Johnson Looks to Defend Title at PGA Minority Championship
Corvallis, Ore. – Oregon State men’s golf senior Vincent Johnson, looking to defend his title from a season ago, travels this week to Port St. Lucie, Fla. for the 22nd PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship.
The event will be held for the 11th consecutive year at the PGA Golf Club, May 9-11 and consists of three rounds of 18-holes. A record 51 colleges and universities from around the country are competing in this year’s event. The three rounds will be played on the Tom Fazio-designed Ryder and Wanamaker Courses.
”I guess I didn’t know exactly what to expect going down last year and overall it was a lot of fun,” Johnson said. “It is a great chance to go compete and it was a lot of fun playing at a really high level.”
Johnson will compete for the second time at the championship, this time as defending men’s individual champion. He had a great tournament last year shooting one of the lowest scores for a three round event in school history with a 6-under par 210.
“I’m really excited to get down there,” Johnson said. “I really like the course that we’re playing on and it’ll be a chance to get something going and kind of get ready for our post-season as well with the regional coming up.”
Competition will be held in Men’s Division I, Division II and NAIA; Women and Independent Men’s and Women’s.
The University of Texas-Pan American Division I men’s and Bethune-Cookman College women, both two-time defending champions, will battle for their third consecutive title this year.
The PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship originated from a meeting in November 1986 following the Jackson State University Golf Tournament. The late Dr. Herschel Cochrane, Dr. Joe D. Saunders of the National Negro Golf Association, Jackson State University Golf Coach Eddie Payton, Rose Harper-Elder of the Sports Management Institute and William (Bill) Dickey founder of the Bill Dickey Scholarship Association and the 1999 PGA Distinguished Service Award winner, are credited as the founders of this Championship.
The goal was to elevate the game of golf in minority colleges and universities by giving them a chance to compete in a championship because of being denied opportunities to compete in NCAA Collegiate Golf events. The first Championship was conducted in the spring of 1987 at Highland Park Golf Course in
The win at the PGA Minority Championship last year was Johnson’s second career individual tournament win and his first since 2005 when he won the Northwest Collegiate Classic.
“Whenever you tee it up, although you want to stay focused on process and everything, you are still going out there to compete and ultimately win,” Johnson said. “It’s exciting to go to another event and know that you have a chance to compete for a title.”
“I think it was a great confidence builder for him to go down and win a tournament on different grass than we’re used to up here in the northwest,” men’s golf head coach Brian Watts said. “It shows that he’s able to adapt to the conditions on hand.”
The championship comes between the Pac-10 Men’s Golf Championship and the NCAA West Regional in Bremerton, Wash. The Beavers are looking for senior leadership as they make the push to advance to nationals after losing out last year in a playoff.
“We’re hoping that he can go down to Florida, play some great golf and see what happens when we go to regional,” Watts said.
State Farm Insurance extended its sponsorship to support the PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship through 2010. The State Farm sponsorship provides funding of a one-hour Championship highlight program on Golf Channel.
