Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 9, 1995 TAG: 9504100052
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: AUGUSTA, GA. LENGTH: Long
Twenty years ago, Lee Elder carried the weight of an entire race as he strolled to the first hole at Augusta National Golf Club.
``I was shaking like a leaf,'' said the man who broke the Masters color line in 1975. ``I prayed that I wouldn't top the ball. Really, that's how nervous I was.''
A huge gallery lined the course from fairway to tee, straining to get a look at the person who, as Elder put it, ``had broken up their little party.''
He proceeded to smack his tee shot straight down the middle, 245 yards away. At that moment, all the grief he had endured - turned away from hotels when he played tournaments in the South, taunted by whites who felt he had no business in the game - finally seemed worth it.
``What a relief,'' Elder recalled, his shoulders sagging even today. ``I didn't even stoop over to pick up the tee. I was afraid I might fall down, so I just left it there. Gene [Littler, his player partner] picked it up and gave it back to me.
``It was like the weight of a two-ton truck being lifted off your shoulders.''
With that one simple act - a black man striking a little white ball - Augusta National changed forever. Sure, it would be another 15 years before the first black was taken in as a member (a second joined last year), but Elder's landmark appearance in 1975 finally ripped down that invisible ``Whites Only'' sign posted at the head of Magnolia Lane.
``People who live here say to me, `Things have changed since you qualified to play here at Augusta. It's opened up more,''' he said. ``That's really rewarding.''
Elder, who played in seven Masters in the 1970s and early '80s, returned to Augusta this week not to mark the anniversary of his historic first appearance, but to see another minority golfer make his Masters' debut. Tiger Woods walked the same fairways as Elder two decades ago, in many ways carrying the same burdens and expectations.
``He's the reason why I came,'' Elder said, relaxing at one of the umbrella-covered tables that dot the immaculate green lawn behind the clubhouse. ``Here's a kid who at age 19 really has his head in the right place.''
Elder is pinning his hopes on Woods to rescue what he calls ``a dying breed'' - the black golfer. In Elder's day, there were about a dozen blacks playing on the PGA Tour. Many of them, the 60-year-old Elder iswsswncluded, have since moved on to the Senior cirswwwwwcuit. Only one black, Jim Thorpe, still plays the regular Tour.
``The days of the caddy are over with,'' said Elder, one of those who learned the game while hauling bags for others. ``That's very hurting for us. That's the only way we know [to get involved with golf] at this particular time.''
Elder didn't qualify for the PGA Tour until he was 33 - ``a 33-year-old rookie, imagine that,'' he chuckles now as he watches a tour filled with big-hitting 20-year-olds - and spent the next six years chasing his dream to play in the Masters.
``It's such a hard thing to qualify for,'' he said. ``I was close to winning tournaments on several occasions, but every time I was close those thoughts would start to creep into my mind [about the Masters]. ... Quite naturally, I would always have one of the 72s or 73s in the last round and get no tournament win.''
After several close misses, Elder finally broke through at the 1974 Pensacola Open, winning a playoff against Peter Oosterhuis.
``I remember jumping up in the air about 20 feet,'' Elder said. ``Where the putter went, I do not know. Somebody must have got it and carried it with 'em. As soon as the putt fell, I threw it in the air and I never saw it again.''
That victory came a week after the 1974 Masters, so Elder had a full year to prepare for his historic debut at Augusta National the following spring.
``I'll tell you, that was one tough year for me because there were so many things that people wanted me to be involved with,'' Elder said. ``All the speaking engagements, personal appearances, banquets, things of that nature, I ballooned to 213 pounds from 175.''
Unlike Henry Aaron, who endured vicious racial taunts as he chased Babe Ruth's home run record, Elder said he heard nothing but positive, encouraging comments after qualifying for the Masters. His most vivid memory is driving through the front gate onto Magnolia Lane and being greeted at the front door of the clubhouse by Clifford Roberts, the late Augusta National co-founder and a man viewed by some as a racist.
``He let me know that whatever I needed, he was a short yell away,'' Elder said. ``It really wasn't something he went overboard to do, but I was happy to see him do that.''
Elder shot a respectable 2-over-par 74 in his first round at Augusta, but he soared to 78 the next day and failed to make the cut.
``I was overwhelmed by it,'' he conceded. ``I came in here kind of lackadaisical. I didn't think I had to prepare myself mentally. I told myself it was just another golf tournament.
``Boy, was I wrong.''
Elder went on to play in six more Masters, posting his best finish in 1979 (a tie for 17th) and his best score in 1977 with a 1-under-par 287 that included a second-round 68.
by CNB