Charlie Sifford | |||||||
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Personal information | |||||||
Full name | Charles Luther Sifford | ||||||
Born | Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. | June 2, 1922||||||
Died | February 3, 2015 (aged 92) Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. | ||||||
Sporting nationality | United States | ||||||
Residence | Brecksville, Ohio, U.S.[1] | ||||||
Career | |||||||
Turned professional | 1948 | ||||||
Former tour(s) | PGA Tour Champions Tour | ||||||
Professional wins | 22 | ||||||
Number of wins by tour | |||||||
PGA Tour | 2 | ||||||
PGA Tour Champions | 1 | ||||||
Other | 19 | ||||||
Best results in major championships | |||||||
Masters Tournament | DNP | ||||||
PGA Championship | T33: 1965 | ||||||
U.S. Open | T21: 1972 | ||||||
The Open Championship | DNP | ||||||
Achievements and awards | |||||||
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Charles Luther Sifford (June 2, 1922 – February 3, 2015) was an American professional golfer who was the first African American to play on the PGA Tour. He won the Greater Hartford Open in 1967 and the Los Angeles Open in 1969. He also won the United Golf Association's National Negro Open six times, and the PGA Seniors' Championship in 1975.
For his contributions to golf, Sifford was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004. He was awarded the Old Tom Morris Award in 2007, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014, and an honorary doctorate from the University of St Andrews. Lee Trevino referred to Sifford as the "Jackie Robinson" of golf, and Tiger Woods acknowledged that Sifford paved the way for his career.