It was November 10, 1957, when Charlie Sifford won the Long Beach Open, becoming the first black golfer to win a tournament in which almost all of his opponents were white. The victory came at a time when people like baseball player Jackie Robinson (the first African American to play in the Major Leagues) and boxer Joe Louis took strong stands against racial discrimination and Caucasian-only policies.
E n 1960 California Attorney General Stanley Mosk was pressuring the PGA to remove the racial veto, claiming that if his demands were not met, the PGA would not be able to compete at various venues around the country. The PGA relented a year later, and it all started with Sifford’s success.
Sifford, who by then, at age 34, had already won the National Negro Open four times, recorded rounds of 69, 70 and 64 (the tournament was 54 holes) for a Among the opponents in play that day were many stars, including Billy Casper, Jay Hebert, Gene Littler, Jerry Barber, Gay Brewer, Tony Lema, Tommy Bolt, Harry Cooper and Mike Souchak. In the face of racism, bigotry and indecency, Sifford defied all odds by playing spectacular, focused golf.
His victory was decided in a sudden-death playoff in which he defeated Eric Monti on the third playoff hole.
For his win at Long Beach, Sifford pocketed $1,700, more than all he had earned for an entire year. Of that money, $500 had been awarded to him for posting the best final round of the tournament, 64 strokes. Monti took home $1,100 for his second-place finish.
Earlier that year, Sifford had won $240 at the Rubber City Open in Akron, Ohio, and $880 at the Easter Open in Baltimore, where he finished fifth.
Two days after Sifford’s win, the PGA of America would hold its annual national meeting, right there in Long Beach. The PGA was the same group that had a clause in its constitution that allowed only Caucasians to be members of the association and thus barred non-whites from participating in its circuit tournaments.
But four years later, at the 1961 annual meeting in Hollywood, Florida, on November 10, the PGA of America removed that discriminatory clause from its constitution and paved the way for African Americans to become members of the PGA and thus play the Tour. Shortly thereafter, Sifford became the first black golfer to compete on the PGA Tour as a full member, making November 10 a rather special day in his career and that of the African-American golfers who followed him.
Even after his victory at Long Beach, Sifford was still not allowed to play in PGA Tour tournaments in the following weeks. With the help of California Attorney General Stanley Mosk, three years later Sifford would receive full PGA membership. Two years before he was granted that right, he played in the 1959 U.S. Open and placed 32nd. He went on to win two official Tour tournaments: the 1967 Greater Hartford Open and the 1969 Los Angeles Open.
In November 2014, 57 years after his historic triumph at Long Beach, Sifford was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was presented to him by then U.S. President Barack Obama at a solemn ceremony. Sifford was the third professional golfer to be awarded this honor, after Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.
Sifford, who was forced to play in the National Negro Opens because of the PGA Tour’s “Caucasian-only” policy, won six of those titles before he could play on Tour. He was systematically harassed, threatened and excluded from golf clubs because of the color of his skin. The golfer who broke the barrier of racial discrimination in golf won twice on the PGA Tour and was finally inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004. “I wasn’t trying to do that for me, I was trying to do that for the world,” Sifford said.
Tiger Woods, who took to Twitter to express his admiration for Sifford when he was nominated for the award, posted a message on his Instagram account that read “History has been made for my grandfather. Thank you Charlie for inspiring Pop, who in turn inspired me and others like us. It was a heroic fight and you won it.”
At the ceremony, President Obama referenced a story in which Sifford’s ball was sent into the rough with a kick by tournament spectators. “Charlie’s laughing about that because my ball is always in the rough,” Obama said, as those in attendance at the event also laughed. Sifford smiled humbly as, amid the applause, Obama placed the medal around his neck.
On February 3, 2015, at the age of 92, the first African-American to win an American Tour tournament passed away in Cleveland, Ohio.
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IN SHORT
HUMAN EXCREMENT IN THE PIT
At the 1952 Phoenix Open, Sifford was playing with three other black players. When the group arrived at the first green, upon pulling the flag out they found human excrement on the hole. After an hour’s wait, the hole of ignominy was finally removed and replaced by another hole on that green.
CADDY AT $1.50 PER DAY
Like many black golfers of the era, Sifford had started playing golf when he was a caddie. Growing up in North Carolina, he carried bags at the Carolina Country Club of Charlotte, earning 1.50 dollars on a good day.
THE MAN WHO DID NOT SMILE
Although in the photos with the trophies he won he is seen smiling, the truth is that Sifford did not show many signs of joy. “I don’t smile much, and I never laugh. If you had gone through what I did, you wouldn’t smile either,” he said.
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