AUGUSTA, Ga. – Something extraordinary is happening this week at the Masters. For the first time in memory, and very likely for the first time ever, a golfer is speaking out strongly and persistently for voting rights, social justice and civil rights while at the same time playing in this iconic tournament at a private club that didn’t allow a Black man to be a member until 1990 or a woman until 2012.<\/p>\n
The golfer is biracial. His name is Cameron Champ. He’s only 25. Last year, he wrote the names of police shooting victims Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake on his shoes at a PGA Tour event. When he walked onto the driving range that day, he said, “I got asked by three different people, ‘Who are they?’ To me, that proves the point of why I’m doing it.”<\/p>\n
This thoughtful young man, this prodigious, big-hitting talent, is just three strokes out of the lead halfway through the Masters. Whatever happens the rest of the way, here is an athlete who is meeting the moment, both on the field of play and off.<\/p>\n
Tiger Woods, with all his power, has rarely cared to publicly address controversial social and cultural issues. <\/p>\n
Champ, on the other hand, won’t stop talking about them.<\/p>\n
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