It's easy to spot black golfers at the area's Regions Cup amateur golf tournaments. There are so few of them, they can't help but stand out.

It's been more than 10 years since Tiger Woods turned pro and became the first black player to win the Masters Tournament, but his meteoric success (12 major championships, 57 PGA Tour wins) hasn't produced the expected trickle-down effect among blacks, at least not in area tournament golf.

At a normal Regions Cup stop - there are 11 of them this year - 60 to 110 golfers are in the field. The average turnout of black golfers is "four or five," said Robert Samuels, who is black and one of the regulars on the circuit.

"It surprises me; you would think there would be more," said Mike Kelley, a white golfer in the senior division, where he is a two-time winner.

The most popular Regions Cup event has been the Augusta City Amateur at Forest Hills Golf Club. The tournament drew 102 players. Five are black.

Of those, two are in the 50-over senior division, which means they were playing golf long before Woods' arrival was supposed to change the game's racial landscape.

Missing youth

The senior division's black "Big Three" of Chuck Withers, Kenny Larry and Samuels are regular participants in the Regions Cup - and among the top players.

Withers, 57, has won 10 senior titles, which ranks third on the all-time list. Samuels, 52, has two victories, and set the Regions Cup scoring record with 63 last weekend. Larry, 51, has three titles, all this season.

It's in the under-50 regular division where the Woods effect should be showing up by now, but isn't. In more than 130 tournaments since the Regions Cup started in 1988, there has never been a black winner in the regular division.

There are no blacks in the regular division who are faithful participants like Withers, Larry and Samuels in the senior division. Players including Amos Captain, Eric Stallings, Mike Stokes, Chris Cole, Vincent Scott, Jessie Melton and Greg McCord have all competed this season, but only sparingly.

Richmond Academy star Shepherd Archie is playing in the city amateur, but it's his first start of the year. He's turned in rounds of 74-71-145 and is tied for eighth place.

Paul Bussey, the 2005 club champion at Forest Hills, has played in the past, but is missing this year.

"They are the ones I wish would come out and play in more of them," Samuels said of blacks in the regular division.

The best finish this season by a black player in the regular division was by Stokes, who beat defending champion Phillip McCormick in the first round of the City of Augusta Match Play Championship. Stokes then lost in the quarterfinals. Officially, he finished tied for fifth.

Holding back

So where are all of the Augusta area's young black tournament golfers?

"I really don't know; I wish I had an answer for you," Samuels said.

"I really can't say," said Jerry Beard, another black senior golfer. "I am surprised more don't play."

Samuels said he knows "a number" of blacks who could win if they played.

Echoed Larry: "There are some that could compete and win."

"There are a lot of good minority golfers in the area, too," said Stallings, a 20-year-old Paine College golfer. "Chris Cole, our No. 1 player (at Paine), I know he could compete and (there are) a couple of others I could name off."

The black Regions Cup regulars have different theories as to why blacks are so few in number at the tournaments.

Samuels believes some "might be scared to show their game" in tournament play, knowing that their scores will be published in The Augusta Chronicle.

"Maybe they're a little shy about putting their games in public," Samuels said. "Everybody's going to see what you shoot. It's the fear of not doing well and being exposed. They don't want everybody to know. But that's how you learn to play."

Said Beard: "Some of them think they don't play well enough. They'd rather play among themselves where they can have their little game. I've always tried to play competitively against anybody. It doesn't matter to me."

Larry and Withers believe economics are keeping some blacks away, especially the younger ones whose lives aren't as financially settled as the seniors. Entry fee to all the tournaments is at least $100.

"Not that $100 is a lot of money, but a lot of blacks are used to playing at The Patch (Augusta Municipal Golf Course) where you can play for $10 to $12," said Larry, who also believes blacks aren't "committed totally to it (the Regions Cup)."

Stallings, a former Aquinas quarterback and basketball player, said it can be expensive to play in the tournaments, but his parents help him out.

However, Stallings believes the real reason there are so few blacks is because the word hasn't spread to them about the Regions Cup, the premier local amateur golf series that is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

"It doesn't get the publicity that it should because everybody is a good golfer out here," Stallings said during a tournament in June at Persimmon Hill Golf Club, where he shot 78-85. "If it got a little more publicity, more people would know about it and would probably show up."

Stallings has been playing in Regions Cup events for a couple of years.

"I love it; it's great competition," he said. "It's something I want to do every summer to work on my game and get better."

