JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Women’s golf is on the way back at Edward Waters College, with a big assist from The Players Championship.
The Players and EWC made a joint announcement on Monday that the school would reinstate the women’s golf program next year following a six-year absence. The Players donated $50,000 to EWC to help get the team up and running.
It also delivered more than $10,000 worth of golf supplies to the school, with the tournament’s red coats surprising EWC with that during the announcement.
“We really pride ourselves on listening to the community, understanding where there are needs. And when we heard this need, we wanted to do everything we can to fix the problem,” said Players executive director and vice president Jared Rice.
“And Marsha [Oliver] and the team identified what that was going to take and we’re really honored to be here today to help get EWC women’s golf back on the course.”
Rice and EWC president A. Zachary Faison Jr. said that the discussion began roughly six months ago as the groundwork began being laid for a return.
The EWC women’s golf program was launched in 2007 and played until 2015. It was scrapped after “budget and program challenges.”
“In a word, it’s transformative. This is something that has been a real priority for us as an institution to bring the game of golf back to EWC, particularly when you’re talking about women of color and women in general,” Faison said.
“As we know, the game of golf is underrepresented for women, particularly women of color. And so for Edward Waters to be able to be a conduit to bring that laudable goal of diversifying the game of golf, it was something that, again, is transformative and something that we were excited to have The Players to partner with us.”