The conversation stuck with APGA Tour co-founder and CEO Ken Bentley. PGA Tour player Billy Horschel has been an avid supporter of the pro circuit for minority golfers, and Bentley was trading ideas last year with the golfer’s mental coach, Dr. Bhrett McCabe. Among the topics was the notion that the APGA should focus more on its growing appeal to young golfers rather than a headlong mission to see its players reach the upper echelons of pro golf.
“That really opened my eyes to a bunch of stuff,” Bentley said. “When we started this thing, our focus was to get guys to the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour, and we invested a lot of money in that. And I think that should continue to be a part of what we do, but I think we’ve missed out on the big picture of what the APGA Tour has been.”
That belief—that the APGA should be considered for its inspirational value and not just a pro steppingstone—has only been strengthened for Bentley by what he’s seen over the last few years. At a Cameron Champ Foundation event, the father of a 12-year-old boy approached Bentley and said, “All my son talks about is playing on the APGA Tour.” The family’s plan is to have him play in college and hone his skills with the hope of reaching the APGA.
Bentley recalled the father saying, “You got to make sure you’re around for my son.”
“That whole thing of being an inspiration is probably something we haven’t captured enough,” Bentley admitted. “That’s what we want to talk to our players about—the role they play in growing the game. Even though they’re trying to get to the PGA Tour or Korn Ferry, we don’t want to lose sight of this impact we have.”
To that point, Bentley offered another vivid memory from farther back in the APGA’s history. In 2017, one of the tour’s best veteran players, Ohio State alum Kevin Hall, played in the PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational on the Charlie Sifford Exemption, and as the golfer left the 14th green at Riviera, a young boy, who happened to be white, asked Hall to autograph a ball. “You’re my hero,” the boy said.
It was a moment that Hall and Bentley weren’t going to forget.
“We almost sell our guys short if they don’t make it to the PGA Tour. It looks like their careers and the work we do is not beneficial,” Bentley said. “When you look at how these guys have inspired the next generation, that’s the real story of the APGA.”
• • •
For the 15-year-old APGA, which is holding the Cisco Black History Month Classic this week at TPC Sawgrass in Florida, the next generation is beginning to arrive with a quality and depth the tour hasn’t seen, and there is every reason to believe that aspiring kids will look to reach the circuit in coming years.
To be inspired, they could have started with watching Golf Channel on a Sunday in late January this year, when a senior from the College of Charleston, Kieron van Wyke, outlasted two-time APGA Player of the Year Chase Johnson and three-time U.S. Open qualifier Luis Gagne in a Farmers Invitational playoff to become the first amateur ever to win on the tour. On the difficult Torrey Pines South Course set up for the Farmers Insurance Open, van Wyke closed the tournament with a 71, besting by two shots the final-round score that Harris English recorded to win the PGA Tour event 24 hours earlier.
Kieron van Wyke was the first amateur to win on the APGA Tour when he captured the 2025 Farmers Invitational at Torrey Pines.
WILLIE TOLEDO LOS ANGELES
Not surprisingly, van Wyke is the current leader by a wide margin in the APGA Collegiate Ranking, which has become an enormous incentive for players.
Since the APGA and PGA Tour partnered on the rankings in 2020, with Bridgestone becoming a presenting sponsor of the Collegiate Development Program, the top five players in the standings after each year’s college season earn potential career-changing benefits: APGA membership through the following summer; paid access to PGA Tour Qualifying School; and financial support for travel to APGA events, home course membership, instruction, and equipment and fitting through the remainder of their graduation year. The top-ranked player also gets a sponsor’s exemption into the KFT’s UNC Health Championship.
This past APGA season proved how quickly the young players can make noise.
Fresh off finishing second in the APGA college ranking, former Howard University star Greg Odom Jr. shot 66-63 to win the Mastercard APGA Tour Championship at TPC Sugarloaf in early August and then backed it up two weeks later with another victory in the APGA Cisco Invitational over 54 holes at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill.
In those two wins, Odom collected $105,000 in prize money to add to the support the APGA has given him.
“For minorities, it’s really hard to start this journey,” Odom told Golf Digest. “Golf is not cheap, and the cost of living is so high. It’s huge to have a place to play.”
Odom ended up finishing second to Chase Johnson in the APGA’s 2024 season-long points race, named for Jeff Daily, the former Farmers Insurance CEO. In third was Troy Taylor II, a Michigan State alum who finished No. 1 in the college ranking for 2022-23. Taylor secured his first APGA win in the Farmers Fall Series last October.
Troy Taylor II hits a chip during the 2022 John Shippen National Golf Invitational.
Rey Del Rio
“What they do with the collegiate rankings is really cool,” Taylor said. “The benefits of being in that top five, with the support and stipends, and not having to worry about the money, that was huge for me. It allowed me to play golf and not be as stressed. It got my feet wet.”
In his relatively short time on the APGA, Taylor is already noticing a big difference in the quality of competition. “The scores are getting lower and lower,” he said. “[In 2024], there were so many good guys. I had to shoot nine under [for 36 holes in the Fall Series] and a 64 to barely win. It shows you where the tour is going. It’s only making everybody better. Now, you go and play in Q School or get those [PGA and Korn Ferry Tour starts], you’re prepared because you know you’re playing good golf, that you can compete.”
In terms of Q School, the APGA had a record number of players (26) reach at least the First Stage of qualifying this year, though none made it through to earn their PGA Tour cards.
Everett Whiten, Jr. poses with tournament host Billy Horschel after the final round of the 2022 Billy Horschel APGA Tour Invitational.
Tracy Wilcox
Another APGA Collegiate Ranking top-five product who won in his rookie season of 2024 was Everett Whiten Jr. A teammate of Odom’s at Howard, Whiten shot 69-67 in July at famed Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio—the site of eight Tiger Woods PGA Tour wins—to capture the Bridgestone APGA Collegiate Ranking Invitational.
Coming from a Bisons golf program that has experienced enormous benefits because of the support of NBA star Steph Curry, Whiten sounds like he’s of the same mindset as Bentley when it comes to inspiring younger golfers to pick up the game and reach for success.
“Hopefully, I can make an impact for more young Black golfers to get opportunities,” Whiten said. “We spend countless hours working hard, putting one step in front of the other. It’s tough, but you want to have an impact, to let the kids behind you know that anything’s possible. I want to open doors for the kids who look like me. I want them to know how important golf can be in life. You don’t have to go pro and be on TV to have skill and make an impact.”
Bentley, the APGA’s leader, couldn’t have said it better himself.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
