Renee Powell to Establish Youth Exchange Visits to St. Andrews

When Renee Powell stepped up to receive the inaugural Rolex For the Love of the Game Award at the Kraft Nabisco championship in Palm Springs on March 27th, she was cheered on by the big crowd gathered for the LPGA Tour's first major of the season. Also in attendance in the packed auditorium was a special guest who had crossed the Atlantic Ocean to be present.

Dr. Kenny Wood, co-founder of the Scottish organization New Links St. Andrews which aims to broaden the horizons of inner-city and minority youth through golf, education, and cultural visits to St. Andrews, was there to show solidarity with a heroine turned colleague.

For Wood and Powell, the future involves annual exchanges of youth golfers and a hoped for university scholarship to the "Birthplace of Golf."

"What Renee has achieved in her life fills me with admiration and a deep respect," said Wood. "The way she has dedicated herself to improving the life chances of others worldwide through golf is simply inspirational."

Powell is the second of only three African-American women to have played on the LPGA Tour, which was founded in 1950. A player from age 3 when her father William Powell first put a shortened club in her hands, Renee had a distinguished 13-year professional career in which she played golf around the world.

Her international outlook has inspired a love of teaching and a desire to see young people be given the chance to play golf and to learn the social and sporting skills that go with it. In 2008, Powell will bring four young golfers from her LPGA Girls' Camp at Clearview, Ohio, to Scotland to participate in the New Links St. Andrews initiative.

Established in 2006, New Links St. Andrews has helped to establish a scholarship to the University of St. Andrews. Dr. Wood, who is an astronomy professor at the university, proposed Charlie Sifford for an honorary degree - an award that made world headlines. New Links St. Andrews also helped to bring eight golfers from the Young Golfers of America Association in Los Angeles to Scotland. The juniors experienced St. Andrews, including a round at the legendary Old Course.

"St Andrews is the perfect venue for these encounters," said Wood. "The 'Home of Golf' is open to all and I look forward to seeing Renee Powell and the Clearview girls on the Swilcan Bridge, the place where so many of the greats have stood over the centuries and the most enduring symbol of golf's ability to bring the people of the world together at St. Andrews."

Renee now devotes much of her time to developing the public golf course and facilities at Clearview, which was founded by her father and is maintained by her brother. "This has become a life's work for my entire family," she said. "We are dedicated to making Clearview available to golfers of all abilities and backgrounds, as St. Andrews always has done. I hope that the tie up with New Links St. Andrews will be the start of a long and fulfilling relationship."