Not long ago, 16-year-old Ginger Howard figured she would be getting ready to watch her idol, Tiger Woods, lead the United States against Europe in the Ryder Cup later this week.
Not playing in it.
Howard, 16, ranked No. 8 by the Junior Golf Scoreboard, helped lead the United States past Europe on Tuesday, 13 ½ - 10 ½ , Tuesday in Perthshire, Scotland. Howard, the only African-American girl to ever make the U.S Team, earned her spot by virtue of finishing second in a three-hole playoff at 35th Junior PGA Championship this summer in Fort Wayne, Ind. At the PGA Championship, Howard forced the playoff after firing a 3-under-par 69 in the final round that was preceded by a 4-under 68.
"My mother and I were talking about it and she told me that I was making history," Howard, of Bradenton, Fla., said. "It's going to be awesome playing there. It's going to be great to represent African-Americans, my country. I'm carrying a lot of pride."
The Jr. Ryder Cup team consisted of the top 12 boys and girls junior golfers in the country. Two years ago the U.S. defeated Europe 22-2.
Howard's father, Robert, introduced Ginger and her younger sister, Robbi, also a highly ranked player, to golf at ages six and four, respectively. It began when his wife of 22 years, Gianna, told him to take them with him to the golf course.
"They really liked it," Robert Howard said. "But I noticed very young that that they also had a talent for the game. I noticed it and so did others. So I made the decision that I would keep them with it and see how far it would take them. I don't think I made the wrong decision."
It would be hard to argue with him.
This year Ginger has seen an incredible uptick in her game. Along with finishing runner-up at the junior PGA Championship, she was also named First Team All-American by Future Collegians World Tour, and in March she was named Golfweek Player of the Week after winning the Tanglewood Challenge in Clemmons, N.C.
She didn't just become this good overnight. Once she and Robbi fell in love with the game, their parents did everything they could to nurture the talent, much in the way that Richard Williams guided the careers of Venus and Serena Williams.
However, Robert Howard credits much of his approach to guiding his girls to lessons he learned at the feet of tennis great/civil rights activist Arthur Ashe, who died from AIDs-related pneumonia in 1993. Robert, good enough to earn a partial tennis scholarship at Temple University, befriended Ashe while learning the game at the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Center.
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Thursday, September 30th 2010 at 9:32AM
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