62. PGA Tour Historian Laury Livsey on Lee Elder

In 1947, Jackie Robinson changed the scope of sports and the entire country when he broke baseball's color barrier, becoming the first black man to play Major League Baseball. But it would take another 28 years for a man of color to play The Masters in Augusta, Georgia. That man was Lee Elder, and on March 10, 1975, Elder was on the cover of Sports Illustrated exactly a month from when he would tee off and change the sport of golf. Elder was a fine golfer and won a tournament in April of '74 on the Tour that got him an invitation to play at Augusta. He would have to wait almost an entire year before his day would come, and he would tee off at The Masters. He wasn't playing his best golf at the time and missed the cut, but it didn't matter. He had captured the attention of the country and the world of golf would never be the same. Laury Livsey is the PGA Tour historian and joins us on the Past Our Prime podcast to tell us more about Mr. Elder. How he almost didn't play in the Monsanto Open in '74 that he eventually won and earned him the right to play at Augusta in '75. How he basically taught himself how to play golf and was a late bloomer, dominating the Black Tour before joining the PGA Tour in the late 60's. and Livsey tells us Elder came out on fire, finishing in the money 9 straight times as a rookie on the Tour and taking Jack Nicklaus to a dramatic playoff that the Golden Bear won on the 5th playoff hole! And he tells us about a trip Elder took to South Africa in the height of apartheid with Gary Player so that kids could see a golfer that "looked like him." Elder would go on to win 4 times on the PGA Tour and another 8 times on the Champions Tour... but it was the two rounds of golf in 1975 at The Masters that made him a legend, 50 years ago this month. Please listen to this historical man give us a history lesson on the breaking of the color barrier at Augusta this week on the Past Our Prime podcast on Apple, Spotify or anywhere where you get your podcasts. Thank you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices