United Golfers Association Embraces 100 Years Of Black Excellence With Invitational Uplifting Rising Stars

This should be exciting!

The United Golfers Association (UGA) is set to host the UGA Invitational, presented by Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, to celebrate its 100-year legacy and uplift rising golf stars from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), the Golf Wire reported.

Kicking off on Valentine’s Day 2025, the weekend-long event will be held at the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, showcasing the next round of golf pros and providing them with opportunities such as player development grants for the winners in the junior divisions. In addition to two competitions taking place — the UGA Invitational for junior players and the Legacy Cup for primarily HBCU students — attendees will be able to support eight of the dozen Black women on the Professional Golf Tour Circuit.

The organization was founded in 1925 by a group of African American golfers who curated a separate series of professional golf tournaments for golfers amid the rise of racial segregation in the United States. Thanks to those golfers, UGA became a shining light of hope and gave a platform to Black golfers to compete, advance, and showcase their skills and combat discriminatory practices that kept them out of golf’s mainstream industry, according to press details shared with BLACK ENTERPRISE.

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The centennial invitational honors Black golfers who came through the UGA circuit to develop their talents and paved the way for the future generation of golfers. The event will hold tributes and awards to trailblazers including Ted Rhodes, Renee Powell, Charlie Sifford, Calvin Peete, Althea Gibson, Jim Dent, Jim Thorpe, and Lee Elder, the first Black golfer to play in The Masters.

A look back at this landmark event will highlight the history of the National Championships, going from 1926 to 1976, and will be labeled as a new era of aspiring golfers like Tarek “Ty” DeLavallade. The Chicago native didn’t know anything about UGA’s existence until 2020 when he was invited to speak on a golf diversity panel at the African American Golf Expo. He and business partner Andy Walker started working on highlighting UGA’s legacy and have since raised thousands and curated key relationships with corporations to provide support to young Black golfers who are looking forward to playing in college or at the pro level.

Outside of Coca-Cola’s support, other corporate sponsors include AARP, Cisco, CDW, Disney, Universal, the Tampa Bay Rays MLB team, and the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.

In recent years, a number of HBCUs, ranging from Florida A&M University to Fayetteville State University, have been highlighted for their golf teams. The North Carolina A&T State University golf team, with star player, former NBA player J.R. Smith, was featured on the Undisputed four-part docuseries in 2023.