32nd edition of most culturally significant Championship in golf hosted at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (April 30, 2018) – The 32nd PGA Minority Collegiate Championship, the most diverse and culturally significant Championship in golf, will take place May 10-13 on the Ryder and Wanamaker Courses at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
The 54-hole PGA Minority Collegiate Championship is a stroke-play event contested across six divisions: NCAA Men’s Division I, Men’s Division II, Men’s NAIA, an overall Women’s Division (team), Men’s Individual and Women’s Individual.
While many of the participating teams represent historically black colleges and universities, the individual competition is open to any minority men and women student-athletes playing collegiate golf at the Division I, Division II or NAIA levels, or participants who are enrolled in one of the PGA of America’s PGA Golf Management University Programs.
One of the most important aspects of tournament week is the PGA Minority Collegiate Championship’s Career Expo, where participating student-athletes learn about employment prospects in the global golf business as well as opportunities beyond golf.
This year’s Championship also marks the return of Loritz “Scooter” Clark, PGA, who was recently named Manager of the PGA Minority Collegiate Championship. A prime example of the career opportunities available to participants in the event, Clark’s involvement dates back to 1987, when he played in the inaugural Championship.
Clark also enjoyed tremendous success as the Director of Intercollegiate Golf at Bethune-Cookman University, where his men’s and women’s teams collectively won 10 PGA Minority Collegiate Championship Division I titles, the most in the history of the Championship. As the event’s manager, Clark is focused on driving greater engagement among colleges and universities nationwide while promoting diversity and providing opportunities – both on and off the course – for the Championship field.
“I am proud to return and manage the PGA Minority Collegiate Championship, especially considering how much this event has impacted my career in golf,” said Clark. “Each year this showcase gets stronger-especially with the quality of players participating, and the involvement of national corporations and organizations in the career fair. These golf-industry businesses provide unmatched networking and career counseling to our outstanding student-athletes.”
In 2017, Bethune-Cookman University, located in Daytona Beach, Florida, captured both the Men’s Division I and the Women’s Division. For the Women’s team, the win marked its sixth consecutive PGA Minority Collegiate Championship and 14th overall title, while the men’s team earned its fourth title in five years.
In Men’s Division II, the University of West Alabama won the 2017 title, while the University of Houston-Victoria took home the Men’s NAIA championship for the third time in four years.
In the individual competitions, Tiana Jones of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s PGA Golf Management University program captured the 2017 Women’s title for a fourth consecutive year. Jones has since graduated and is a PGA Professional serving as the Director of Better Golf at Lozano Golf Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. Nabeel Khan of the University of Connecticut won the Men’s title.
The PGA Minority Collegiate Championship originated at a meeting in November 1986, following the Jackson State University Golf Tournament. The founders’ goal was to elevate the game at minority colleges and universities by giving them an opportunity to compete in a championship in an era when they were excluded from playing in many collegiate golf events. The inaugural Championship was conducted in the spring of 1987 at Highland Park Golf Course in Cleveland. Since 1998, PGA Golf Club has hosted the Championship, and in 2006 the PGA of America was granted complete ownership and management of the Championship by the National Minority College Golf Scholarship Fund.
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Contact:
John Dever, PGA of America, 561-624-7693, jdever@pgahq.com
Jared Minski, Mastro Communications, Inc., 732-469-5700, jared@mastrocomm.com
