The inaugural SAS Championship HBCU Invitational took place on Oct. 14-16 with 15 teams from leading Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) coming to Cary to compete as a part of the annual PGA Tour Champions tournament.

The weekend started with analytics giant SAS hosting a Career Day on the SAS campus on Friday, Oct. 14. The student-athletes toured the SAS campus and participated in a series of panel discussions, seminars, and lunch with SAS executives and HBCU alumni employees designed to help prepare them for their careers after golf.

Play started on Saturday, Oct. 15 with competitors playing a pair of rounds on the Fairways Course at Prestonwood Country Club, which also hosts the SAS Championship. Howard jumped out to a sizeable lead in the women’s division, finishing Saturday at a combined +17.  For the men, the Division II bracket was tight, as Livingstone (+17), Miles (+21) and Virginia Union (+27) were all within ten strokes. Florida A&M (+3) finished the day with the best team score, led by Jacob Uyesato, who is tied with Chicago State’s Kieran Hogarth for the lead at -2.

Saturday night was a chance for the student-athletes to interact with both their fellow competitors and the legends of the Champions Tour as the Champions Cookout brought the groups together for dinner and a Q&A session. On the men’s Division II side, Miles (-8 combined) pulled away from the pack to finish in first place. The Golden Bears were led by Phillip Darst (-6), who shot a tournament-best 63 on Sunday to take the individual title. Finally, it was Florida A&M winning the men’s Division I bracket while Chicago State’s Kieran Hogarth won the individual crown by a single stroke.

The team went out for a final round on Sunday morning to decide the inaugural champions. Howard held onto the lead in the women’s division, scoring a combined +22. The Bison had the top five women’s scorers, led by Kendall Jackson who claimed the women’s individual crown with a 54-hole score of -2.

The 2022 field will include five women’s teams and 10 men’s teams playing in the three-round event. The five women’s teams competed in one division. Champions Howard was joined by Division I teams from North Carolina Central, Maryland Eastern Shore and Prairie View A&M while Savannah State was the only Division II team in the women’s field. The men’s Division I group included Chicago State, North Carolina Central, Maryland Eastern Shore and winners Florida A&M. Division II boasts the top three teams from the 2021 PGA Collegiate Championship – including tournament winner Miles College, which finished with the highest national ranking in program history. Livingstone and Savannah State joined Division II, along with Virginia Union, Winston-Salem State and Johnson C. Smith.