PGA Golfer Charles Howell III, Who Admitted To Wearing Blackface To Imitate Tiger Woods, Expresses Deep Regret

You may have never heard of Charles Howell III before, but a story on how the veteran golfer turned his own ignorance into an awakening is worth your time. Like a lot of professional golfers, Howell grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood and may never have learned the some of the valuable lessons of people with different experience than his own.

Well, as we’ve seen in recent years, norms can change. Apparently, a 41-year-old man can change too.

Charles Howell’s Tiger Woods Story

Everybody remembers the craziness that was Tiger Woods’s 2009 year. His sex addiction had become the hottest story in America, and it seemed like a different woman was coming out everyday to proclaim that she also had an affair with Tiger Woods.

Everyone also remembers the night where tiger wrapped his black Escalade around a fire hydrant near his home in Orlando, Florida. Charles Howell lived in the neighborhood, as well, and thought he’d play a prank on all the media members driving around looking for Tiger.

“So, a friend of mine in the community drives a black Escalade, very similar to Tiger’s. Now, this idea should have ended there because [Woods] had wrapped his Escalade around a fire hydrant and wasn’t driving it. But we took the black Escalade and a friend of ours, who happened to be a blond female. So, we put her in the front seat, OK?” Howell said during a panel at the 2019 U.s Open. “And then I took a lot of shoe polish and magic marker and whatnot. And I made myself look like Tiger … I put on a black Nike hat with a black Nike swoosh and we drove out the front gate really slow and they thought they found [Tiger and Elin]. And we saw how far around Orlando we could drive these people … we drove to Disney. And, basically, they were following us, right. … Literally, we drove through Disney, we drove to Universal Studios and we just kept driving. As far as we could do that. They thought they had found Tiger.”

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How Howell Grew From His Mistake

At the time Howell told this story, he was called out by African- American reporter Michael Williams (who wrote the Undefeated article about Howell), but the journalist decided to keep the comment under wraps because he didn’t want to blow up the whole weekend.

When Howell’s sponsor required him to undergo racial sensitivity training, his perspective changed.

“I spent six hours with this gentleman who works in diversity, inclusivity. And I said, ‘I want to know it all,’ ” said Charles Howell. “I said, ‘I’ve lived my whole life not wanting to upset a soul, I mean, to a fault. And I’ve been a Christian in my faith, something I’m extremely proud of. I don’t want to hurt anybody.’ What did I learn? The concept of intent versus impact.”

Howell also says that he went through a period of depression after his comments offended Michael Williams, and sought counseling and guidance from people around him in order to become a better person. Howell contacted a lot of his African-American friends for advice and has become much more charitable around the golf community.

“Michael, I’m sorry that this all happened. But in a way, I’m glad because I’m a better person because it happened,” Howell said during his sit down with Michael Williams this week.”And I got to meet you because it happened. And I can tell you that you’re going to have a friend for life because of what this is.”

I think we can all learn a lot from Howell’s redemption story. I’m sure Howell still has a ways to go to be the person he wants to be, but it’s clear that he was able to use the situation a year ago as a stepping stone to being a better man. In this day-in-age, we need more people like Charles Howell III, who can look in the mirror and say, “I need to be better”. Charles Howell and Tiger Woods are currently tied at +3 (8 strokes back of leader Justin Thomas) at the U.S Open.

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