Willie Mack III Up to Par as a Survivor in the World of Golf

Willie Mack III has one of the most impressive resumes ever cobbled on golf’s mini tours.

He’s won 65 times playing what he says is “all over the place.’’ Many of those victories have come on the Florida Professional Golf Tour, where he once topped the money list, and the APGA Tour. His total number wins make him practically a legend among the mini-tour circuit.

His 15 minutes of fame, however, came after video of a car Mack was driving burst into flames on I-95 spread via social media in 2018.

Mack was driving his 2012 Kia, which he had just gotten back after a recall, when it suddenly shut off. While he was awaiting roadside service, passers-by stopped to alert him.

“They ran up to the car and said, ‘Your car’s on fire’,’’ said Mack, who is set to play in the Korn Ferry Tour’s inaugural Huntsville Championship this week at The Ledges. “I got out and looked at the front of my car and most of it was gone.

“The first thing I thought about was to get my golf clubs for some reason. If I have my clubs, I can make some kind of money. I got my clubs out and threw them to the side. I actually tried to get back into the car but it wouldn’t open. One of the guys said, ‘Let’s get away from the car.’ We got six or seven feet away and it kind of blew up like in a movie.’’

The clubs were the only possession Mack had in the car that survived. And Mack, who is the first black golfer to win the Michigan Amateur Championship, is a golf world survivor.

From the time he began playing golf with his dad, Willie Mack II who taught him, at the age of 6 or 7 finances were stretched on his single-father’s social worker pay.

Mack III’s bleak financial situation continued after he played collegiately at HBCU Bethune-Cookman, where he won 11 times, and turned professional. His father even took out a loan one year to pay the entry fee into the PGA’s Qualifying School. The son spent time sleeping in his car for about a year-and-a-half and on friends’ couches.

He’s had to win to keep playing golf, and he’s now won enough to afford an apartment in Orlando.

The window for the 32-year-old Mack to rise to full-time PGA Tour or Korn Ferry Tour status is still open. He made his first two PGA starts this year at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines on a sponsor exemption and the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club as the recipient of a Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption.

Sifford broke the PGA’s color barrier.

“We are excited that Korn Ferry has decided to award a sponsor exemption to Willie Mack, who has overcome incredibly difficult circumstances away from the golf course just to make it to this point in his career,’’ Penn Garvich, tournament director for the Huntsville Championship, said in a press release.

“Willie has more than earned this opportunity, and we look forward to watching him compete against the rising stars of golf right here in Huntsville.’’

The PGA owns the Korn Ferry Tour, which draws comparisons to Major League Baseball’s Triple-A. The APGA Tour (Advocates Pro Golf Association) promotes the careers of not only minorities but any player who experiences financial hardship.

“The last couple of years I’ve been playing pretty consistently and making strides to get out there on the PGA Tour or the Korn Ferry,’’ Mack said. “Playing in those two PGA tournaments I feel like I got experience. I didn’t play how I wanted to, but I think it will definitely help me in the next (PGA Tour) events I get into.’’

The year Mack turned pro (2011), he had a “rough’’ first day but rebounded to advance to the Q School’s second round before missing the final round by two strokes.

“If I had gotten through that who knows where I would be today,’’ he said. “But I feel like all the struggles and all the things you go through make you a better person and a better golfer for the future.’’

Mack has played in one previous Korn Ferry Tour event — the 2018 LECOM Health Challenge at Shorewood Country Club in upstate New York. He fired a course record 60 during Monday qualifying to earn a spot in the tournament.

Now, he’ll face the strong field at the Huntsville Championship.

“I feel like not too much can faze me at this point,’’ he said.