Vijay Singh Elected to Hall of Fame

The newest member of the World Golf Hall of Fame is Vijay Singh, who becomes the youngest (age 42) golfer to win election to the hall. Seems to me that Singh, perhaps alone among candidates, is an easy choice. But it didn't seem that way to 44 percent of the voters, who left Singh off their ballots.

Singh's resume includes (as of this writing) 25 PGA Tour victories and three major championships. He's also coming off a 2004 season that was one of the best in golf history. That's a far better resume than Davis Love III, for example, who was eligible this year for the first time. Among the eligibility requirements for the World Golf Hall of Fame is this one: golfers must be at least 40 years old.

Another requirement is that a golfer must be named on at least 65 percent of the ballots. So how did Singh, with just 56 percent of the vote, get in? Nobody else got 65-percent, either, and a proviso in the rules gives the Hall the right to induct the highest vote-getter when nobody receives the "required" 65-percent.

I don't read anything into Singh's failure to get 65-percent of the vote, other than this: many of those voters who left Singh off their ballot likely did so because of his relative youth.

Larry Nelson finished second in the voting, followed by Curtis Strange, Henry Picard and Craig Wood.

The induction ceremony will be held on Nov. 14. Singh was elected through the PGA Tour/Champions Tour voting body; others may be elected through other voting bodies, such as the International ballot, LPGA and Veterans categories. Any additional inductees for 2005 will be announced at a later date.

See Also:
• Profile: Vijay Singh
• Vijay Singh Pictures