The ceremony has previously been held late in the year, typically in November, and has never drawn much attention. In baseball, Hall of Fame inductions become weekend-long events with major fan interest. In golf, Hall of Fame inductions are greeted by yawns, if fans even bother to notice.
One year, one of the inductees couldn't even be bothered to show up. (Vijay Singh had a prior commitment, and asked that his induction be rescheduled for the following year. It was.)
Making the ceremony part of tournament week for The Players should get it - and the inductees - more attention. It's a profile-raising move in the long run. And it also adds to the event status of The Players Championship.
So, which golfers will be part of the first class of inductees for the new, Players-week ceremony? The 2011 ballot was mailed out recently by the World Golf Hall of Fame to eligible voters. The ballot has two parts: a list of eligible PGA Tour players, and a second list of eligible golfers who played primarily on other tours (the "International Ballot").
Here are the names on the 2011 ballot:
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PGA Tour Miller Barber Fred Couples Ernie Els Doug Ford Jay Haas Don January Tomy Lema Davis Love III Jug McSpaden Mark O'Meara Kenny Perry Macdonald Smith Dave Stockton Ken Venturi Fuzzy Zoeller |
International Peter Alliss Darren Clarke Max Faulkner Retief Goosen Sandy Lyle Graham Marsh Colin Montgomerie Norman Von Nida Jumbo Ozaki Ian Woosnam |
Eligible voters can select a maximum of four from the PGA Tour list and a maximum of three from the International list. (Voters are not required to pick anyone - ballots can be returned blank.)
So who would you vote for? I have a rule that eliminates a few players from my consideration: Nobody who is still playing a full-time or close to full-time schedule on the PGA Tour or European Tour gets my vote. Ernie Els is a surefire Hall of Famer, but until he retires or begins playing primarily in senior events, he doesn't get my (hypothetical) vote. Just doesn't feel right. So that eliminates (for me) Els, Love, Perry, Clarke, Goosen and Monty.
I've long thought that one of the biggest omissions from the Hall is Ken Venturi. His combination of 14 wins and one major with his long and successful broadcast career and other contributions to the game makes him deserving, in my opinion. Perhaps it's best for Venturi to be chosen in the Lifetime Achievement category, but I'm going to go ahead and vote for him because he did have many accomplishments as a player.
I'll also vote for Fred Couples. Most people disagree with me about this, but I believe Couples is a stronger candidate (and better player) than Love. So if Love is a Hall of Famer - and he will be - then so must Couples be.
There are some good cases to be made for others on the list, and I'm especially sympathetic to Doug Ford's candidacy, but the only other player on the PGA Tour list who gets my vote this year is "Champagne" Tony Lema. Lema was a late-blooming pro who won three times in late 1962, once in 1963, five times in 1964, twice in 1965 and once in early 1966 - 12 wins in four years, including the 1964 British Open - then died in a plane crash in July of 1966.
From the International list, I'll vote for Norman Von Nida, a figure of major importance in the history of Australian golf; plus Jumbo Ozaki, who won more than 100 times on the Japan Tour and made some good showings in majors. I only have one vote left for the International ballot, and I can't decide between Lyle and Woosnam. So I'm going to cop out and make them both wait until next year's ballot.
I also believe Peter Alliss deserves to be in the World Golf Hall of Fame for his contributions as a broadcaster. He was a fine player, too, but not as good as Venturi, and therefore, unlike with Venturi, I'll leave Alliss off my ballot and hope that he gets into the Hall in another category (such as Lifetime Achievement).
Tell us in comments what your choices would be.
Comments
Vijay was not the first who requested a delay, but for some reason he always gets the short end of the stick.