Sifford bristles at any suggestion he was the Jackie Robinson of golf. That is simply not true. Blacks still are not universally welcome in golf. Amateur last August, the U.S. Golf Association's official publication, Golf Journal, featured a cover photograph of Woods pumping his fist as a critical putt dropped. The magazine was besieged with letters from angry readers.
Golf is a game that plods along, as it has on welcoming minorities into the sport.
This, too, represents progress. Golf is still the greatest game of all. It will move quickly into the 21st century, I hope, with open minds, open hearts and without prejudices. Tigermania, a phenomenon that has expanded unabated from the moment Woods turned pro last August, has helped expose golf to a segment of society that heretofore largely had ignored it, notably minorities. He's been great for golf.