First things first

Future Regions Cup black golfers might be on Damascus Road. That's where First Tee of Augusta is located.

First Tee of Augusta, which opened in 2001, is for youngsters up to age 18. They are taught life skills and golf, in that order.

"The ripple effect (from Tiger Woods) is over there," Larry said.

First Tee executive director Jill Brown said "23 to 25" percent of their golfers are minorities. That's up from 19 percent when she took over in 2003.

Brown said Woods' success has definitely sparked interest in golf among young minority players.

However, she said if they expect to have a chance to follow his lead playing college golf, they must have an infrastructure in place. It must provide them accessibility to courses, parental support and financial resources.

"If you don't have that base, for anyone who plays golf, talent alone is not enough; desire is not enough," Brown said.

Brown said First Tee provides accessibility with its 6-hole course and the five area affiliate courses that give member discounts. First Tee also provides instruction.

For a talented player to earn a scholarship to a Division I program, they must be noticed by recruiters. Big-time college coaches no longer recruit based on a player's high school performance. It's in regional and national events, such as those run by the American Junior Golf Association, where the players showcase their games and try to catch the eye of recruiters.

That requires money for travel, lodging, food and entry fees. First Tee can't pay for that. Brown said parents around the country pay as much as $20,000 a year in expenses to take their child to these tournaments, trying to land a golf scholarship.

"At some point, there is still a big chunk missing," Brown said, referring to the fact many juniors' parents can't afford to send them to out-of-town tournaments. "Who's going to pay for that? It's an issue of how do we support them? We created the interest. How do we turn that into something that will continue."

Brown said some First Tee graduates have gotten college scholarships, but they were to historically black schools. Antwan Hawthorne, who works at First Tee, plays for Paine College. And J.P. Jones will be a freshman in the fall at Jackson State in Mississippi.

The big question is: will the young black players stay with the game?

"You've got quite a few (blacks) at the First Tee, but you know and I know that golf is not the hoopla game as much as basketball and football is," Beard said. "That's why a lot of them don't get into golf. They'd rather play basketball or football."

"Some of the ones that stay with the game will turn out to be exceptional," Beard said.

"There are going to be some coming along. There are going to be some great black players because the game is getting to be so athletic."

That may be so, but it might not happen for some time.

"I do see great minority golfers coming along," Brown said. "I think it's just going to take time. It's going to take a while for anyone who hasn't been exposed to golf."

How long it takes is anyone's guess.

Jeff Keck, who worked with Brown at First Tee from 2002-04, said it could be as soon as five years, "if they choose to stay with the game."

Wesley Ellis, a local senior black golfer, isn't so optimistic. Accomplished black golfers might be coming along in the next decade, but they won't be good enough to make the PGA Tour, where Woods is the only black player.

"It will be another generation of black golfers before we ever see another black face on the tour," he said. "Experience and exposure is what makes a good golfer. They don't have the exposure. Lack of exposure exists even now."

Getting along

All those surveyed for this story said racial discrimination is not an issue on the Regions Cup.

"Not to my knowledge; it might have been subtle," Stallings said when asked if he's ever felt discrimination at a tournament.

"I have not experienced any of that," said Larry. "I've found the guys to be extremely cordial. Obviously, it's very competitive - we all want to win - but I haven't felt any tension among my competitors because of prejudice. They have treated me with the utmost respect."

Said Samuels: "Actually, it's been real enjoyable. All the guys have been real receptive. I've never had a problem with anyone. They say, 'Glad to play with you.' There has never been anything in any derogatory way.

"Nobody sees color anymore," Samuels added. "Everybody accepts everybody. We have some fun; it's great competition. And after it's over, we sit around drinking beer and joking."

Withers still remembers how warmly he was accepted in his first tournament. He'd just turned 50 and was playing in the senior division of the 2000 Persimmon Hill Classic. Withers even remembers his white playing partners that day - Danny Williams, Frank Herlong and Jerry Flanders.

"When I got on the first tee, they asked me if I was playing in the senior division because they were older than I was," Withers said. "They accepted me as another golfer from the first day I played."

Larry cited an example of racial harmony that occurred at a Regions Cup tournament at Bartram Trail event in June. He and Glen Hurt, who is white, were preparing to go out for a sudden-death playoff to determine the winner.

"Glen told me, 'If I can't win, I'd certainly love to see you win,'" said Larry, who beat Hurt on the first hole of the playoff. "That showed the friendly competitiveness of the senior division that people have demonstrated. Guys are very classy and professional and have made me feel very welcome."

