Tiger Woods will begin his 13th U.S. Open this week.

When Woods turned pro 11 years ago, the thought was that if he became as successful as he was in amateur golf that he would lead an influx of ethnic minorities to the game and possibly to the PGA Tour.

The former has happened; the latter hasn’t. And don’t expect it to change for many years.

Between 1964 and 1986, five black players — Lee Elder, Pete Brown, Charlie Sifford, Calvin Peete and Jim Thorpe — won 23 PGA tournaments. In the 21 years since, Woods is the first person to look like me to have won on that tour.

Thirty years ago, this might have been a racial issue. But it’s not today.

Judy Bell was the president of the United States Golf Association when Woods turned professional. In 1997, the USGA began a $50 million “For the Good of the Game” grants initiative that has helped establish programs for children from diverse backgrounds.

“With Tiger coming along, the result, I think, is more minority kids getting a swat at the game, giving golf a shot, than ever before,” Bell said. “Golf has come from, well not a sissy sport, but it’s not football or baseball. ... Golf is cool now. And who has helped make it cool? Tiger.”

Anybody who can make a Buick — any Buick — cool has some clout.

Specifically, Woods has reintroduced golf and made golf “cool” to a generation and culture of people who didn’t view it as a form of entertainment and/or were kept out of the golfing family for generations.

According to statistics from the National Golf Foundation, 36.7 million Americans play golf (2003 statistics). Of that 36.7 million, 15 percent or 5.5 million are ethnic minorities. Before Woods, that percentage was less than 4 percent.

“The No. 1 problem for any young person entering the game is the accessibility factor — you have to have some place to play,” former USGA committee member Paul Caruso said. “Young people are obviously excited about getting in the game, and there are numerous avenues out there for getting instruction. But without access, they lose their interest in a hurry.”

But there appears to be golf courses everywhere, so one must wonder about accessibility.

“From my experience at the foundation, and I was there from almost Day 1 when Judy’s $50 million initiative was put down,” Caruso said, “it took us awhile to figure out how we’re going to promote the game.”

Access, transportation, instruction and equipment are the four areas the foundation thought it could impact the most.

“I don’t have the answer,” Caruso said. “But that’s what we thought was the answer.”

The foundation had the answer — just not all of it.

Exposure is paramount to the success of ethnic minorities in golf. Woods is leading that surge. Programs such as the Pikes Peak Linkers help tremendously, too.

But a lack of exposure is the reason we will not see many American-born ethnic minorities on the PGA and LPGA tours. Like many activities, the love of golf is passed from generation to generation.

Neither of my parents nor their siblings played. I heard about it, even saw a couple of highlights on the old "ABC’s Wide World of Sports". But the intricacies of the game were foreign to me. I’m not alone in that respect.

“We’re working on it,” Bell said. “There are a lot of minority kids whose parents didn’t play and grandparents didn’t play. We talk to the same strata of people who, some of them, maybe Caucasian or Hispanic, had grandparents that played.

“You’ve got to have a big pool of potential, and eventually you’ll get, maybe not another Tiger, but somebody who is really good.”

Don’t measure Woods’ impact on American ethnic minorities in golf now. When today’s youth have their own youth, then we will see Woods’ impact.

Columnist Milo F. Bryant can be reached at 636-0252 or milo.bryant@gazette.com. Check out Milo’s blog, The Extra Milo, at http://milobryant.blogspot.com/