Willie Mack’s U.S. Open debut the prize for a long pro golf career

Willie Mack III’s career journey to this week’s U.S. Open Championship, his first major since turning pro in 2011, at times had hotel pit stops in the small towns he played. Some of those small-town hotels might have been quite nice.

But Mack never knew. 

That’s because instead of relaxing in hotel rooms, Mack was living in hotel parking lots, camping out in the tight back seat of his 2013 Ford Mustang. Tinted windows mostly kept others from discovering his predicament.

“It was embarrassing, and it’s probably the only time in my life I lied to my mom, telling her I was in places where I wasn’t,” said Mack, who used public restrooms and the locker rooms of the venues he played to survive the nearly two years of transient life. “My dad was the only person who knew, and he checked in on me all the time.”

That nomadic career surely makes what will happen on Thursday morning sweeter for Mack, when he’ll hear his name announced at the start of the 124th U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 (8:57 a.m. ET start time, 10th hole).

It’s a moment he dreamed of when he first picked up a golf club at age 6, and a milestone — playing in a major — he imagined when he turned pro would have occurred a lot sooner.

“You always dream of playing in something bigger,” Mack said. “I always wanted to play in the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship, and being able to play in my first major championship is going to be special for me and my family.”

Mack, who played at Bethune-Cookman University, joins the list of alums of historically Black colleges and universities to play in the U.S. Open, including Adrian Stills of South Carolina State and Jim Thorpe of Morgan State University. Mack played at Bethune through 2011 under Gary Freeman, who coached the BCU men’s and women’s teams to a combined 10 PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championships.

“He was like a second father to me,” Mack, who is from Flint, Michigan, said of Freeman. “That was big being away from home to go down to Daytona Beach.”

After starting his career on mini-tours where he played across the United States and spent a lot of his stops in his back seat, Mack earned a spot to play on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica in 2018. But the thrill of playing in the glamorous locales of Columbia, Guatemala and Jamaica waned when the math stopped mathing (he earned $766.62 for a T46 finish at the 2018 BMW Jamaica Classic).

Throughout his career, Mack has had to hustle to continue to pursue his dreams. He debuted on the PGA tour in January 2021 at the Farmers Insurance Open (he was a substitute for his friend, Kamaiu Johnson, who had to give up his sponsor exemption after he tested positive for COVID-19), and later that month Tiger Woods awarded him a spot in the 2021 Genesis Invitational under the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption. In four PGA events in 2021, Mack earned $28,343.

Another big accomplishment for Mack was earning a card on the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour. That proved to be a one-year opportunity as Mack eventually lost his tour card at the end of the season with earnings of $45,872 in 20 starts. 

What guarantees the return of Mack each year to play golf are the lifelines provided by the mini-tour events, where winning earns him enough to play another week.

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One of the most important mini-tour is the Advocates Professional Golf Association, a tour formed in 2010 with a mission to bring greater diversity and help developing golfers, particularly African Americans, earn spots to play at golf’s highest level. Mack returned to the APGA this season and is the first player from that tour to earn a spot in the U.S. Open.

“This is a milestone,” said Kenyatta Ramsay, the PGA Tour vice president of player development who has helped bring APGA tour events to major golf venues. “Give a lot of credit to the APGA for providing their guys with the opportunity to get competitive reps and make enough money to invest back into themselves.”

Mack’s ability to invest back into himself set up the moment on June 3 during what’s billed as “golf’s longest day,” where 687 amateur and pro golfers played in 10 Final Qualifying events for 44 available spots in the U.S. Open. Mack was playing at The Bear’s Club in Jupiter, Florida, where 73 players played 36 holes for five U.S. Open spots.

Mack entered the last of his 36 holes needing a birdie to force a playoff. He reached the par 5 in two, and two-putted from 40 feet to reach the playoff where three golfers played for the last U.S. Open spot.

Mack was one of two golfers to advance to the second playoff, where he hit a tough bump-and-run chip to within inches of the hole to make par (his opponent, Brendan Valdes, three-putted for bogey).

It was a moment that screamed for an emotional response from Mack who, instead, had his head down as he walked to shake the hand of Valdes before later sharing an embrace with his brother Alex, who was carrying his bag.

“He carried my bag on the Korn Ferry Tour, so it was a full circle moment of doing it together,” Mack said of his brother. “We later went to our parents’ house and had a nice celebration.”

Mack’s even-keeled temperament might be his biggest asset when he’s announced to play his opening round Thursday.

“Just standing on that first tee, I know I’m going to be nervous kind of like anybody in that situation,” Mack said. “But once I hit that first tee shot, I’m going back to work and hoping I can do something great from there.”

Mack has definitely faced many challenges to reach this moment, and enduring those nights in the back seat of the Mustang can only help him embrace what he’s about to face in his first major.

“My dad always told me ‘don’t ever give up,’ ” Mack said. “People go through things every day. I’ve been through a lot, and I would do it again just knowing the love I have for this game.”