DETROIT — Detroit Golf Club is believed to have the most Black members of any country club in the United States, at around 150, and it's very proud of the John Shippen National Invitational.
This year, the membership put its own dollars behind the three-year-old tournament.
This year's Shippen, a 36-hold tournament that awards an exemption into the PGA Tour's Rocket Mortgage Classic, had a purse for the first time. The membership raised about $100,000 for prize money, with $20,000 going to this year's winner, Chase Johnson.
Johnson, who won the Shippen by three strokes last Sunday at Detroit Golf Club, was surprised by the news. The $20,000 trumped the $11,120 he had made in two Korn Ferry starts this season.
"In the beginning of the week, they told us, like, 'Yeah, there's going to be a purse, but we're not going to tell you what it is,'" Johnson said during a press conference this week. "So we went out and we played and then they dropped the bomb on us at the ceremony, and that was a big surprise. That definitely helps a lot. For someone who's trying to work their way back into status, I'm very grateful for that little surprise, 100 percent."
The Shippen was created as a first-of-its-kind event in Detroit three years ago, with the goal being to open up opportunities for the game's best Black professional and amateur golfers. The Shippen pays for each player's expenses, including travel and hotel, and the tournament gives a sponsor's exemption to the winner.
There was modest upfront money for the previous two winners, with Timothy O'Neal receiving a $5,000-for-the-week sponsorship from Rocket Mortgage in 2021, and Wyatt Worthington got $2,000 in 2022.
That wasn't enough for the Detroit Golf Club membership, and Gregory Jackson, a member for 25 years who lives off the seventh hole, started making the rounds this winter.
"Purses are usually created by sponsors. Usually large corporations like Rocket Mortgage," Jackson said. "I just got to thinking about it throughout the winter, you know, and I thought about it and thought about it, I tend not to be one to talk about something and not do some action on it. So as we got into November, December, I just started making phone calls."
The reception was timid at first, which wasn't a surprise.
"Everyone's always waiting for the first person to jump in," said Jackson, chair of Detroit Golf Club, and president of Jackson Asset Management, whose assets including Detroit's Prestige Automotive Group.
Jackson's first calls went to Black members at Detroit Golf Club, and the first commitments came from Leon and Cheryl Richardson, who own the Chemco Group. Past club presidents Lane Coleman and Mark Douglas got on board, as did current president Mike Carr and many other members.
And it was off to the races from there.
"It's just really caught its own momentum," Jackson said during the second round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Friday. "Hopefully as we go forward, it becomes a bigger and better thing."
Donations from DGC members came in all sizes, from as little as $100 to more than $1,000. There were more than 50 individual donors. The membership named the purse "The Johnny," a nod to Shippen, who was believed to be the first American-born golf professional.
This year's Shippen for the Rocket featured 21 competitors, and the top 10 were to be paid — with amateur Troy Taylor II (Michigan State) receiving tuition money for his second-place finish. Same for Marcus Smith, at sixth.
The membership also allotted $10,000 for Paige Crawford, the winner of the women's Shippen, who earned an exemption into last month's Meijer LPGA Classic outside Grand Rapids and next month's Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational in Midland. The DGC membership paid her, even though the women's Shippen is held elsewhere.
"We carved that out for her," said Jackson, who this week already has heard from a number of DGC members who want to contribute to future Shippen purses. "We want to honor women."
The Shippen was launched by Intersport's Jason Langwell, executive director of the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and Sommer Woods, a Detroit native and co-founder of The Woods and Watts Effect.
Woods got emotional this week when talking about the Shippen, and particularly Johnson's performance.
She couldn't help but mention the DGC members, too.
"It means a lot," Woods said. "We really wanted to make sure this event continued to grow. ... That was always a goal. But you've got to get people to believe in it.
"And so for the members ... to come and step up to make sure that they were not only getting the exemption, but they could put some money in their pockets ... we're very fortunate and blessed."
The purse, which Jackson wants to keep going for future years of the John Shippen, wasn't the only landmark moment for the tournament before the tournament.
At 4 under through two rounds, Johnson, 27, became the first winner of the Shippen to make the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. It led to an emotional scene outside the DGC clubhouse early Friday afternoon, with Woods tearing up, and Johnson getting doused by water by friends and family.
With a 4-under on Saturday before weather halted play, Johnson was in position to line his pockets even more. He's already guaranteed himself a sliver of the Rocket's $8.8 million pursue by making the weekend. He's guaranteed at least another five-figure paycheck.
"The whole point from The John Shippen is to create opportunities. It stems from John Shippen himself. He basically helped pave the path that led for me to be here," said Johnson, a Kent State alumnus who this week is playing in just his second PGA Tour tournament, and last had full Korn Ferry Tour status in 2020.
"So my goal this week is to definitely take advantage of that opportunity. And when you're playing in a PGA Tour event, you have the chance to change your life, for sure."
