Harold Varner III on racial injustice: ‘We need to come together’

FORT WORTH, Texas – It’s an uncomfortable position for Harold Varner III to be in, as he’s been thrust into the role of unofficial PGA Tour spokesperson for an entire race during an extremely difficult time. 

A post last week on his social media account gave a glimpse into the 29-year-old’s thoughts on the racial divide in the United States, and on Tuesday, as he prepared for the game’s return to competition at the Charles Schwab Challenge, he was again asked his thoughts on race and injustice.

“I’ve been helped by every type of race possible, and then it was all of a sudden, ‘Harold should say something because he’s black,’” he explained. “I don’t like when people are like, just because you’re black you know the answers to racism, so that letter was super good for me because it let me expose that even like you were telling white people they need to listen right now, black people need to listen right now, too, and we need to come together and figure out what it is.”

He was also asked about Michael Jordan and how the former NBA great has handled the racial unrest over the last few days.

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“The funniest part to me, though, is when you see he’s donating a lot of money, and people are like, oh, that’s nothing, just because he’s a billionaire. I mean, he can’t win,” Varner said. “I find that eye-opening to tell someone that they’re donating $100 million and it’s nothing to him. Like that really pisses me off sometimes.”

And he was asked how recent events, and his letter on social media, has impacted his relationship with fellow Tour players.

“I just have a hard time believing there’s like tons of racists on the PGA Tour because I’m pretty good friends with a lot of people out here. If I was racist, I probably wouldn’t hang out with a black person,” he said. “That’s just my thoughts, and I’ve hung out with a good number of people out here.”