Harold Varner III hoping to expand golf's footprint
— -- NAPA, Calif. -- Harold Varner III is resigned to the questions, answering them thoughtfully and courteously, hoping at some point the issue will fade off into the distance like one of his huge drives from the tee.
That day has yet to arrive in golf, where Varner finds himself beginning his PGA Tour career this week at the Frys.com Open as one of very few African-Americans in professional golf.
Tiger Woods debuted as a pro 19 years ago, and his 1997 Masters win figured to trigger more participation and interest among minorities. But change has been slow, as evidenced by so few minority golfers at the pro level. Varner is just the second African-American golfer since Woods to earn his PGA Tour card. Joseph Bramlett, who played on the PGA Tour in 2011, was the other.
"It does surprise me,'' said Varner, 25, at the Silverado Resort, where the PGA Tour's 2015-16 season begins Thursday. "I don't think Tiger really motivated me. I didn't see Tiger as a black or white thing. I just know he was the best player and he happened to be black.
"If me playing golf brings more African-Americans to the game, then the more the merrier. But I want to bring all types of people to the game. That's my goal.''
Varner has never met Woods, who was committed to play the Frys.com Open until back surgery last month forced him to cancel all of his golf tournament plans for the rest of the year.
Varner expects to meet him at some point during his rookie year on tour, when his immediate goals will be more about securing his playing privileges for another year than tackling golf's social issues. When the subject has come up in the past, Woods typically cited a lack of caddie programs and, of course, funding.
It was mostly before Varner was born that golf's fairways had more minority representation. Players such as Ted Rhodes and Charlie Sifford and Jim Dent and Jim Thorpe and Calvin Peete and Lee Elder -- the first African-American golfer to compete at the Masters -- are just a few that reached the PGA Tour.
Nearly all of the aforementioned pros got their start in golf as caddies, allowing them to learn the game while also giving them coveted access to good golf courses where they could hone their skills. The golf cart has made many caddie programs extinct, which closed one of the best avenues to the game.
And then there is access. Despite numerous developmental programs such as the First Tee, the majority of top players today make it to the pro ranks from a country club background that sees them go to golf academies or hook up with high-priced teaching.
Varner was introduced to the game by his father, Harold Jr., a car salesman from North Carolina who would drop his son off at a municipal course in Gastonia, then pick him up after work.
An annual junior pass -- that is no longer available at the course -- made it possible, Varner said.
"My parents didn't have the funds. You deal with it,'' he said. "Some things you just can't do, and I'm fine with it. I don't want to look at it like, 'Oh, I wish I had this or I wish I had that.' If I would've had that, I might not have made it.
"But those experiences of not being able to do certain things, those are fine with me. It's okay.''
Varner likes the camaraderie that golf brings, as well as the individual pursuit. His parents didn't have money to send him to national junior tournaments, so he played events closer to home and earned a golf scholarship to East Carolina.
"I really enjoyed it,'' said Varner, in reference to golfing as a kid. "There were other kids that were trying to get better. We didn't really know what we were doing at the time. Just wanted something to do during the day. I started getting better, and that helps, too. So I really enjoyed it and still do."
After graduating in 2012, Varner turned pro, then learned the difficulties of making it to the PGA Tour. That year, he was unable to make it through the PGA Tour's Qualifying Tournament.
"That was the first time where I was like, 'This is not as cool as I thought it was.' But I knew I was getting better."
Varner spent the past three seasons on the developmental Web.com Tour, where he finished 25th on the money list in 2015 to secure his PGA Tour card for the 2015-16 wraparound season. Varner played in all 25 events last season and posted top-20 finishes in two of his past three starts.
That made him just the second African-American golfer since Woods to advance to the PGA Tour. The other was Bramlett, who in 2010 made it through Q-School after playing collegiately at Stanford. After just one year on the PGA Tour, Bramlett lost his card and went back to the Web.com Tour through 2013 before back injuries kept him from competitive golf.
Varner knows that any golfer's time out here can be fleeting. It is a bottom-line business: the lowest scores prevail. To keep playing beyond this season, he'll need to finish among the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings. But he has had little time to dwell or dream.
After rookie orientation last week at tour headquarters in Florida, Varner -- who is one of 15 rookies in the field this week -- is back at it again now, looking at playing five of the six weeks of PGA Tour golf this fall.
"Just really excited,'' said Varner, who despite being 5-foot-8, averaged more than 313.4 yards off the tee to rank eighth in driving distance during the Web.com Tour last season. "It's another opportunity. Going to be a long season, so just need to play well. That's the key. That's what I focused on last year on the Web.com Tour, and that's what I'm going to focus on out here.
"Good golf is going to take care of everything.''
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