World Golf Hall of Fame Ballots for Class of 2012

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

The Open Makes 14th Visit to Royal St. George’s

By Landmark Media International

THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNS to Royal St. George’s Golf Club this week, the only venue in southern England for golf’s most prestigious major championship. This is the 14th occasion the historic links at Sandwich has welcomed the Open—it was the first venue outside of Scotland to host an Open, in 1894—placing Kent, known as The Garden of England, in the world golfing spotlight.

(Photo: The 1st tee, with clubhouse in background, at Royal St. George’s)

Previous winners of the Open Championship at Royal St. George’s include Greg Norman (1993), Sandy Lyle (1985) and golfing legend Walter Hagen (1922 and 1928). American Ben Curtis was the winner of the most recent Open Championship at Sandwich, in 2003.

The club has made changes to the bunkering on its 18th hole to make it more demanding for the Open Championship, as well as adding five new tees and 100 yards of length to the course.

Royal St George’s Golf Club forms part of Kent’s “Regal Golf Coast,” which includes Royal Cinque Ports (venue of the Open Championship in 1909 and 1920), Prince’s (the Open venue in 1932), Littlestone (a Final Qualifying course for the 2011 Open) and North Foreland. Overall there are more than 100 golf courses in the county, which also features modern classics such as London Golf Club (a European Tour Destination and home of the 2009 European Open) and Chart Hills (designed by Sir Nick Faldo and ranked 82nd in Golf World magazine’s Top 100 Courses in the UK and Ireland).

“In many ways, there is an argument to say the Open should come down this way slightly more often than elsewhere because we are the only one in the south,” Royal St George’s Secretary Christopher Gabbey told Kent Golf magazine. “It means a lot to the county. When the Open is in your neck of the woods, it’s terrific.”

More than 200,000 spectators are expected to descend on the Kent coast during Open week, with tens of thousands more from the UK and nearby European countries anticipated to take golf breaks in the county in the months before and after the event.

(Photo: Courtesy of Landmark Media International)

Paul Lawrie Ends Nine-Year Drought in Spain

Editor’s note: Brian Keogh is a golf correspondent for The Irish Sun and a contributor to The Irish Times, Golf Digest Ireland and other golf publications. The following piece from Brian’s Irish Golf Desk is used with permission.

By Brian Keogh
Special to ARMCHAIR GOLF

Scotland’s Paul Lawrie ended his nine-year wait for a European Tour victory when he claimed the Open de Andulacia thanks to a brilliant back nine performance at the Parador de Malaga.

Lawrie battled back from bogeys at his first two holes and another dropped shot at the fifth by reeling off four birdies in five holes at the start of the back nine. He bogeyed the last but his level-par 70 and 12-under total were good enough for a one-stroke victory over Swede Johan Edfors (68).

Lawrie, who won the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie, was understandably delighted with a win worth €166,660.

“It’s been a long time—2002 seems a hell of a time ago,” he said. “I’ve had a few second places in there, but all of a sudden we’re there again. It was going pear-shaped a little bit, but you’ve just got to keep going—that’s all you can do. I played lovely and the putter behaved better. I got on a nice run at the right time.”

Great Scots

In addition to Lawrie, fellow countrymen Martin Laird and Sandy Lyle have won in recent days. Laird was the first Scot to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational this past weekend. Two weeks ago Lyle won for the first time since 1992, capturing the inaugural ISPS Handa Senior World Championship.

Brian Keogh covers golf for The Irish Sun and contributes to a variety of golf publications. Pay him a visit at Irish Golf Desk.