Vincent Tshabalala was one of the greatest South African black golfers of all time, who enjoyed success on both the European & European Senior Tours. He was designated as “Colored” under the Apartheid racial classification scheme. In 1976 he went abroad and won the French Open. The next year, he would take home his third SA Non-European Title. In 1980, he was named a committee member on the new governing body for black golf in the nation, the Tournament Players Association. Two years later, he too was named as one of the nine new black members of the SAPGA. During the changeover years of apartheid, he spoke out and warned about the anti-black sentiment on the SA tour and that it would take time to break down racial barriers and also stood for fairness among “Colored” players in that they should be chosen on merit and not through any biased decision makers.
