[PHOTO: Johan Rynners]
One of Danny List’s earliest memories of watching golf as a child at home in Ghana was Tiger Woods’ birdie putt on the 72nd hole of the 2008 US Open to force a playoff with Rocco Mediate. List was only 10 years old at the time, and Woods had been his hero since the boy’s uncle introduced him to the game when he was 3.
It was late at night in West Africa on that June Sunday, and as Woods celebrated by curling his arms and showing his fist to the skies, List jumped around, too, as if he’d rolled that ball himself.
“I think to this day,” List says, “that’s the most I’ve ever celebrated any putt dropping. Maybe even including mine.”
It was a warm memory in a surreal moment.
List was reminiscing as he stood at the back of the 18th green on the Torrey Pines South course, no more than 40 paces from where Woods curled his ball into the cup on the way to his 19th-hole triumph on Monday. List had just completed a Tuesday afternoon practice round ahead of his PGA Tour debut in this week’s $US20 million Genesis Invitational, which features a star-laden field of 72, including the recipient of the Charlies Sifford Memorial Exemption, awarded each year by the host Tiger Woods Foundation to a person who represents the advancement of the diversity in the game of golf.
So nearly 17 years after arguably his greatest win, Woods had a hand in selecting List, and unbeknown to either at the time the invitation was offered, the 26-year-old new member of the DP World Tour would compete not at Riviera Country Club, but Torrey Pines after the tournament was forced to move amid Los Angeles’ recovery from January’s wildfires. Making the circumstance all the more unusual: List is a San Diego local now, having moved to the area four years ago.
Fifteen Sifford Exemption beneficiaries have come before List, and they all have stories of perseverance and hardship. But List holds a unique place in the path he took to get here.
Born in Macon, Georgia, to an Australian father and Ghanaian mother, List was raised in the West African coastal city of Accra, the capital of Ghana. Possessed of a “weird obsession” with golf, he was the only child in his area who played the game, and at 8 years old he started competing – and winning – against men. “They weren’t too happy about that,” List recalled with a grin, admitting that he often pumped his fists like Tiger. “I was cocky,” he said.
Small in stature for most of his young life, but now six feet tall, List’s facial features were compared to Woods’ and he took great pride and motivation in that. His golf upbringing, however, couldn’t have been more different. There are eight public golf courses in all of Ghana, and List’s local spot, Achimota Golf Club, was rugged back then, with no driving range, scrubby grass and sand greens that had to be dragged with a carpet after each group to erase the lines made by the ball on putts.
“You kind of made do with what you had out there,” List said.
Those conditions were not going to produce a top-level golfer, and when List approached his teens, his mother, Diala, booked a trip to England to research Danny attending a boarding school there. They aspired to Wellington College in Surrey, which has a curriculum that includes golf training and boasts its own golf course, but there was one catch: List had to prevail in basically a one-round-takes-all competition for a scholarship.
“I don’t know what happened that day, but for the first time in my life I shot even-par on an actual golf course,” List said. He won the scholarship.
But going from Africa to England was an enormous culture shock, and it didn’t help that List started there in the midst of England’s winter. He was horribly homesick and says he cried nearly every night on the phone with his mum, begging to come home.
“My mum was very close to saying yes,” List said. “I think there were times when she said we’d figure it out. I don’t know why we stuck it out, but I’m glad we did.”
Frequently thumped early on in golf by his young peers, List dipped into his own deep pool of motivation and improved rapidly. At 14, he won the European Junior Championship and earned National High School champion honours in 2015 and ’16. When he was ready for college, List chose the University of Washington, where Alan Murray was in his first season as the men’s head coach.
Murray said List struggled with the school part, and after one year in Seattle he decided to leave and turn pro. But List’s ability to persevere made a lasting impression on the coach.
“His college experience was in 2017 and now it’s 2025, and eight years later he gets his DP World Tour card,” Murray said. “I don’t know how many guys do that if they’ve been playing the mini tours for that long. I think that’s a really impressive feat.
“I’ve told him, to paraphrase, that you’re one tough SOB. He’s one tough kid in terms of this game beats everyone down a little bit. He’s run into a wall, but he gets back up, dusts himself off and finds a way to move forward.”
In a circumstance that felt somewhat fateful, List and Murray met up for the first time since those college days at this week’s Genesis Invitational’s Collegiate Showcase. Murray had a couple of UW players in the field on Monday and List spoke of his experiences at a luncheon on Sunday. The two got a chance to catch up
“I could tell I was speaking to a man,” Murray said. “Last time, he was a kid.”
When he turned pro, List had no guarantees on where he’d play. Playing under the Australian flag of his father’s homeland, over the first few years he got occasional starts on PGA Tour Latinoamerica and PGA Tour Canada, but made only a few cuts. He’s had only two starts on the Korn Ferry Tour and didn’t make the weekend either time.
In something of a no man’s land in his career, List produced a huge breakthrough late last year when he shot two 63s over six rounds, including on the final day, in the last stage of DP World Tour Qualifying School to earn his card for this year.
“Wow… I checked off a huge childhood dream today,” List said on his X account. “Thanks to my beautiful mother who shared tears of joy with me when the last putt dropped, she knows just how much has gone into this. Thank you to everyone on my team and all that have supported me, it means the world.”
So far this year, List notched a third-place finish in a developmental Challenge Tour event in South Africa, and last week on the DP, he missed the cut in Qatar and then travelled the 21,000-plus kilometres back to San Diego to get ready for the Genesis. “I’m still pretty jet-lagged, I’m not gonna lie,” List said on Tuesday.
In Ghana, there are celebrations in List’s hometown for his success among the staff and approximately 40 junior golfers who are supported by the Danny List Foundation that he started to encourage more kids to play. “These kids really want to play, but they don’t have the right clubs, they don’t have the right equipment and stuff. And, you know, I thought I’d be doing them a disservice if I didn’t do whatever I can to help nurture them,” he said.
When List returns home several times a year, he’s a flesh-and-blood hero to the children, and they beam when they see him, “though I light up more than they do,” he said.
Beyond playing well this week on the extremely difficult Torrey Pines South course, List would like to fulfil another goal: meet Woods, who as the Genesis host entered to play in the event on Friday, only to withdraw on Monday, citing the continued recovery from his mother’s death last week.
List chuckled when he said he did have one brief encounter with his idol years ago. At a PGA Tour event in Florida, 20-time tour winner Doug Sanders saw List in the gallery wearing an Orange Bowl Junior hat and pulled him inside the ropes. Standing right there was Woods. ”Tiger says hi to Doug, and I’m getting ready to say hi to him,” List remembered, “and I couldn’t get a word out of my mouth.”
Considering the figurative and literal distance List has travelled to get here, if the opportunity arises he’s not going to choke this time.
