By Tod Leonard
Charlie Sifford and Renee Powell both spoke of the barriers and struggles they faced as African Americans who wanted to excel in golf. They each took on that challenge with strengths that earned them status at the highest levels of the professional game.

Now they are joined one more time in a new endeavour by the World Golf Hall of Fame. On the 17th anniversary on Monday of Sifford’s induction into the Hall, the organization announced that Powell will be the first recipient of the Charlie Sifford Award.

The award, the Hall said, “honours an individual who personifies Sifford’s groundbreaking achievements through perseverance, confidence, respect and adaptability. Powell—the second African American woman to ever compete on the LPGA Tour—demonstrated resilience amidst her own obstacles of racial adversity and segregation and dedicated her life to making golf a sport for all.”

The award, presented by Southern Company, will be given to Powell as part of the Hall of Fame’s 2022 induction ceremony on March 9 during the PGA Tour’s Players Championship week. Tiger Woods, Susie Maxwell Berning, Tim Finchem and Marion Hollins are the four inductees.

Powell, 75, competed as a member of the LPGA from 1967 to 1980, playing in more than 250 pro events. Since 1995 she has served as the head PGA/LPGA professional at Clearview Golf Club in East Canton, Ohio. The club was established in 1946 by her father, William Powell, as the first U.S. golf course designed, built, owned and operated by an African American. The club’s non-profit Clearview Legacy Foundation focuses on education, preservation, and research, with an emphasis on youth, minorities, veterans, seniors and other underrepresented groups.

“As a youngster, my parents fought to get me into tournaments when I was not welcomed because of the colour of my skin, which instilled in me how important it is to get young people into the game to help build their self-confidence,” Powell said in a statement. “I’m honoured to be the first recipient of this award and to see Charlie Sifford be recognized for breaking down barriers that never should have been put in front of him and all others of colour who strived to play this game. I was taught early on by my parents that golf should be a sport for everyone, and we can all diversify this game in so many ways.”

Sifford, who died in 2015, turned pro in 1948 but was excluded from playing on the PGA Tour until 1961, when he became the first African American to compete as a member. He won twice on tour and finished in the top 60 on the money list in each of his first nine seasons as a member. Sifford was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014.

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By Daniel Rapaport
A trio of Hall of Fame golfers—Annika Sorenstam, Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Gary Player—will receive the United States’ highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, on Thursday from President Donald Trump.

W.L. Pate Jr., president of the Babe Zaharias Foundation, is expected to accept the medal in honour of Zaharias, who died in 1956.

The medal is described as a recognition of “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavours.” Only four other golfers have received it: Arnold Palmer (2004), Jack Nicklaus (2005), Charlie Sifford (2014) and Tiger Woods (2019). Trump awarded Woods with the medal shortly after he won the 2019 Masters.

The White House announced in March that Sorenstam and Player would receive the honour, but Zaharias is a new addition.

Sorenstam, 50, dominated women’s golf from the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s. The Swede amassed 72 official LPGA Tour wins, including 10 majors, and was named player of the year a record eight times. She stepped away from playing full-time professional golf in 2008 and has since focused on philanthropic and business pursuits.

Zaharias is widely considered one of the finest athletes ever, having won gold medals in the 80-meter hurdles and javelin throw at the 1932 Olympics—all before she took up golf in 1935, at the age of 24, then became perhaps the greatest woman’s golfer in history. Like Sorenstam, she won 10 major championships and completed the Grand Slam in 1950, winning all three women’s majors at the time. She holds the distinction as the only woman ever to make a cut in a PGA Tour event, which she did three times.

Known as the “Black Knight” for his penchant for wearing all black, Player was one-third of golf’s “Big Three” alongside Nicklaus and Palmer. The South African is one of five players ever to complete the career Grand Slam by winning all four men’s majors, and he is the only non-American to have done so. He won 160 tournaments worldwide, including nine majors, and since his retirement he has remained an active presence in the game. He has designed over 400 golf courses worldwide and is the founder of the Player Foundation, which seeks to provide underprivileged children with access to education.

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