Charlie Sifford, who cracked the PGA Tour's Caucasian-only clause in 1961 and was the first black member to win on tour, is the first black chosen for the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Sifford will be inducted Nov. 15, along with 1992 U.S. Open champion Tom Kite, Japanese star Isao Aoki and Canadian amateur Marlene Stewart Streit. "This is very wonderful," Sifford said from the ceremony in Savannah, Ga. "I thank all these wonderful players for accepting me. I know, I had some bad days and tough days. But it looks like everything worked out fine." Sifford was a true pioneer, along with Teddy Rhodes, Pete Brown, Lee Elder, Bill Spiller and other blacks who kept playing with hopes of getting a chance on the PGA Tour. Tiger Woods paid tribute to them when he won the ‘97 Masters for his first major, and he spoke in October about the absence of blacks in golfs Hall of Fame. "They never had a chance to play," Woods said. "Whether it's pioneers like Teddy Rhodes or Bill Spiller or Charlie, they fought all those years just to get on the tour. It's going to be very difficult for them to gain acceptance because of the fact they had no playing record on tour. "One person who should get in, without a doubt, is Charlie." Sifford was elected through the Lifetime Achievement category and said he was stunned when PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem called with the news. "It's a wonderful honor, one I've been waiting on a long time," he said.

Sifford was among the stars on the United Golf Association tour, where blacks could compete for small purses on public courses. He was able to play a couple of PGA Tour events that allowed blacks, although he paid a price. In the 1952 Phoenix Open, Sifford and his all-black foursome found excrement in the cup on the first hole, and waited nearly an hour for the cup to be replaced. Sifford won the 1957 Long Beach Open against a field that included Gene Littler, Jack Fleck and Tommy Bolt, although it wasn't an official PGA Tour victory because it was only 54 holes.

As pressure increased on the PGA Tour, Sifford was granted a tour card in 1960, and the Caucasian-only clause was lifted a year later. Still, Sifford's homecoming to North Carolina to play in the 1961 Greater Greensboro Open included a telephone death threat and racial slurs hurled at him as he walked the fairways. He tied for fourth. In his book, "Just Let Me Play," Sifford wrote, "I hadn't won the tournament in Greensboro, but I fe1t a larger victory. I had come through my first Southern tournament with the worst kind of social pressure and discrimination around me, and I hadn't cracked. I hadn't quit." Sifford won the 1967 Greater Hartford Open by closing with a 64 for a one shot victory over Steve Oppermann. Two years later at Rancho Park, he birdied the first hole of a playoff to beat Harold Henning in the Los Angeles Open.

By Doug Ferguson

The Associated Press
Appeared in the Daily Reflector, April 17, 2004