PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship supports underserved communities’ access to the game of golf

Golf is a magical game.

It has the power to take us so many different places. Within a round you are tested well beyond your boundaries as each shot you hit is literally something that you have never seen or tried before. Adaptability at the highest level is required for sustained success.

Golf can also take us places in a literal sense. Connections can be made. Relationships can be built. It is a sport, game and/or hobby that the average person can play well into their elder years.

Beyond and beneath it all golf can also be fun. Playing with your friends and competing, whether at a low or high level, stretches us to places where the will to win comes out and hopefully emerges against everyone else.

The PGA Works Collegiate Championship (PWCC) embodies all of these qualities and then some. Set to take this week in Kohler, Wis. at a world-class venue in Whistling Straits, the PWCC is a national tournament where 180 student-athletes from HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions and other minority-serving institutions gather and compete with the idea of leveling the playing field in collegiate golf serving as the purpose.

You may not be a golfer in your own right, but I imagine that you are aware that it has not always been a game that presents many opportunities to students from underrepresented communities and/or people at large. Golf can be exclusive. Frankly, golf can be pretentious (to be kind). Like in all ways in life, barriers have to be broken and walls have to be torn down for all to have a fair and equal opportunity.

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Known as the “Most Culturally Significant Championship in Collegiate Golf”, the PWCC is taking place at a time where college golf is at its absolute peak. These student athletes are provided with an opportunity, thanks to the PGA of America, to do that with and against one another.

Senior Director of Impact for PGA REACH Kennie Sims spoke to me about the event, its beginnings and how their mission is to not only provide the opportunity in question, but to make sure that students take something from the game as they move on in life. Consider that the PWCC initially began in 1986 when the inclusion of minorities was even less of a priority than it is today.

While golf lives at the core of the PWCC, Kennie and the vast team involved are also looking to help these student athletes prepare for life when they are done playing the game at their current level. These are college students, after all.

Kennie described a career showcase that will take place on Sunday, May 4th (May the fourth be with you!) a day before the event begins. Giving these students information and resources about the life that waits beyond graduation is another thing that is not always made available to these young athletes. It just so happens that over the past six years that 72 participants from the PWCC have begun their careers in golf which demonstrates the value that an event such as this can have.

As far as the golf is concerned though, it is very serious stuff. The five divisions within the event include the Women’s Team Division, Division I Men’s Team Division, Division II Men’s Team Division, Women’s Individual and Men’s Individual. There are titles to win.

Some of the athletes involved have experience on the the Underrated Golf Tour. Underrated was founded by Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry and former professional golfer Will Lowery for the express purpose of providing underrepresented youth opportunities within the game. At the dawn of the idea for the Tour, Lowery pitched to Curry that only 17% of Black and brown youth played golf recreationally. Just 2% made it to levels of legitimate competition.

To date over 40 players have earned collegiate or professional golf opportunities thanks to Underrated. Consider that Southern University has five athletes in this year’s PWCC and that they recruited heavily from the Underrated Tour.

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Lowery’s, Curry’s and the Underrated Tour’s disposition stems from a “what can we do” standpoint where numbers for players involved need to rise, but they do not all have opportunities, which is why Underrated exists. Golf can take someone anywhere, Lowery noted it has taken him personally to all four corners of the earth, but if people aren’t able to experience it then those opportunities can never exist.

The work that Underrated and the PWCC are doing together in harmony matters not just in golf but in the grand scheme of life. Creating events, tours and/or opportunities for minorities to experience something that they may not otherwise get to do is critical for the growth and development of our world. These are memories being made. Lowery told me that his podcast co-host still talks about how he himself won the PWCC many years ago.

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Sports have a unique power to unite us all in that way and these doors are being opened in the game of golf by some special people who know what it’s like for them to not just be closed off, but to not exist at all.

Howard’s Morgan Harrell will be taking part in the event this week and is excited about all of the opportunity presented:

“What I love most about the PWCC is that it’s more than just a golf tournament, it’s a platform with a greater purpose. This event is about creating space and opportunities for underrepresented communities in golf, and I feel truly honored to be part of it. I’m incredibly grateful for the access we’re given to world class golf courses and luxury accommodations, and the way we’re treated with such care and respect. Competing with my team on national television is a surreal experience that reminds me how powerful representation can be.”

The PWCC can be seen on Golf Channel on Monday through Wednesday from 4-7pm ET. It is safe to say, as Morgan and countless others can prove, that it is going to change some lives while serious fun is had in the process.