The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Following an accolade filled collegiate career, Cameron Riley’s transition to professional golf continues on the Advocates Professional Golf Association Tour.

Riley has produced a pair of top 20 finishes on the tour this month - tied for seventh place at TPC Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 12 and tied for 20th at the TPC Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Arizona April 18-19.

“In Las Vegas I was close to the lead for a while but had some bad breaks on the last three holes,” Riley said, “In Scottsdale I shot 74-72 and tried to get something going but the putts weren’t falling.”

Established in 2010, the Advocates Professional Golf Association Tour is a non-profit organisation with the mission to prepare African Americans and other minority golfers to compete and win at the highest level of professional golf, both on tour and in the golf industry. The APGA hosts professional tournaments, career development and mentoring sessions.

“The tour provides opportunities that are unmatched by any other developmental tour in the world. It gives us a huge platform to thrive and pursue our dreams and is backed by the PGA Tour; so they also reward us with incentives for good play (like sponsors exemptions for PGA tour and Kornferry tour events),” Riley said, “The sense of camaraderie and acceptance that I feel playing on the tour has motivated me a lot when the times have been tough out there playing. It is a huge stepping stone for minority golfers chasing their dreams of making it to the PGA tour, through providing great tournaments with good prize money, resources needed to make it to the next level and exposure to potential sponsors and opportunities to propel you through. I am forever indebted to it.”

The APGA Tour includes eight pro tournaments across the United States with over $250,000 in prize money. The Lexus Cup Bonus Pool provides an additional $30,000 for APGA Tour members. The organisation also aims to develop minority college and professional golfers in the APGA Tour Sifford Development Programme which includes free clinics, mentors, equipment and complimentary entries fees to young golfers. The APGA Tour also partnered with inner city youth organisations and offers Diversity Symposiums where leaders of the minority golf community gather to discuss ways to best diversify the sport.

Riley made his APGA debut in March 2021 with a 34th place finish. This year, he finished 26th at the TPC Louisiana (March 7-8) and 28th at Queen’s Harbour (March 21-22).

Next up for the Grand Bahama native will be the APGA Tour Championship Atlanta TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Georgia, August 9-10.

“I’m looking forward to that and am also looking towards playing in qualifying schools for the affiliates of the PGA Tour (Kornferry Tour, PGA Tour Canada, PGA Tour Latin America) and earning status that way along with finishing the APGA Tour season strong,” Riley added.

As a senior last year with the Florida A and M Rattlers, Riley helped lead the programme to a historic season which included the programme’s first appearance at the NCAA Regionals.

FAMU was one of 30 automatic qualifiers when they won the first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Golf Championship, another programme first in a series of milestones that season.

Riley’s season was highlighted in March when he won an individual title, the first of his NCAA career, and his Rattlers team took first place at the Black College Golf Coaches Association (BCGCA) Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Invitational for the second consecutive year.