Tag: PGA WORKS

Howard men, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women capture 2023 PGA Works Collegiate Championship titles

Howard, only in its third year of existence, won the tournament for the second straight year, shooting 25-under 835 to win by 57 shots.

Everett Whiten Jr. could do no wrong.

He fired a final-round 8-under 64 at Shoal Creek in Alabama to help Howard win the 2023 PGA Works Collegiate Championship men’s team title. Howard, only in its third year of existence, won the tournament for the second straight year, shooting 25-under 835 to win by 57 shots.

“I feel like if you prepare properly and you execute by trusting the process, things like this can happen,” Howard coach Sam Puryear said. “This is a byproduct of a lot of hard work, a lot of personal belief, a lot of sacrifice. We had a quick two-day turnaround from our conference championship, so there was a lot on everybody’s plate, but it worked out in our favor.”

Whiten’s teammate, Greg Oden Jr., won low medalist honors the previous two years, but Whiten took the crown this year at 14 under. Oden shot 5 under.

In the men’s individual competition, Louisville senior C.M. Mixon birdied the final hole to avoid a three-man playoff and helped him win the title, shooting 2 under.

On the women’s side, it was Texas A&M Corpus-Christi taking home the title, winning by 30 shots at Bent Brook Golf Course for its third consecutive team championship. Junior Lucie Charbonnier won the individual title with a 3-under 68 final round to finish 1 under for the championship, two shots ahead of freshman teammate Lucia Ramirez (1 over) and senior Maria Beltran (3 over). It is Charbonnier’s second consecutive PWCC title.

“I wanted to beat my teammate. She’s just a freshman and I wanted to have (the championship) back,” Charbonnier said. “I told her we’ll just have to play the best and the best wins. If I would have finished second behind her I still would have been happy.”

North Carolina Wilmington senior Phu Khine was disappointed that she couldn’t defend her first PWCC title last year. After winning in 2021, Khine had a labrum injury in her shoulder and could not play in 2022.

She returned this year and stayed within striking distance during the first two rounds. She followed the same formula in the final round, staying steady on the back nine at Shoal Creek to shoot even par.

While she did that, Alabama State’s Allycia Gan struggled, making bogeys on 11, 12 and 13 before a triple bogey on 14 sank her chances. That meant Khine’s 3-over 218 was good enough to win over Charlotte’s Kaiyuree Moodley (4 over) and Gan (7 over).

“It means a lot to me to win in general,” Khine said, “but to win the PGA WORKS, it’s for minorities and giving us the opportunity to get these people together in this event. It’s a great honor for me.”

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At the PGA Works Collegiate Championship at Shoal Creek, Doug Smith is having a full-circle moment

“I’m going to go from holding the trophy to holding the mic.”

Doug Smith got into broadcasting by accident.

He started off doing a podcast with Cheyenne Woods. That led to meeting Golf Channel’s Will Lowery. That got his foot in the door to meet plenty of golf personalities across the country.

Then, as PGA Tour Live started up with its partnership with ESPN+, Smith was approached about joining as a commentator. He eventually signed on and is a part of the broadcast team, even calling action at last week’s Mexico Open at Vidanda.

Come Monday, Smith will call an event as a past champion.

The PGA Works Collegiate Championship begins Monday at Shoal Creek in Alabama, southeast of Birmingham, and it’s a full-circle moment for Smith, who won the championship in 2005 when he played collegiately for Louisville. The championship annually hosts student-athletes enrolled in Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and other Minority-Serving Educational Institutions.

“It’s wild for me,” Smith said. “I’m going to be an expert on the broadcast as a past champion. I’m going to go from holding the trophy to holding the mic.”

The PGA Works Collegiate Championship, originally named the National Minority Collegiate Championship, was created in 1986 to highlight golf programs at the most underserved and underrepresented minority-serving institutions on a national stage, and educate and inspire student-athletes to pursue career opportunities in the business of golf.

The PWCC is a 54-hole, stroke-play event contested across five divisions including: Division I Men’s Team, Division II Men’s Team, Women’s Team Division, Men’s Individual Division, and Women’s Individual Division.

The individual competition is open to all minority women and men student-athletes playing collegiate golf at the Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA and NJCAA level, or minority women and men enrolled in one of the PGA of America’s PGA Golf Management University Programs.

And, in 2023 for the first time, Golf Channel will have TV coverage of all three days of competition.

Golf Channel and Peacock together will present all three championship rounds at Shoal Creek Club on Monday through Wednesday from 4:30-7:30 p.m. ET.

“I get to use words to paint pictures to show what this championship does to your validity as a player,” Smith said. “It’s going to be full circle. It just shows people even if you don’t make it professionally, there’s other avenues in the game.”

Having the tournament at Shoal Creek is also a big milestone, considering the club’s history.

Shoal Creek hosted the 1990 PGA Championship, and it made plenty of headlines around hosting the tournament because club founder Hall Thompson defiantly said the club would not be pressured to accept Black members.

He told a reporter: “We have the right to associate or not to associate with whomever we choose. The country club is our home, and we pick and choose who we want. I think we’ve said that we don’t discriminate in every other area except the Blacks.”

Smith said he hopes it’s a turning point for the club and the PGA of America, which sponsors the championship, not just trying to check a box and be inclusive.

“We can do one of two things: we can keep the status quo or we can work together, have uncomfortable conversations and move forward in a way that’s amicable and representative of the future that we want to be a part of,” Smith said.

“I’m hoping it’s the second part.”

Fran Charles, Smylie Kaufman, Steve Berkowski and Julia Johnson will also be on the broadcast team.

