Tiger’s Not the Answer to the Problem

The spoils of Bill Spiller’s war for African American golfers are evident today in a colorful array of TV dramatics, thoughtful advertisements and clothing lines.

Or are they?

Consider that the celebration is about one golfer. Consider that the one golfer--Tiger Woods--is actually more of Asian heritage than African American.

That sound you don’t hear is people holding their applause.

There are about 200 golfers on the PGA Tour at any one time.

Aside from Woods, there is one African American--Jim Thorpe.

The way Spiller’s son sees it, that one golfer might as well be Charlie Sifford, and the year might as well be 1961.

One percent is still one percent.

“You tell me, what has changed since the days of my father? Nothing,” said Bill Spiller Jr., a Redondo Beach attorney. “Tiger Woods? He has nothing to do with it.

“He has light-brown skin, no Negroid features, not the sort of features that white America finds so offensive. He is not a threat.”

Tiger Woods a symbol for a changing America? Spiller says he’s nothing more than a symbol for the marketers of America.

“He is somebody corporate America can gloat on, feel good about, but it’s not real,” Spiller said.

The pipeline appears just as empty.

There were 324 golfers in last year’s men’s collegiate regionals.

Aside from Woods, four were African American--three from Jackson (Miss.) State and Pepperdine’s Andy Walker.

High schools are also struggling. Tim O’Neal, probably this country’s top African American collegiate golfer, joined Jackson State from an unusual prep situation in inner-city Savannah, Ga.

“They couldn’t find anybody to play, so they filled up the golf team with guys from the football team,” he said. ‘One of my teammates shot 69--for nine holes.”

Eddie Payton, O’Neal’s coach at Jackson State, said the most frustrating part is that one thing has definitely changed from when Spiller began fighting the PGA’s institutional racism nearly 50 years ago.

Today, he says, African Americans have no excuses.

“It’s high time we stop blaming all of this on the [PGA] tour and start blaming it on ourselves,” said Payton, whose Jackson State team was the first traditionally black school to qualify for the regionals in NCAA history. “There are many, many opportunities for people in our communities to become golfers, and we ignore them. It’s a travesty.”

For the record, the PGA’s no-Caucasians clause was revoked in 1961 after a long battle by Los Angeles resident Spiller.

Today the PGA has a standard way to qualify for the tour, and anyone can do it.

Lower your handicap to a two or better. Collect two recommendations from club pros. Pay $4,000. Attend a PGA qualifying tournament and become one of the blessed few to survive the cuts.

Last year, only 49 of the 1,153 golfers who played in 17 regionals to reach the qualifying school received cards.

“It’s all out there for us,” Payton said. “But we use too many excuses.”

The most common, he says, is the “too-expensive, white man’s game” excuse.

“We say we can’t afford it, yet we put up an expensive glass backboard in front of our house and fit our kid with a $200 pair of basketball shoes . . . and then fit him with another pair six months later,” he said.

Another excuse, he says, is the one about lack of opportunity to travel the traditional collegiate path toward the tour.

“We have schools in our conference [Southwestern Athletic] who are giving scholarships to kids who can’t break 100,” Payton said. “The traditional black schools have plenty of room for kids, with scholarships and good educations if you can just play a little golf.”

Payton said that while some have criticized Earl Woods for pushing Tiger into golf, he applauds the now-famous father for his foresight.

“Earl saw an opening there, he saw an opportunity for his son, and he steered him toward it,” Payton said. “Too many parents today wait until their son has failed at basketball or football before thinking about golf. And by then, it’s too late.”

The third excuse, Payton said, is that there is no place to play.

“Anymore, there isn’t a city course in this country where a kid can’t get some kind of free help--including clubs, balls and lessons,” he said.

This is certainly true in Los Angeles, where several programs exist and have prospered since the emergence of Woods.

But even organizers acknowledge those programs are sometimes hard to find, sometimes overcrowded and rarely funded well enough to allow a child to advance to the mainstream junior golf tours without additional money.

“There are thousands of kids out there that want this, and it’s hard to accommodate them,” said John Morrison, director of the popular LPGA Urban Youth Golf Program, which serves girls and boys.

Like the Young Golfers’ Assn. of America (213-292-7040) and Western States Golf Assn. (213-933-3905), the LPGA’s program (310-419-1980) offers children everything from free lessons to free clubs to free balls to discounted fees at many city courses.

The enrollment fee for the LPGA program, which had 300-person waiting list for a 640-person membership last year, is $20. The Young Golfers and Western States programs are free.

“It’s all there if you look for it,” said D’Andre White, co-founder of Young Golfers, which has helped place several players in colleges.

But it can still be costly.

Because of financial constraints, Jackson State’s O’Neal said he has only been able to enter one amateur tournament, last year’s Northeast Amateur in Rhode Island, where he finished 19th.

O’Neal, who has victories in 15 college tournaments, said it costs $800-$900 for each event, including transportation and lodging.

“The guys who play those every week, they have somebody helping them out,” he said. “Sometimes you think that would be kind of nice.”

Bill Spiller Jr. shook his head.

“Golf is still a country club sport,” he said. “That much may never change.”