Willie Mack III set for Riviera after receiving Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption

A little over a week ago, WiIlie Mack III managed to squeeze in 27 holes of practice at iconic Riviera Country Club. Turns out, comedian Adam Sandler just happened to be playing in the group behind him that Sunday, too.

“He wasn't doing any Happy Gilmores,” Mack recalls with a chuckle. “But it was fun to meet him.”

It will be all business this week, though, when Mack returns to the historic club which has counted among its members old-school Hollywood movie stars like Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn to Sandler and many other current celebrities like Mark Wahlberg and Larry David and Carson Daly.

He’s playing in the Genesis Invitational after receiving the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption given to a deserving minority golfer as chosen by the Tiger Woods Foundation. It will be Mack’s second career start on the PGA TOUR -- and second in four weeks.

Yes, life is moving fast for the unassuming 32-year-old these days. But make no mistake – this is the byproduct of years of hard work for Mack who once slept in his Ford Mustang in hotel parking lots while playing the mini-tours in Florida and pursuing his pro dream.

Mack and his father, a mental health counselor with the state of Michigan, actually started playing golf because of Woods, who is on the mend from a fifth microdiscectomy and won’t be able to compete in the tournament he has hosted since 2016. Woods will be onsite, however.

“I just remember watching on TV and he was just different than everybody else,” Mack says. “I just kind of like gravitated to watching him.”

To earn the Sifford exemption, well, that was almost beyond belief.

“I thanked them probably more than most times for a lifetime,” Mack recalls. “But I was just excited and kind of got off the phone and called my dad and he started crying.

“So, it was ... it was a good day.”

Mack says he was probably 6 years old when the two first went to the golf course. He reports that he was “horrible” at first but treasured the “good bonding time” with his dad. They’d watch TV and try to imitate what the pros did when they teed it up on courses like Pierce Park and Swartz Creek in their hometown of Flint, Michigan.

“We kind of just kept with it,” Mack says. “And by the third year I got a lot better. I think after that it kind of just stuck with me, and I fell in love with the game.”

By the time Mack was 12, he started taking lessons from Jack Seltzer, a member of the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame. There was a golf dome about 20 minutes from Mack’s house so he could practice during the cold, snowy winter months.

Although Mack played football, basketball and baseball, too, he knew his 5-foot-7 frame wasn’t exactly built for long-term success in those sports. Golf was different, though, and Mack had several scholarship offers, eventually deciding to play at Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, Florida.

“I wanted to get out of Michigan, for sure,” Mack says, weighing sunshine versus snow. “I didn't even go to any of the other schools. I just went there and fell in love with it.”

While at Bethune-Cookman, Mack won 11 tournaments and his career goals came into sharper focus.

“I always dreamed to be on the PGA TOUR when I started golf,” Mack says. “But probably when I was in college and I won my ninth tournament, I kind of was talking to my parents and I was telling them I wanted to try and maybe make a career out of it.

“It might not have worked out, but I wanted to at least give it a shot. And then here we are today."

It hasn’t been easy. And he’s not where he wants to be -- yet.

But Mack has come a long way from those days when he’d curl up in his car in hotel parking lots when he couldn’t find a buddy’s couch to crash on early in his golf career. He’d park between two cars in hopes of keeping a low profile so the nighttime security guards wouldn’t chase him off.

“I got caught a couple of times, but I would just go to another parking lot and try to get some sleep,” Mack says.

If he had a good payday and could cover his entry fee for his next event, Mack might splurge on a motel room or treat himself to something better than fast food. He did most of his practicing at Orange County National in Winter Garden, Florida, just outside Orlando, where as an added bonus, he could use the shower in the locker room.

“The good thing about sleeping in the car was I got up early and practiced as long as I could because I knew I was going back to that car,” Mack says. “So, I stayed out there as long as possible.”

His vagabond lifestyle lasted about 18 months. While there were times it almost seemed oddly normal, Mack says, there were others when he wondered what in the world he was doing with his life.

“But I would talk to my dad and just think about what he said about not giving up and how hard times don't usually last,” Mack says. “So, I’m glad I got through those hard times and I think it made me a better person and a better golfer today.”

Eight years down the road from those lean times, Mack is playing at Riviera in his second TOUR event. He feels more prepared than he was at the Farmers Insurance Open, where he was a last-minute addition to the field after his good friend Kamaui Johnson had to withdraw when he tested positive for COVID-19.

Mack also has straightened out an equipment issue that plagued him as he shot 74-75 at Torrey Pines. On Friday afternoon after he missed the cut, the TaylorMade folks discovered his driver had a crack in it.

“I hit four fairways in those two days and usually the best part of my game is driving and putting,” Mack says. “So, I was kind of confused why it was going so far right every hole, but I got that figured out.”

Mack’s practice at Riviera was a confidence-builder, too. “(It) was just more of a tree-lined course and kind of an up-North feel which I'm used to,” he says. “So, it just kind of fits my eye a little bit better.”

His goal this week is obviously to win, while a top-10 finish would get Mack into the next TOUR event. But if that doesn’t happen, he hopes to take some momentum with him back home to Orlando.

“Hopefully this won't be my last time playing in a PGA TOUR event,” says Mack, who has also played in one Korn Ferry Tour event and another three on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica. “But if I don't win or come in top-10, I definitely will take everything I can out of the experience and work harder than I am now.”

Mack now has a two-year sponsorship agreement with Farmers Insurance that helps cover his expenses on the Florida Professional Golf Tour, where he leads the money list, and the Advocates Pro Golf Association Tour, a non-profit that seeks to bring more diversity to the game.

And Mack understands how important it is to carry on the legacy of Sifford, who was the first African-American to play on the PGA TOUR.

“It's kind of like the Jackie Robinson of golf,” Mack says. “And who knows if Tiger would be who Tiger is today if it wasn't for him.”

Or whether Mack would be the man he is, either.