Masters of exclusion : Augusta still wrestling with image despite Lee Elder moment
Golf’s marquee major starts this Thursday in Augusta. Lee Elder, the first Black player to play the US Masters, is the honorary starter – but his invitation does little to conceal Augusta’s past or advance golf’s image.
Lee Elder, right, alongside Fred Ridley, chairman of Augusta National
Lee Elder s legacy as a golfing pioneer will be cemented on Thursday when he takes his place alongside Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player to raise the curtain for this year s US Masters.
Elder has been invited to hit the ceremonial first shot of a tournament where he made history in 1975, becoming the first Black player to receive an invite to Augusta following his victory at the Monsanto Open in Florida a year earlier.
Bill Wright, Who Broke a Color Barrier in Golf, Dies at 84
In 1959, decades before Tiger Woods, Wright became the first Black golfer to win a United States Golf Association event.
Bill Wright in the Amateur Public Links Championship in Denver in 1959. His victory there was a singular moment for Black golfers at a time when the P.G.A. bylaws still had a “Caucasians-only” clause.Credit.Denver Post, via Getty Images
Feb. 25, 2021
Bill Wright, the first Black competitor to win a United States Golf Association event in an era when African-Americans were not welcome either in segregated country clubs or in the top amateur and professional ranks, died on Feb. 19 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 84.