Late starters

For the few black players on the Regions Cup circuit, being in the minority is nothing new. It happens almost every time they play, no matter where.

"In most cases, we're always outnumbered," Samuels said.

They all know the reason for that.

"The game of golf has always been a white sport," said Larry, who didn't start playing until he was 20, but ended up making the All-Army teams in 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1999. "Now if you're ever going to play any golf (as a black), you're going to be outnumbered. If you're looking for even numbers, you're looking in the wrong place."

It's a cultural thing, Larry said.

"For a lot of us, we were not fortunate to play at an early age," he said. "I'm not mad. We were out playing basketball, football and running track when they were playing golf. A lot of good blacks were lucky to pick up the game at 18 or 19 while white players started at age 5."

Larry grew up in Sacramento, Calif., where he was not exposed to the game.

"No one in my family played golf," he said. "None of the neighborhood kids did. It wasn't the game of choice. We weren't afforded the opportunity to do so - nor did we want to."

He took up golf when he went into the service.

"I just wanted to try something else and a lot of friends I met in the Army played golf and they took me out there," Larry said.

Samuels didn't start playing until he was 30, and then only because "a couple of buddies" starting playing.

"I went out with them and fell in love with it; I wish I had taken it up when I was younger," he said.

Withers, who was an accomplished basketball player and bowler, didn't pick up golf clubs until he was 35.

"There weren't any golfers I knew that played and I wasn't interested in it," Withers said. "It never dawned on me. There wasn't any interest until I got around people who played. I said, 'Hey, I'd like to learn.'"

Samuels, who grew up in Augusta, said his high school, Josey, didn't have a golf team.

Because country clubs didn't allow blacks in his youth and there weren't any semi-private clubs in town, he was limited to the public Augusta Municipal Golf Course if he'd wanted to learn the game.

"There weren't too many places I could play even if I wanted to. The closest thing to golf I knew was Putt-Putt," said Samuels, who was more interested in hunting and fishing back then.

Beard, an Augusta native who at age 66 is 14 years older than Samuels, remembers that blacks couldn't even play at Augusta Municipal Golf Club until the 1960s.

"The only place to play was that little nine-hole course at Fort Gordon," Beard said, referring to the defunct Center Course.

Larry said because more white golfers started at an earlier age than blacks means they are generally better golfers.

"In most cases, we won't be as good," Larry said. "We certainly understand the reason why it is like it is. It's like you see on the tour; there are going to be many more whites."

Beard accepts that fact, but it doesn't mean he likes it.

"Yeah, it bothers me," said Beard, who didn't take up the game seriously until he was 24. "I think about it every time I swing at the ball. I feel like I was a good athlete in my younger days and if golf had been open to me at that time, I could have played as well as anybody. But golf wasn't the thing to do because there was nowhere for me to play.

"But that's in the past and there's nothing I can do about it," Beard said.

Because of his late start in the game, Withers said he put in extra time in order to become the accomplished golfer that he is.

"I just practiced a lot. If it was 110 degrees, that didn't bother me," he said. "That's the competitive part of me."

Making a mark

Because of their natural ability and the work they've put into their games; Withers, Larry and Samuels have combined for 14 senior division victories in the Regions Cup. None of them felt they struck a blow for black golfers.

"I don't look at it as a race issue as far as I'm concerned," Larry said. "Winning as a black had some meaning. Certainly, I'm very happy to win as a golfer. Yes, I am black, but I don't feel like I'm representing the other blacks who are out there."

Withers agreed.

"I won them because I wanted to win," he said. "I had a friend named Bishop Johnson who told me I could go out there and win if I put my mind to it. It wasn't for any other person than myself."

Withers thinks his success - 10 victories as a senior - actually discouraged some of his black friends from playing in the Regions Cup.

"A lot of the guys I know, they thought if they couldn't beat me, why go out there?" he said

Larry hopes his black friends will take a different approach.

"I want them to think, 'If Kenny can do it, I can do it.'"

Samuels had the same hope after he won the senior division of the 2005 Orville White Cup.

"I thought it might inspire a few more blacks to come out to play," Samuels said. "They know me and I thought they'd say 'I can play with him.'

"But it really didn't happen," Samuels said. "Some of the guys are talking about coming out, but they've still got cold feet."

Reach David Westin at (706) 724-0851 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.