Bermuda Black Golfers Week is set to launch with a revised lineup at the Weekend Preview event November 5-6. The condensed programme will connect local and international sponsors, celebrities, and influencers with locals and industry stakeholders. Ocean View Golf Course, a historically Black public golf course and the famed Port Royal Golf Course, will play host to the weekend activities. The event seeks to promote opportunities to drive diversity in sport, increase golf accessibility and celebrate legends in sport.
The weekend starts with The Legends Lunch featuring philanthropist, inspirational speaker, and legendary Olympian Dr. John W. Carlos and Bermuda’s own Clyde C. Best MBE, an international football trailblazer who was one of the first Black men to play First Division Football in England. Hazel Clark, three-time Olympian and BTA Director of Business Development, will host an intimate fireside chat with the two icons of sports activism at the Ocean View Golf Course. The image of John Carlos on the Olympic podium, black-fisted and shoe-less standing against poverty and demanding equitable treatment for all represents a historic moment in the conversation around sports activism for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Attendees will get a front-row seat to the dynamic conversation. Sponsor tables are available.
Hazel Clark said, “We look forward to welcoming the powerhouse Olympian and civil rights legend to the island and are excited to have him join my panel alongside Bermuda’s own Clyde Best. Their perspectives on driving diversity in sport are highly sought-after, and we are grateful to have him join us. Golf is one of the pillars of Bermuda’s tourism product, and we are delighted to wield our influence to showcase worldwide opportunities to strengthen the sport, expand accessibility and recognise pioneers in the sport’s diversity.”
Charles H. Jeffers II of the BTA said, “Bermuda continues to establish itself as a leading sports tourism destination demonstrated by our success hosting world-class sailing, triathlon and golf events. The Black Golfers Week Preview comes on the heels of the island’s third PGA Tour event, the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. This preview event builds on our sports tourism expertise, adding a socially conscious layer that will be a first in the world of golf. The timing is right, and Bermuda’s rich Black golf legacy positions us to deliver major, long-lasting impact for the sport.”
The weekend will include private golf lessons for beginners and a Tea on the Tee Happy Hour at Ocean View Golf Course. The weekend wraps with the inaugural Louis Rafael Kid Corbin Golf Tournament on Saturday, November 6. The tourney honours Corbin, the Black Bermudian golf professional who played an outsized role in breaking the colour barrier in golf in the United States and Canada and is the subject of a documentary and an upcoming book by NYU Professor of History Jeffrey Sammons. The tournament is a closed event for specially invited international and local guest players.
Event organisers have confirmed a host of bold-faced international participants, including World Long Drive Champion golfer, Troy Mullins; Grammy-award winning violinist, Miri Ben-Ari; award-winning poet and filmmaker Terrance Daye; former pro quarterback Damon Allen; American Olympic Athletes Jearl Miles Clark and Noah Lyles; and David Smith founding member New Jersey Hall of Fame, NJ Film Commission and Partner at Princeton Public Affairs Group.
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