ACTIVE TOUR PLAYERS PHIL MICKELSON, Jim Furyk, Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Mark O’Meara and Fuzzy Zoeller have been placed on the PGA Tour Ballot for consideration as the Class of 2012 of the World Golf Hall of Fame. A complete listing of players on the PGA Tour and International ballots is below.Hall of Fame members, golf journalists, golf historians and dignitaries will cast their votes between now and October. Inductees will be announced before the end of the year. The World Golf Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held in May on the Monday before the Players Championship.
PGA Tour Ballot
Miller Barber
Fred Couples
Jim Furyk
Don January
Tony Lema
Davis Love III
Harold (Jug) McSpaden
Phil Mickelson
Mark O’Meara
Loren Roberts
Macdonald Smith
Dave Stockton
Ken Venturi
Fuzzy Zoeller
International Ballot
Peter Alliss
Darren Clarke
Max Faulkner
Retief Goosen
Miguel Angel Jimenez
Sandy Lyle
Graham Marsh
Colin Montgomerie
Norman Von Nida
Ian Woosnam
Mickelson is in. That’s certain. Who else should be voted in? Who shouldn’t?
Let’s face it, we’re in an era during which there are few multiple majors winners. Mickelson aside, O’Meara has two, as does Lyle. Whether now or later, those two should enter the Hall. Goosen, too, for that matter, with his two U.S. Opens, 14 European Tour wins and seven PGA Tour titles. (Note: Two of Goosen’s victories are counted on both tours.) And there’s Zoeller with two majors but only 10 PGA Tour victories. Tough call.
There are a bunch of one-major guys with 15 or so tour wins. What do you do with them?
Then you have Monty: 31 European Tour wins and an outstanding Ryder Cup record. But the Scot has zero majors and no PGA Tour wins. (Woosnam has 29 European Tour wins and a Masters.)
My hunch is that the bar for Hall entry will continue to be lowered.
−The Armchair Golfer
