Excerpts from PGATour.com
The goal of the FAMU Golf Team was to win the PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship May 10-12 in Port St. Lucie, Fla. They didn’t quite do that, but finished 2nd behind Bethune-Cookman University, 4 shots back. Meanwhile, Logan Bryant, a freshman from Miami, finished 2nd in the Independent Division.
Florida A&M University has won the championship just once, in 2000 when Coach Mike Rice was a member of the team. The first-year coach takes pride in that. He takes even greater pride in the mission at FAMU to emphasize African-American golfers. Curious as it may sound, but to compete at a team level in the PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship, you must be a historically Black university, but you are not obligated to field a team of minority golfers.
Rice is proactive in recruiting African-American golfers and although they didn’t quite bring home the championship, Rice said, “We had a really good showing, team and in the Independent division. I’m super proud of our season.”
Six of the 10 players on his roster are African-Americans. That they are diligent students, as well as serious competitive golfers, provides Rice with a sense of success. Like many other collegiate golf programs, FAMU’s includes players who dream of professional careers. But unlike many other collegiate programs, at FAMU these players with pro dreams also envision making golf more accessible to young African-Americans.
Link to the full article and video on PGAtour.com: