wasn’t a tough sell. With parents like that, it’s not surpris-ing that young Mulbe embraced golf. Pre-dicting how far he would take that passion was another matter. By the time he was 5 or 6, he was playing in youth tournaments and would graduate to Illinois Junior Golf Association (IJGA) events, where he became a regular over the years. In high school at Whitney Young, he won a city championship. From there, he accepted a scholarship to play golf at Florida A&M in Tallahassee, a historically black college, where he and his teammates recently won their conference champi-onship. Even before going off to school, he had started the Mulbe Dillard Golf Academy, in which he gave lessons to family friends and his mother’s co-workers. When the inaugural Advocates Profes-sional Golf Association (APGA) Collegiate Rankings – a new program designed to help minority golfers overcome obstacles to playing on the PGA Tour – came out last fall, Mulbe Dillard IV was ranked No. 1 in the nation. Rounding out the top five were Michigan State’s Andrew Walker and three of Dillard’s Florida A&M teammates: Mahindra Lutchman, Ethan Mangum and Cameron Riley. The top five players in the final rankings will have their entry fees and travel expenses covered for APGA summer events. They also will receive exemptions into the Korn Ferry Tour qualifying tourna-ment. Mulbe is said to be a lock, according to APGA insiders. “It’s really good,” Dillard IV said. “It gives me a place to start out and see where I am in the professional [golf] life. My ulti-mate goal is to get to the PGA Tour. My dream ever since I was a little kid was to play professional golf.” The new program is a collaboration between the PGA Tour and the APGA Tour, which was founded 12 years ago to help black golfers. The CEO of the APGA, former Nestle executive Ken Bentley, said giving minor-ity golfers more opportunity isn’t merely a noble cause. It makes good business sense, he said, because it will help the PGA Tour and the golf industry expand their reach. “So for golf to survive, they need an influx of talent. They need an influx of people of Mulbe Dillard IV’s parents – Sidney (left) and Mulbe Dillard III (right) – played an integral role in his golf upbringing. JUNE 2021 | CHICAGO DISTRICT GOLFER | 27
Chicago District Golfer June 2021: Page 29
