{"id":33889,"date":"2026-07-09T14:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/33889\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T14:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:46:08","slug":"just-like-life-two-native-golfers-take-leadership-roles-at-u-s-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/33889\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Just like life\u2019: Two Native golfers take leadership roles at U.S. Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Wagner
Special to ICT<\/a><\/p>\n

SOUTHAMPTON, New York \u2014 Ethan Mangum and Taylor Harvey stood on a practice putting green on the last day of the 126th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.<\/p>\n

As two of the four team leaders for the U.S. Golf Association\u2019s Pathways Discover Program, they gathered in June with the 20-some-odd interns in their care. They were all taking a needed break after a long week of work.<\/p>\n

For the two Native golfers and the other team leaders, the Pathways program<\/a> has provided a step forward in finding a professional home in the golf world, offering behind-the-scenes experiences for college students to help shape careers in golf through training, education and networking.<\/p>\n

\u201cGolf introduced me to a whole new world that I thought did not exist and propelled my passion to see black and brown faces in the golf industry,\u201d Harvey, Hopi and Apache, told ICT. \u201cPathways is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Mangum, who is Choctaw, Cherokee and Black, the operational side of golf is in many ways a back-up to playing professionally.<\/p>\n

In July, he will receive a master\u2019s degree in global business and sustainable development from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and will then decide on his path. He has the option of playing European tours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very grateful to the USGA for inviting me back to be an asset,\u201d Mangum told ICT.<\/p>\n

The four team leaders this year had all been interns in previous years before being tapped for the leadership positions. In addition to Mangum and Harvey,\u00a0 the other team leaders are Cristina Santiago and Donovan Drummer.<\/p>\n

Santiago is a recent graduate of the University of Florida and is beginning a career in multimedia journalism. Drummer is a recent graduate of Arizona State University where he studied sports management.<\/p>\n

To uplift Indigenous youth<\/p>\n

Harvey has already transitioned to a career in golf after being a standout collegiate golfer and two-time medalist at the Native American Open. She also obtained a fellowship with the Professional Golfers\u2019 Association\u2019s PGA WORKS program.<\/p>\n

\"\"Golfer Taylor Harvey, Hopi and Apache, is forging a career in the golf world. Here, she is shown at the 2025 Native American Open at Santa Ana Pueblo where she was among the top women golfers to participate. Credit: Mark Wagner\/Special to ICT<\/p>\n

She\u2019s now director of Junior Golf Operations for the PGA\u2019s southwest region, which includes Arizona and southern Nevada.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter leaving my internship in 2024 with the USGA, I started my PGA WORKS Fellowship,\u201d she told ICT. \u201cOn my birthday this year, I turned in my two weeks\u2019 notice to accept a position with the Southwest PGA as their new director of junior golf operations. \u2026 Very blessed to return home and directly impact my local community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harvey\u2019s story in the game started when she was 8 years old. Her father won tickets to attend the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Harvey found her way into the First Tee of Phoenix exhibition, and from that experience she fell in love with the game.<\/p>\n

After high school graduation, she received a full-ride scholarship to play four years of Division 1 collegiate golf at Prairie View A&M University, one of the historically black colleges and universities in Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile attending my amazing HBCU, I understood that diversity is a gift and one we do not find often on the golf course,\u201d she told ICT.<\/p>\n

Her mission remains to inspire and uplift Indigenous youth to pursue their passions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Just like life\u2019<\/p>\n

Mangum\u2019s history with Pathways began when he interned in the inaugural year of the program in 2021 at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. Five years later, the USGA invited him back to be team leader as the U.S. Open returned to Shinnecock.<\/p>\n

\"\"Indigenous golfer Ethan Mangum stands at the Columbia Country Club in Maryland with the trophy he won as the 2022 Middle Atlantic Amateur Champion at Woodmont Country Club. The trophy stays permanently at Columbia at the Columbia Golf Club. Credit: Courtesy of Ethan Mangum<\/p>\n

He was born in Mississippi and lived there until his family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in his high school years.<\/p>\n

Mangum\u2019s impressive history in golf puts a professional career as an option on the table. He has one professional victory in 12 starts, with a win at the 2020 Open Golf Atlanta\u2019s Chapel Hills Open, and seven amateur victories in 59 starts.<\/p>\n

