Willie Mack III fired a 3-under 69 at the famed TPC Sawgrass on Friday to take a two-shot lead in the inaugural Billy Horschel APGA Tour Invitational.
Mack made the turn at 1 over but made three straight birdies on Nos. 12, 13 and 14 and made another one on 16 to take charge. He parred the famous 17th hole, which was playing at 128 yards on Friday.
Mack holds a two-shot lead over three players: Mahindra Lutchman, Kamaiu Johnson and Troy Taylor II. Those are the only four golfers to break par. Jared Garcia is in fifth at even par. The tournament is 36 holes and will conclude on Saturday.
“It’s been a special few days this week. We’re getting the opportunity to play on this great golf course. Just having Billy Horschel’s name associated with the event is special,” Mack said after his round.
The tournament week has been about more than golf. The 18-player field has participated in a roundtable as well as seminars and other development opportunities with golf industry leaders.
Among the business leaders participating were Cisco Systems CEO Chuck Robbins, Farmers Insurance CEO Jeff Dailey, APGA Tour CEO Ken Bentley and Marsha Oliver, VP of Community and Inclusion for the PGA Tour.
The APGA was established in 2008 to bring more diversity to professional golf through a series of tournaments for minority players. The PGA Tour began assisting the APGA last year.
“If I wasn’t fortunate enough to get to the University of Florida and have a successful career there, it was going to be a struggle for me to try and play golf,” Horschel said. “My family was very blue collar, grew up lower middle class and it was going to be tough for my parents to support me. … understanding what these guys could do on a very limited budget, I felt like I could help these guys by providing another opportunity to further their dream of playing on the PGA Tour.”
Mack said he’s had frequent communication with Horschel, a six-time Tour winner.
“He shoots me some texts throughout my couple PGA Tour starts so it’s always exciting to have him so successful on the PGA Tour and give a hand to somebody who’s trying to get where he’s at.”
Horschel sees the potential for golfers on the APGA.
“These guys got a lot of talent and all they really need is a little bit of mentorship and some financial backing, and I think we’re going to see, hopefully in the next five, 10 years a lot more minorities out on the PGA Tour, which would be a great thing for the game of golf.”
The Horschel event is not part of the APGA Tour’s 2021 points race. The season concludes with the APGA Tour Championship at TPC Sugarloaf Aug. 8-10.
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Spanish