“We are very excited to have the PWCC broadcasted live on Golf Channel and Peacock this year,” Shoal Creek Club president Greg King said. “We look forward to showcasing Shoal Creek as one of the premier golf clubs in the country. More importantly, this opportunity will allow us to highlight the student-athletes, colleges and universities on a national level.”

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PGA Works Golf Management University Scholarship recipients revealed for 2020-2021

PGA Reach announced Thursday the recipients of the 2020-2021 PGA Works Golf Management University Scholarship, aimed at promoting diversity.

Ten students received good news from PGA Reach this week.

Students from 10 different colleges across the nation were awarded the PGA Works Golf Management University Scholarship for the 2020-2021 academic school year. Recipients attend Clemson, Coastal Carolina, Eastern Kentucky, Florida Gulf Coast, Methodist, Nebraska-Lincoln, UCCS and UNLV.

The $8,000 scholarship each student received is awarded to students from across the United States who have diverse backgrounds and are working toward PGA Membership while pursuing full-time undergraduate studies at one of the 18 accredited PGA Golf Management Universities.

“PGA Reach is proud to award these outstanding students with a PGA Works Golf Management University Scholarship, as they pursue their dream of earning PGA Membership and a college degree,” said PGA President Suzy Whaley in a statement. “We congratulate them for their academic success, and we’re delighted that they represent an exciting future for the game and our industry.”

The recipients were selected based on their academic record, leadership and participation in their university and community activities. Work experience and playing ability were among the other factors.

2020-2021 Scholarship Recipients

Cole Carrigan, Eastern Kentucky University
Taylorsville, North Carolina
PGA Golf Management University Program Class of 2024

Brianna Fleming, Coastal Carolina University
Monaca, Pennsylvania
Coastal Carolina University
PGA Golf Management University Program Class of 2022

Mark Howard, Eastern Kentucky University
Lexington, Kentucky
PGA Golf Management University Program Class of 2023

Leah Im, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
PGA Golf Management University Program Class of 2023

Brayden Kelley, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
Fruita, Colorado
PGA Golf Management University Program Class of 2024

Grace McKinnon, Florida Gulf Coast University
Methuen, Massachusetts
PGA Golf Management University Program Class of 2024

Jerrell Parrish, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Hyattsville, Maryland
PGA Golf Management University Program Class of 2023

Breanna Reynolds, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Parker, South Dakota
PGA Golf Management University Program Class of 2023

Margaret Williams, Methodist University
Gambier, Ohio
PGA Golf Management University Program Class of 2024

Rachel Wohn, Clemson University
Savannah, Georgia
PGA Golf Management University Program Class of 2022

NBA All-Star Paul Millsap uniquely positioned to be first PGA WORKS ambassador

Paul Millsap, a four-time NBA All-Star and power forward for the Denver Nuggets, has become the next great crossover star in the golf world.

Paul Millsap, a four-time NBA All-Star and a power forward for the Denver Nuggets, has become the next great crossover star in the golf world, but in a way unlike other professional athletes before him. Millsap, 34, has been named the first-ever PGA WORKS Ambassador.

PGA WORKS is the flagship platform within the Inclusion pillar of PGA REACH, the 501(c)(3) charitable foundation of the PGA of America. The PGA WORKS mission is to diversify the golf industry’s workforce through initiatives like fellowships, scholarships, career exploration events and the PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship.

It’s a mission not unlike the one Millsap has undertaken through CORE4, an Atlanta-based Prep School Academy and elite basketball skills training facility he co-founded with his three brothers. CORE4, which opened the doors to its facility in 2018, operates on a mantra of four C’s: character, community, commitment and competition.

The program cultivates young men’s basketball skills but also puts an emphasis on life skills, from nutrition to financial literacy to career development. The goal of CORE4 is not just to develop the next generation’s star players, but also agents, skill development experts and strength and conditioning coaches.

Backed by Millsap’s passion for the game – he calls himself an avid golfer though humbly describes his game as still inconsistent – this approach will extend to the golf industry, as CORE4 will launch a golf academy that is designed to promote access to golf careers in the industry and pathways to PGA Membership.

Millsap, who played collegiately for Louisiana Tech and played for both the Utah Jazz and Atlanta Hawks before joining the Denver Nuggets in 2017, branched into golf about five years ago. He plays as often as he can in the offseason and is captivated by the game. He plays to a 13 handicap and calls his mid-irons the current strength of his game.

Crossing over from basketball to golf will be new territory for Millsap, but he’s uniquely positioned to do it.

“Through life, there’s key components and there’s always fundamentals to basketball, there’s fundamentals to golf, there’s fundamentals to life in general,” Millsap said. “All of them kind of go hand in hand, but when I picked up golf and dug a little bit deeper into what golf was about – patience and the strategy – those types of elements and components that go into that, it translates to basketball and to life.”

Denver Nuggets forward Paul Millsap (4) moves the ball against Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma (0). (Photo: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)

Eligible participants in the CORE4 Golf Academy will also be able to participate in PGA WORKS programs nationally. In addition, Millsap and CORE4 will fund a PGA WORKS Fellowship in the Georgia PGA Section. The PGA WORKS Fellowship is a 12-month paid entry-level position, based at a PGA Section office funded by PGA REACH. The Fellowship presents an experience that is a reflection of what a potential career in the golf industry can offer.

“PGA WORKS is positively impacting the composition of the golf industry’s workforce,” said PGA of America Chief People Officer Sandy Cross. “As we move our mission forward, it is very powerful for us to align with professional athletes like Paul Millsap, and his organization CORE4, who are equally committed to connecting talented individuals from diverse backgrounds with career opportunities in the golf industry.”

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