Charlie Sifford was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1922. Golf entered his life through caddying, which provided work and opportunities to develop his own game. He later competed on the United Golf Association circuit, winning its National Negro Open six times. Five of those victories came in succession, from 1952 through 1956.
Those results developed within a sport divided by race. The PGA of America maintained a rule restricting membership to white players until 1961. Sifford faced harassment and threats both before and after the rule’s removal. Removing a written barrier did not end the discrimination that surrounded actual competition.
In presenting Sifford with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2014, President Barack Obama identified him as the first African American to earn a PGA Tour card. Obama also described exclusion from clubhouse restaurants and abuse from spectators.
Sifford won the Greater Hartford Open Invitational in 1967 and the Los Angeles Open in 1969. His championship golf continued with the 1975 PGA Seniors’ Championship. The citation read at his 2014 White House ceremony recognized his World Golf Hall of Fame induction and an honorary doctorate from the University of St. Andrews.
His family later helped preserve the materials of that career. In March 2024, The Charlotte Post reported a gift of more than 200 artifacts to the USGA, including letters, photographs, clothing, medals and clubs. The article described plans to display material in New Jersey and selected items at the World Golf Hall of Fame in Pinehurst. His son Charles Sifford Jr. explained the family’s decision to entrust the material to the museum.
Sifford had died in 2015. The collection his family gave to the USGA keeps his letters, medals and clubs available for study alongside the competitive record they document.