He brings a mixed heritage to the links. \u201c\u00cd am Nigerian and Native American,\u201d Mangum told ICT. \u201cI identify as a copper-skinned Afro-Asiatic Indigenous American.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playing top-level golf has come with challenges. He credits his success to his parents and his mentor, Matt Adams, the owner and instructor behind At Par Golf in Atlanta who is African-American.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I moved from Mississippi to Georgia,\u201d Mangum said, \u201cI was the only Black man on the top ten list in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

To handle the adjustment, he sought the help of Adams, noting that Adams takes a lighthearted approach to issues of race and inclusion in the world of golf.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe took me under his wing,\u201d Mangum said. \u201cWorked with me on how to score and how to get the ball in the hole quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two became so close that Adams flew to Los Angeles to be with Mangum at the Tiger Woods Junior Invitational at Pebble Beach in 2021. In 2022, as a student at the College of William & Mary, Ethan became the inaugural Pathway Player at the Genesis Invitational, which annually selects a minority collegiate player for Tiger Woods\u2019 Genesis Invitational Collegiate Showcase.<\/p>\n

Mangum also credits his father Vincent, who is Nigerian and Choctaw, and his mother Wendy Campbell, Cherokee, for their support as his journey took him from Mississippi to Georgia to Florida A&M University, where he finished his undergraduate studies.<\/p>\n

He began his post-graduate work at William & Mary before making the move to St. Andrews. At every step, his journey was marked by an exceptional ability in the game of golf\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time you step on the golf course you want to improve,\u201d Mangum said. \u201cIn that way, golf is the closest thing to life, because it\u2019s your walk, your swing, and you are there to improve. To be better. Just like in life. It allows you to determine your legacy in the game as in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putting on a championship<\/p>\n

The confluence of golf and life, Native history and access is not lost on Kamille Ramos and Lexis Withers, the directors of culture, community and inclusion at the USGA.<\/p>\n

Both have been with Pathways since its origin in 2021, and each year they work with the club hosting the U.S. Open Championship to train four team leaders to teach the workings of how to put on a national championship event.<\/p>\n

This year they launched an additional Pathways program called Pathways Launch. With nine of the USGA partners \u2013 including the PGA and LPGA \u2013 they have set up a \u201cmore traditional\u201d three-month internship program. Both will continue to run both Pathways Discover and Pathways Launch going forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing,\u201d Withers said, \u201cis seeing a drastic shift in what golf should look like and who has access to it. Our programs are breaking down the barriers. People want to bring you into the game.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The team leaders oversee five to eight interns for the 10 days surrounding the U.S. Open.\u00a0 While the interns are there for 10 days, the team leaders spend four weeks in preparation. This year they were put up at the nearby Stony Brook University.<\/p>\n

The Pathways program, designed to include young people who might not think of golf as a career path, has brought nearly 120 young men and women of color through the program in five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey come from all over the world,\u201d Ramos told ICT, noting that there are no race or gender requirements. \u201cIt\u2019s just folks we don\u2019t always see, all building a national championship. From all walks of life, all backgrounds. All around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. Open\u2019s return to Shinnecock Hills and its long history with the Shinnecock people brought added focus to issues of inclusion and Native history. Ramos said Harvey\u2019s knowledge of history was invaluable, particularly as history relates to Shinnecock.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaylor brought empathy and understanding for some of the interns on the significance of where we were and struggles between the club and the Shinnecock Nation,\u201d Ramos said.<\/p>\n

Both Ramos and Withers note that the host site was not only welcoming.<\/p>\n

\u201cNick Conlin [the general manager at Shinnecock]) was so excited to make this all work,\u201d Withers said. \u201cHe worked to expose our interns to everything from golf operations to merchandise to the care for greens and grass.\u201d<\/p>\n

The road ahead<\/p>\n

With the U.S. Open now completed, Harvey has returned to her full-time job with the Southwest PGA.\u00a0 She also plans a return to the Native American Open<\/a> in October at the Santa Ana Pueblo in New Mexico. She placed second and third in past tournaments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to win it this year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For Mangum, this year\u2019s experience at Shinnecock Hills reinforced his passion to expand access to golf while creating lasting community impact. It\u2019s also a way to educate others about his Native heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe there is a tremendous opportunity to use golf as a platform for education, inclusion, and meaningful community engagement,\u201d he said, \u201cparticularly through the stories and contributions of Native American communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Mark Wagner is a golf historian and regular contributor to ICT. His book,\u00a0\u201cNative Links, the Surprising History of Our First People in Golf,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0was published by\u00a0Back Nine Press<\/a>\u00a0in 2024. He can be reached at markgwagner@charter.net.<\/p>\n

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