Calvin Peete: African-American golfer who only began playing in his 20s but helped pave the way for Tiger Woods

Peete in 1983: he played golf for the first time when he was 23 (AP)

Calvin Peete was a farm labourer who didn’t touch a golf club until he was in his 20s but went on to become the most successful African-American golfer until Tiger Woods. His 12 career victories were the most by any black golfer on the PGA Tour until Woods surpassed his record in 1999.

One of 19 children – his father worked in a car factory – he picked beans and corn as a child and left school at 15. He spent years selling clothing and jewellery out of his car to farmworkers from Florida to New York, known as the “Diamond Man” for the studs in his front teeth.

Peete had fallen out of a tree when he was 12 and was left with a broken elbow that never healed properly. As a result, he couldn’t straighten his left arm. Perhaps his greatest obstacle was that he didn’t learn the sport until he was an adult. He played golf for the first time at 23, when friends invited him to join them. “Some feeling went through my hands and my body,” he recalled. “I just thought to myself, ‘I think I can learn to play this game.’”

Among the few African-Americans he could look to for inspiration were Charlie Sifford and Lee Elder. He recalled watching Elder play in a televised tournament with Jack Nicklaus. “I said, ‘There’s a black man playing with the best golfer in the world. If I practice just a little bit more, I could be doing the same thing.’ “

Peete spent hours teaching himself until his hands bled. At 31 he qualified for the PGA Tour; he had the diamonds removed from his teeth after a few years. He won his first eveent in 1979 then played alongside Nicklaus at the 1982 US Open: “Watching him, I learned all about what you have to do to win a golf tournament. I was a totally different player after that round.”

From 1982-84 Peete won seven tournaments, then in 1985 won the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, sometimes called golf’s “fifth major” – his confident shot on the 17th hole of the final round has become one of the most memorable moments in the tournament’s history: “I noticed that all my competitors looked at me differently and talked to me in an altogether different tone after that.”

His earnings, including eight years on the senior tour, amounted to more than $3m. He said he was always grateful for the strides made by Sifford, Elder and other black golfers. “I reflect just about every day on how far I’ve come,” he said. “I really do.”

MATT SCHUDEL

Calvin Peete, golfer: born Detroit, Michigan 18 July 1943; twice married (six children); died Atlanta, Georgia 29 April 2015.

© The Washington Post