Mulbe Dillard IV is making his pro debut Thursday at the Rex Hospital Open on the Korn Ferry Tour. The 22-year-old Chicago native earned an exemption into the field at the Country Club at Wakefield Plantation in Raleigh, North Carolina, by finishing first in the Advocates Pro Golf Association (APGA) Collegiate Ranking after a stellar career at Florida A&M, where he led the Rattlers this season to the program’s first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship and an appearance in the NCAA regionals.
Dillard is one of four Rattlers who made the top five in the inaugural class of the APGA Tour Collegiate Ranking, which provides opportunities for the top Black collegiate players.
A little more than a month after graduating from FAMU with a degree in business administration, Dillard is setting out on a journey to earn his way onto the PGA Tour, where there are currently only four African American players and none from a historically Black college or university (HBCU).
Last week, I caught up with Dillard by phone as he was driving his Chevy Equinox from his new apartment in Orlando, Florida, to meet his swing coach, Charles Raulerson, in Jacksonville. From there, he would make the six-hour drive with Raulerson to Raleigh. And from there, they might drive on to the next Korn Ferry Tour stop at the BMW Charity Pro-Am for a Monday qualifier in Greer, South Carolina.
Most of the journeys to the PGA Tour begin with players traveling in their own cars from…
