Pioneering African-American golfer Lee Elder passes away at 87

Lee Elder, the first African-American to play in the Masters, a four-time PGA Tour winner and a Ryder Cup player, passed away on Sunday at the age of 87.

No immediate details were available about the cause of death but Elder had been experiencing respiratory difficulties. Arthur Johnson, a Jacksonville resident and a friend of Elder's for more than 50 years, said Elder died during a visit with his wife Sharon to his step-daughter Dory's home in San Diego.

"I talked to him on Thanksgiving and he sounded really strong, in good spirits," Johnson said. "This is really difficult. He was like a big brother to me ... we were the best of friends."

Elder grew up near Dallas, moved to Los Angeles after both of his parents died, and learned to play golf from legendary player and teacher Ted Rhodes. He also was befriended by world heavyweight boxing champion and avid golfer Joe Louis, who helped steer him to the United Golf Association Tour -- the only professional avenue at the time for Black golfers.

Elder came to dominate that Tour, winning 18 of 22 tournaments during one stretch. It was there that he met Johnson, who also played on the USGT.

"We hit it off right away," Johnson said. "Maybe it was because I played cross-handed, and he would play people cross-handed in money games and beat them. There was a lot of comradery on that tour back then. Everyone was trying to beat each other but we were all friendly."

Elder also toured with noted golf hustler Titanic Thompson and worked other side gigs on his own, such as playing an entire round standing on one leg when he hit.

Elder qualified for the PGA Tour in 1967 at the age of 33, lost to Jack NIcklaus in a playoff at Firestone and finished 45th on the money list as a rookie. But it took him eight more years to play at Augusta, qualifying by winning the 1974 Monsanto Open in Pensacola on an 18-foot birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole to beat Peter Oosterhuis.

A few years before that victory, Elder was not allowed to use the clubhouse at that tournament and changed his shoes each day in the parking lot.

“When I first qualified for the Tour, in 1967, I said I wanted to get that one thing that had not been accomplished out of the way. The Masters was the one tournament that hadn’t been integrated,” Elder once told Golfweek.

Johnson said Elder "is in the same conversation with Jackie Robinson," as far as groundbreaking achievements in sports by getting into the Masters.

"I'm not sure people understand the magnitude of what Lee accomplished," said Johnson, who was among a small circle of friends and family who stayed with Elder in Augusta that week and then went to every Masters with Elder since then, except for 2010 when Johnson underwent cancer surgery. "He was the right guy at the right time."

Elder played the Masters five times, making three cuts and tying for 17th in 1979. After his PGA Tour career, he carved out a solid second career on PGA Tour Champions, winning nine times.

Elder was honored in 2019 by the United States Golf Association with the Bob Jones Award for contributions to golf.

His journey came full circle last April when Elder was invited to be an honorary starter for the 2021 Masters with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.

“Today Lee Elder will inspire us and make history once more,” Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said on the first tee. “Lee, you have the honors.”

Elder, who used oxygen to assist his breathing, had a full set of golf clubs at his disposal at the first tee box and used a driver for balance, but he was unfit to hit a shot. When he took a seat to another round of applause, he said, “That feels good.”

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said Elder's accomplishments were "remarkable," considering all he had to endure: discrimination at tournament sites, fans picking up his balls in the fairway and throwing it in the woods before he could get to it and more than 100 death threats the week of his first appearance in the Masters.

“To have the success he had, while paving the way for others to dream big and achieve, is a testament to the type of man he was and how much talent he possessed," Monahan said in a statement. "The Tour is profoundly grateful for the career of Lee Elder, and we extend our sincere sympathies to his family.”

There has been a movement for Elder to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, primarily for his groundbreaking achievement of qualifying for the Masters. Elder was a frequent visitor to the Hall of Fame and played its courses often with Johnson.

Elder became a mentor to Tiger Woods and got a speeding ticket for driving 85 mph on I-20 speeding from Atlanta to Augusta to be there for the final round of the 1997 Masters when Woods became the first African-American winner of the tournament.

"Things have gotten better," Elder told the Tampa Bay Times in 2005 of watching Woods win that historic Masters, the first of his 15 major championships. "There is still a long way to go. But with Tiger doing what he's doing, he will open a lot more doors. A lot more barriers will come down."

Johnson said funeral arrangements are pending.

golfweek.com contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Pioneering African-American golfer Lee Elder passes away at 87