Columnist Peter Benton: Four new names head Hall ballot

Peter Benton

Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2000 | 9:33 a.m.

Peter Benton's golf column appears Wednesday.

Four new candidates -- Fred Couples, David Frost, Corey Pavin and Gil Morgan -- are among the 39 players listed on the PGA Tour/Senior PGA Tour World Golf Hall of Fame ballot.

The ballot has been mailed to the 237-member voting body and a player must receive votes on 75 percent of ballots returned to be elected to the Hall of Fame.

The 2000 World Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 20 at the World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Fla.

Couples, Frost and Pavin qualified for the PGA Tour ballot by meeting the following criteria: At least 10 victories in co-sponsored or approved PGA tournaments or at least two victories among The Players Championship, The Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship; at least 40 years old; membership on the PGA Tour for a minimum of 10 years.

Morgan became eligible for the Senior PGA Tour ballot by meeting criteria which requires 20 victories in co-sponsored or approved PGA or Senior Tour events or at least five victories among The Players Championship, The Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, PGA Championship, The Tradition, Ford Senior Players Championship, PGA Seniors Championship and the U.S. Senior Open; plus membership on the Senior Tour for at least five years.

The late Lloyd Mangrum was the only player elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame on the 1998 PGA Tour ballot. He was represented by his son, Robert, at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony at World Golf Village last March. Seve Ballesteros was inducted via the International Ballot and Amy Alcott through the LPGA Hall of Fame.

To qualify for the International Ballot, a player must be at least 40 years old, not be eligible through the PGA or LPGA criteria and have at least 50 points from a schedule based on international competition. The LPGA Hall of Fame requires a player to have been a member for at least 10 years and accumulated a total of 27 points from a schedule of competitive achievement.

A fourth avenue into the World Golf Hall of Fame is through a Special Distinction category, for those rare instances an amateur or non-competitor would be honored at the discretion of the World Golf Foundation Board of Directors, through the assistance of an Advisory Board.

The PGA/Senior PGA Hall of Fame nominees: George Archer, Miller Barber, Tommy Bolt, Jack Burke Jr., Bob Charles, Jim Colbert, John Cook, Fred Couples, Ben Crenshaw, Leo Diegel, Johnny Farrell, Doug Ford, David Frost, Al Geiberger, David Graham, Hubert Green, Don January, Tom Kite, Tony Lema, Willie MacFarlane, Harold McSpaden, Gil Morgan, Larry Nelson, Greg Norman, Mark O'Meara, Corey Pavin, Henry Picard, Johnny Revolta, Denny Shute, MacDonald Smith, Payne Stewart, Dave Stockton, Curtis Strange, Hal Sutton, Ken Venturi, Lanny Wadkins, Tom Weiskopf, Craig Wood and Fuzzy Zoeller.

* GOLF EXPO: The second Las Vegas Golf Expo, a community golf event held at the Angel Park Golf Club, raised more than $1,800 for the Las Vegas Metro DARE program.

"O.B. Sports, Angel Park, and The Legacy Golf Club are pleased to be able to give back to our community by hosting this successful event and by making this donation to the DARE program," said Phil Green, vice president of operations for O.B. Sports. "We applaud the generosity of our donors, sponsors and participants, whose support of the Las Vegas Golf Expo enables us to make this generous contribution."