Original article featured on PGATOUR.com
Written by Helen Ross
Pebble Beach, CA
For Jonathan Scott, the tour of the ShotLink truck probably was the highlight of his week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
“The technology where they can pinpoint where the ball will be, like a second off the club face, I thought that was pretty cool,” he says.
Emily Mayne liked going to the TV compound and learning how a PGA TOUR event is produced. “It just looks so simple on the TV,” she says. “But to actually see what people have to do to make the coverage so incredible was obviously amazing.”
Mayne and Scott were able to have those one-of-a-kind experiences during the AT&T HBCU Student-Athlete Immersion trip. Mayne, who plays golf at Howard University, and Scott, who’s on the team at Florida A&M University, were among eight collegians who got the ultimate behind-the-scenes tour at one of the game’s most iconic venues in Pebble Beach.
Two collegiate golfers were chosen for the trip from each of AT&T’s four partner historically Black colleges and universities. Mayne was joined by classmate Justin Green while Scott’s teammate Miguel Ilas also got to participate along with Sofia Fernando and Tori Mouton from North Carolina A&T State University and Jaden Thompson and Briann Briggs of Prairie View A&M.
Jasmine Allen, who is AT&T’s lead marketing manager, multicultural sponsorships and brand partnerships, spearheaded the immersion program. She’s a former HBCU athlete herself, a member of the cheer team at N.C. A&T, and she says an experience like the one at Pebble Beach would have meant the “world” to her.
“We’re really hoping that they’re just able to make and build meaningful connections that could one day turn into a career in golf off the playing field,” Allen says. “And then just hoping that they’re really able to continue to immerse themselves into what the full sports industry has to offer and what the full business of golf has to offer and could offer them.
“For us, them leaving with those connections, leaving with opening their minds to new opportunities, to greater possibility for themselves is really the goal for us. And bringing our AT&T purpose to life, which is connecting changes everything. So that goes … beyond just the connectivity of your device. It is networks, it is relationships, it is connections that can propel you forward in many different ways. And so, this is kind of a proof point of our purpose as well at the same time.”
From agronomists to media specialists to members of the social media team, the eight athletes networked and learned about some of those new opportunities. Scott even got to ask a question of former U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark – who went to school at the University of Oregon, which is about an hour from Scott’s hometown – during his pre-tournament press conference.
“I was really excited about that,” Scott says.
The week ended with a special treat as each HBCU twosome served as honorary observers and walked inside the ropes during the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Scott followed Max Homa and Tony Finau while Mayne walked with Viktor Hovland and Rickie Fowler.
For Allen, that visit to the ShotLink truck Scott enjoyed so much, may have been a defining moment of the entire trip.
“Two of the students are computer science majors, and they were just diving right in of all the technical questions and understanding comes to life, all the acronyms, because that’s a way that they can actually fuse their major with their golf passion as well, and turn that into the career,” she says.
“And they were having networking opportunities as well with some of the industry experts that we were able to speak with, just like, how do you get into this side of the field? Or what’s the entry-level process, are their internships available? And so yeah, I think it’s definitely opened their eyes up to ways that even their majors could have a play in working on the golf side of the industry versus just playing.”
The biggest takeaway from the immersion experience for the HBCU students? That had to be the scope of the entire operation. The players hitting those booming drives and delicate approach shots are obviously the star attractions but there is a huge supporting cast in each city the TOUR visits each week.
“You think it’s just a golf tournament, but the staff is unreal,” says Scott, a redshirt sophomore who would like to see where competitive golf takes him but is also interested in finance and investing. “There’s so many different staff or so many different things. So many different people and organizations that make this whole thing come together and make it flourish. I think that’s the most surprising and eye-opening thing about the whole trip.”
Mayne agrees. She’s a sophomore majoring in business management at Howard and is interested in possibly working in the sports industry after graduation.
“I mean, I knew there was a lot of work that went into it,” she says. “But to actually see the amount of people leading in, and this is just a few days before the tournament, so I can’t imagine the amount of people that were here months before just setting up and making the place look as great as it is.”
Both paid close attention when the group met with AT&T executives and the Monterey Peninsula Foundation’s philanthropy team to learn about the synergy between businesses and the game of golf. There were some life lessons, too.
“They honestly just gave us tips on what to look for in certain companies or how we should bring ourselves up in terms of showing people that we are trustworthy and surrounding ourselves with a good environment of people that will just uplift us.” Mayne says.
“And to always keep improving and you’re never staying the same. You’re either getting better or getting worse. So, to always just try to stay ahead of that and always improve, which was honestly some great advice and helping us to see what we can get to in the future.”
That’s what this week was all about.