colonel John Gleaster, who was an avid golfer. Gleaster assigned Elder to a special services unit, which gave him the opportunity to play golf on a steady basis.
Elder was discharged from the Army in 1961, and joined the United Golf Association Tour, which accommodated players of color. He dominated the field at the time and won 18 of 22 consecutive tournaments, but that tour did not have large prize money, around $500.
MEMORABLE PLAY-OFF WITH NICKLAUS
In 1967 Elder earned enough to attend the PGA Tour Qualifying School. He finished ninth among a field of 122 contenders and earned his card to play the 1968 North American Tour. That year he finished 40th on the money list with a total of $38,000. The highlight of Elder’s inaugural season on the grand tour was his memorable play-off against Jack Nicklaus at the American Golf Classic, as he held off the Golden Bear until the fifth hole of the playoff.
In 1971, Elder accepted a personal invitation from Gary Player to participate in the South African PGA Championship in Johannesburg. The tournament was the first in the country’s history to integrate black and white players. The country had apartheid policies in place at the time, but Elder accepted the invitation only after the South African government agreed not to subject him or colored spectators to the usual segregation prescriptions. He also played in several other tournaments in various southern African countries, winning the Nigeria Open in 1971.
In 1974, Elder won his first PGA Tour victory at the Monsanto Open, which qualified him for the Masters at Augusta the following year. It was the first time that an African-American had qualified for the Masters since the establishment of the major in 1934.
In the days leading up to the Masters. Elder received numerous hate messages. Fearing for his safety, during the week of the tournament he rented two houses in the city and resided alternately in them, and always had several people accompany him when he went out to eat.
Elder shot 74 on the first day and 78 on the second day at Augusta National. He did not make the cut, but the impact of his presence at the 1975 Augusta Masters was tremendous.
In 1979 he became the first African-American to qualify to play in the Ryder Cup. In 1984 at the age of 50, he joined the Senior PGA Tour.
DISPLAYS OF RACISM
At the 1968 Monsanto Open in Pensacola, Florida, the same tournament in which he captured his first Tour victory six years later, Elder and other black Tour players were forced to change clothes in the parking lot because club members would not allow non-whites to use the locker rooms. While playing in a tournament in Memphis, Tennessee, a fan picked up Elder’s ball in a hole and threw it into a hedge. The incident was witnessed by another professional golfer, and Elder was allowed to hit without penalty.
Elder tried to concentrate on the game, but, unlike most Tour players, he was constantly harassed by some spectators, and frequently received hate mail and threatening phone calls.
The golfer and his wife created the Lee Elder Scholarship Fund in 1974, which provides financial aid to low-income individuals to attend college.
In 1986, he protested to PGA officials for allowing four American golfers to play a tournament in Sun City, then part of a small independent territory (Bophuthatswana) recognized by South Africa’s apartheid regime. In 1990, Elder campaigned against golf clubs that still barred blacks from membership.
TRIUMPHS PROFESSIONAL WINS:
14 PGA Tour 4 Champions Tour 8 Other 2 BEST RESULTS IN MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIPS Masters Tournament T17: 1979 U.S. Open T11: 1979 The Open Championship T36: 1979 PGA Championship T11: 1974
Leave a Reply