Worthy of a Major
In 2016 Wyatt Worthington became first African-American club pro to qualify for the PGA Championship in 25 years…Inspired By Tiger Woods’ Masters Victory, he aims to get back to the PGA Championship next month at Bethpage Black
by leland hardy
A 13-year-old Wyatt Worthington (right) at a Tiger Woods Foundation junior golf clinic.
They met at a Tiger Woods Foundation junior golf clinic in Columbus, Ohio way back in 2001. The then 13 year old kid, Wyatt Worthington II, and his golf idol, Tiger Woods. The meeting fueled and insatiable desire in Worthington to “live inside of those hallowed ropes,” as the enthusiastic Worthington puts it, referring to earning a PGA Tour Card and playing professionally full-time on the PGA Tour.
Now, in the immediate wake of his golf inspiration’s historic achievement on Sunday at Augusta National, Worthington’s fires have been stoked anew within, not just to play in next month’s PGA Championship at Bethpage Black on Long Island, but to be on Tour going head-to-head, week in and week out, against Tiger, Phil, Rory, Jordan, Bubba, and so many others who have earned first-name status in the world’s public lexicon. “When you look at the Tour and you see guys like Brooksy (referring to 3-time Major Champion, Brooks Koepka) and JB (Holmes), and what (Jim) Furyk did at age 46 at The Players, and all of these guys who were told that they weren’t good enough, or their swing mechanics were terrible, or, in the case of JB, they couldn’t make it because they were dyslexic, it makes you realize that ANYONE can make it on Tour, or in life, if you believe in yourself, if you’re dedicated, and if you stay focused on the idea that you can inspire others to greatness through this fantastic game of ours. This game and what we do in it and with it is much bigger than any of us as individual players,” said a pensive Worthington.
Worthington competed in the 2016 PGA Championship at Baltusrol.
In 2016 Worthington placed sixth at the PGA Club Professional National Championship at Turning Stone Resort to earn his first-ever appearance in a PGA Tour event – but not just any PGA Tour event – a Major Championship, the 2016 PGA Championship at Baltusrol in Springfield Township, NJ. Worthington will look to qualify for the 2019 version of the PGA Championship taking place at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, NY on New York’s Long Island when he laces ’em up on April 28, 2019 in the PGA Professional Championship at Belfair Golf Club in Bluffton, SC.
The full-time teaching pro is a Methodist University graduate who is well aware that it takes considerable resources to make it inside of the ropes to which he so reverently refers. “There is a reason that, from time of Tiger’s pro debut, through the ensuing 20 years, that so few African-American golfers have found success on the Tour (Harold Varner won the Australian PGA Championship in 2016 and Cameron Champ, who’s of interracial decent, won earlier this season) ,” lamented Worthington. “There is a reason that no Black woman in history has ever won an LPGA Tour event. My mission is to make it out here so that I can reach back and very proactively mentor other youngsters of color so that they, too, can experience the wonderfulness of playing professional golf for a living. I want to be able to say to a promising kid, ‘Pack your bags.There’s a ticket waiting at the airport. You’re comin’ to train with me so we can get you out there,” Worthington continued.
Let’s see if Worthington can make magic happen at Belfair so that he can see his idol yet again inside of those hallowed ropes at the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, and so he can foment the increased participation in golf by players of color at the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour levels that Tiger’s successes inexplicably never fomented.
