Lee Elder Takes His Rightful Place Amongst The Legends of Golf

This morning, the eyes of millions will be fixed on an 86-year-old man swinging a golf club on the world’s most famous course.

Lee Elder has been to Augusta National many times — the first in 1975 — but the raucous applause he’ll likely receive today is a stark contract to the reception of decades ago.

Elder, the first African-American to compete in the Masters, received hate mail leading up to that debut appearance. He was forced to rent two houses in Augusta to avoid detection and made sure that whenever he did appear in public, he had company in case he were ever targeted by a mob.

Today, he’ll be an honorary starter at the golf world’s most prestigious event.

“It’s been a good run for me in the sense that it’s been so positive,” Elder recently told Golf Digest. “When people called, they weren’t calling to say this should have been done a long time ago. The conversation was of peacefulness, calm, and thank goodness this happened before it was too late.”

Elder failed to make the cut during that 1975 appearance, but if you measure his performance by courage, humility and perseverance, he shattered the course record.

He earned just over $1M throughout his professional golf career — less than a current PGA tour player presently makes for a single victory — but he never allowed that to make him cynical.

“I tell people I don’t have a lot of money, but I have a lot of love,” Elder said.

He lost his close friend Hank Aaron last year, and while admits he doesn’t know how much time he has left, Elder still goes about each day with passion, enthusiasm and optimism, no matter painful the wounds of yesteryear may have been.

“I wouldn’t want it any other way in my life right now,” he said.