A native of Charlotte, N.C., Sifford became the first African-American to compete on the PGA tour. His friendship with professional Teddy Rhodes first brought Sifford to Southern California in the early 1950s. He won the Long Beach Open in 1957, and after the PGA dropped its Caucasian-only clause in 1961 secured his first PGA Tour victory at the Greater Hartford Open in 1967. Sifford went on to capture the PGA Seniors' Championship in 1975 and was an original member of the PGA’s Champions Tour. Sifford was the first African-American to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, in 2004.