PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship

The 26th edition of the PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship presented by Brown Capital Management will be conducted, May 11-13, 2012 at PGA Golf Club, in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

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, President and 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 for this Championship.

The founders' goal was to elevate the game of golf in minority colleges and universities by giving each a chance to compete in a championship after being denied opportunities to compete in NCAA Collegiate golf events. The inaugural Championship was conducted in the spring of 1987 at Highland Park Golf Course in Cleveland, Ohio. Since 1998, PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla., has been host to the Championship, and in 2006, The PGA of America was granted complete ownership and management of the Championship by the National Minority College Golf Scholarship Fund. This National Collegiate Championship has developed into one of The PGA's key diversity initiatives.

In 2011, Bethune-Cookman University's men's team and the University of Texas-Pan American's women's team captured Division I titles, while Virginia State University won the men's Division II. Amit Odaiyar of Central Florida and Airielle Dawson of Towson University captured the men's and women's Independent Divisions respectively.

For the historical record of the National Minority College Golf Championship, click here.