How Marcus Byrd, Chase Johnson are shaping future of Black golf

The legacy of the United Golfers Association, which was founded 100 years ago, can be seen today every time players like Marcus Byrd and Chase Johnson put a tee into the ground.

The two talented young Black golfers have heard about the struggles for inclusion waged by golfers like Pete Brown, Ted Rhodes and Charlie Sifford at a time when the PGA of America had a “Caucasians only” clause in its bylaws. The rule stood until 1961.

The UGA – which featured a tournament hosted by legendary boxer and golf aficionado Joe Louis – gave those pioneers places to compete when the golf world was determined to keep them outside the ropes. The UGA operated from 1925-76, the year after Lee Elder became the first Black man to play in the Masters.

Byrd, who has competed in seven PGA TOUR events and is a standout on the Advocates Professional Golf Association Tour (APGA Tour), says it’s hard to conceive of the discrimination those trailblazers faced.

“I can only imagine,” Byrd says. “I talk about that all the time. I mean, that's what inspired me, just seeing the stories and hearing things about how people were treated back then, people of color who played golf, and it just inspired me to make sure that their fight is still fighting and that all the trials and tribulations that they went through inspired a generation of golfers that are ready to change the world.

“So that's the way I look at it, and that's how I view just being around them and learning from them.”

Johnson, who was a member of the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020 and is a two-time APGA Player of the Year, hopes he can have an impact, as well.

“That's why we are here,” he says. “They opened the doors for us, and you never know what is going to be the next door that's created … So if I can do 100th of what they did and be somewhat remembered by the end of my career, whether it's through wins or foundations, that's my biggest goal is to get to a point in my career to where I have the ability to really get behind organizations like the First Tee and APGA and situations to create opportunities for others as I can.

“That's the thing I'm actually most excited for in my career. So hopefully I can be somewhat influential to someone a hundred years after me.”

Johnson and Byrd, who finished 1-2, respectively, in the Cisco APGA Black History Month Classic at TPC Sawgrass on Wednesday, have their fathers, who were avid players, to thank for their interest in golf.

Tiger and Earl Woods were “our idols,” Johnson says of him and his dad Mel. But many of Byrd’s mentors could also be found at Langston Golf Club, a public facility in Washington, D.C., named for John Mercer Langston, a Black man who was the first dean of the law school at Howard University.

Byrd met Sifford, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004, one morning when he and his dad Larry were at Langston. Sifford was having breakfast and Larry encouraged his son, who was 8 or 9 at the time, to ask for his autograph.

“I went over there and talked to him for a second and he signed a scorecard for me,” Byrd says. “I still have it at home. That was my first time meeting somebody who was such a legacy, such a pioneer prior to Tiger Woods. So that was awesome. That was amazing.

“I wish I was a little older to really be able to soak in the opportunity that I had and been able to ask him questions. But all in all, just being able to be in the same room with him and get his presence was awesome.”

Byrd also developed a friendship with Jim Thorpe, a PGA TOUR and Champions Tour veteran. The two were introduced at Langstone about the same time Byrd met Sifford. Thorpe gave the youngster his phone number and the two have stayed in touch over the years.

“The Jim Thorpes, the Calvin Peetes, there were so many different parts of their game that I liked, and I more so favored them because I was able to spend time with them at a young age and be able to see them and talk to them in person,” he recalls.

“So that alone, for me was amazing. And so I would say Tiger is definitely up there for people who I idolized growing up, but there were a lot of really good players where I'm from who looked like me that inspired me to be where I am right now.”

Johnson was swinging a club almost before he could walk. His first words were “da ball” as he reached for a golf ball, and his favorite movie as a kid was “The Tiger Woods Story.” He remembers his dad Mel giving him “trophy balls” like the ones awarded in the Tiger Woods video game for different accomplishments.

“That’s how he taught me the game and taught me how to win,” Johnson says.

Like Byrd, Johnson met other trailblazers as a youngster. He and Mel were befriended by Renee Powell, the second Black woman to play the LPGA Tour, and her father Bill at Clearview Golf Club, the course their family owns in East Canton, Ohio, about 40 minutes from where Johnson grew up. Clearview is the first golf course in the United States that was designed, built and owned by an African American.

“So, then they were kind of our next Tiger and Earl because obviously she's a very decorated LPGA tour player, and they had to make those strides,” Byrd says. “And her dad has obviously been influential in this game and in life.

“So we had the, I guess, the dream duo in Tiger and Earl, but obviously not being able to meet them younger, you couldn't have asked for a better pair to influence us between Renee and her father.”

Both Johnson and Byrd have earned the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption that Woods gives annually to a golfer with a minority background so he can play in The Genesis Invitational, one of the PGA TOUR’s Signature Events.

In fact, a year ago this week, Johnson was teeing it up at The Riviera Country Club. While he had met his idol at the 2023 World Wide Technology Championship – “That dude is a monster; I’m like, I need to get into the gym immediately,” Johnson recalls – he was finally able to introduce his dad to Woods at The Genesis.

“I think he may have squealed, I don’t know,” Johnson says, laughing.

All kidding aside, the significance of the moment was not lost on Johnson.

Not only was he teeing it up in the same tournament with his childhood idol, but he was also there as a nod to Sifford. And Johnson was the reigning champion of THE JOHN SHIPPEN National Invitational presented by Rocket Mortgage. Shippen was another pioneer – the first American-born and Black golf professional.

“I was representing Shippen, Sifford and Tiger all in one event, which I thought was really cool,” Johnson says. “Then when I made the cut that kind of added that punch behind it in comparison to what they did.

“It doesn't even come close, but it was just nice that I was able to represent them well that week.”

Not just that week, but every week he and Byrd tee it up.