Many expected Tiger Woods' historic victory in the 1997 Masters -- and the 13 majors since then -- to inspire other African-Americans to follow him into a game that was reserved for whites for more than a century.
Yet in the dozen years since Woods slipped on a green jacket at Augusta National and paid tribute to the black pioneers who broke down American golf's racial barriers, no other African-American has earned U.S. PGA Tour membership.
Not a single black woman plays on the U.S. LPGA Tour. Neither of America's top two developmental tours have black golfers in the pipeline, either.
"Tiger was the greatest gift ever for the PGA Tour," said Orin Starn, who heads the cultural anthropology program at Duke University.
"With him as its face, the PGA Tour didn't have to deal with issues of diversity, or worrying about the tour looking like the rest of America.
'Gotten worse'
"They could say, 'See, the problem is fixed. We have an African-American who is No. 1 in the world.' But the problem still exists. If anything, it's gotten worse."
There were eight black players on tour in 1975, the year Lee Elder was the first black golfer in the Masters and the year Woods was born. Now there is only Tiger.
"I think it's become harder to play out here," Woods said when asked to explain the decline of African-American golfers on tour.
"Playing opportunities and development and being able to learn the game and mature in the game has become more difficult."
He mentioned the preponderance of golf carts, which has eliminated the kind of caddie programs that produced players from Lee Trevino to Charlie Sifford.
'Not easy'
"And then the cost of getting involved in the game, and then the maintenance of a person trying to play day in and day out," Woods said. "It's not easy."
Woods' success and celebrity was supposed to change attitudes at golf clubs.
"How far have we come? All you have to do is look to realize we have not gone anywhere," said Eddie Payton, the longtime golf coach at historically black Jackson State University in Mississippi. "We're right in the same spot we were before."
Where are all the black golfers who were going to diversify a sport that once put out a "Whites Only" sign with no shame?
"It would be nice to see a few more of my buddies trying to play out here," said Tim O'Neal, who turned pro in 1997. He's still scraping by on the mini-tours.
Money
"But I've always been the only one since I was, like, 7 years old," O'Neal said. The simplest reason is money.
Sifford, who helped end the Caucasian-only policy and became the first black U.S. PGA Tour member in 1961, had only two sponsors in his career.
Tony Smith, an African-American in his early 40s, was toiling on the mini-tours until qualifying for the Buick Invitational last month by using clubs that were not properly fitted for him.
Only when he made the field at Torrey Pines did Callaway offer its services.
Advancement of diversity
Although programs such as The First Tee, which started in the euphoric wake of Woods' first Masters triumph, have helped expose the game to inner-city youths, there is still the matter of buying clubs and balls -- lots of balls -- and finding a course that is affordable.
This year, the Northern Trust Open handed out a "Charlie Sifford Exemption," giving a spot at Riviera to a player who represents the advancement of diversity in golf.
It went to Vincent Johnson, a two-time college winner who graduated from Oregon State University in three years.
"I want to thank Northern Trust for giving this man a chance," Sifford said. "I hope someday we have some more. It's been a long time. But it's never too late. We just have to keep truckin'."
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