Meet the Hall of Fame Class of 2007  Together, they have won 10 major championships as professionals. One was considered the "Father of American Golf" for his contributions to architecture and administration. Another was an accomplished amateur and beloved ambassador for the game. And tonight, the six will take their place among golf's greats in ceremonies at the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Fla. Two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange; Hubert Green, who has won 19 PGA TOUR titles, including a U.S. Open and PGA Championship; and Si Re Pak, the winner of five LPGA majors, will be on hand for the inductions. Kel Nagle, the winner of the 1960 Open Championship, is unable to travel from his native Australia, but has sent a taped acceptance speech. Irishman Joe Carr and Charles Blair Macdonald will be inducted posthumously. Bios courtesy: World Golf Hall of Fame Curtis Strange Nobody, it was long said on the PGA TOUR, ever hated a bogey more than Curtis Strange. Although good to great with every club in the bag, it was the ferocity with which the Virginian played that will always be his signature. Strange's intensity was his edge and led to back-to-back U.S. Open victories.  (WireImage)
The first came at Brookline in 1988, when Strange led late only to three putt the 71st hole from 15 feet. When he hit his approach on the last into a greenside bunker, the man who had lost the 1985 Masters on the back nine seemed destined to never win a major. But Strange got up and down to tie Nick Faldo, then defeated him with flawless golf the next day, 71 to 75. The following year at Oak Hill, Strange was an opportunist, staying in touch with the leaders with 15 straight pars on Sunday before taking the lead for the first time with a birdie on the 70th hole. He became the first man to win consecutive U.S. Opens since Ben Hogan in 1951. Strange's quest for the three in a row that would have tied the record of Willie Anderson fell short in 1990 at Medinah, where after a late challenge he faded to a tie for 21st. The effort took something out of Strange. Although only 34 years old, he never won on the PGA TOUR again, finishing with 17 official victories. The flame that burned hotter than anyone else's burned out. As he once said, "We only have so much energy, physically and mentally, to be the best." Born January 30, 1955, Strange was a child of golf. His father, Tom, was an accomplished club professional who owned the White Sands CC in Virginia Beach, and Curtis and his twin brother Allan (who would also played on the PGA TOUR) began playing at age seven. Tom Strange died of cancer when Curtis was 15, leaving a void that he tried to fill with a relentless commitment to competitive golf. At Wake Forest, where he was a three-time All American on perhaps the best college team ever, Strange's power and pugnacity earned him the nickname "Brutus." At the 1974 NCAA Championship, Strange eagled the 72nd hole to not only ensure the team championship but to win the individual championship by a stroke. "I've always looked at pressure as the time to show off," he said. After mixed results in his first three years as a professional, Strange changed his swing from a powerful but erratic action to one with less explosion but more consistency, and found his stride in the mid 80s. At the 1985 Masters, Strange opened with an 80 but came back with rounds of 65 and 68 and entered the back nine of the final round with a four stroke lead. But he dunked his second shot on Augusta's risk reward par 5s, and lost by two to Hall of Fame member Bernhard Langer. Still, that year he won his PGA TOUR money title, and for the next several years would be America's best player. Strange led the money list again in 1987, and late in the year set the St. Andrews Old Course 18-hole record of 62 at the Dunhill Cup. He had his best year in 1988, winning four times and becoming the first player to ever win $1 million in a season, in the process earning PGA Player of the Year honors. "I'm a grinder," said Strange. "I maximize my game." In five Ryder Cups as a player (he was chosen U.S. captain in 2002), Strange's finest hour was the final singles of the 1989 matches. By birdieing the final four holes, Strange defeated Ian Woosnam 2 up to save a tie for the American team. Hubert Green Tough and talented, Hubert Green stood tall in an era of giants. Playing in primes of icons like Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Raymond Floyd, Johnny Miller and Seve Ballesteros, Green claimed two major championships among his 19 PGA TOUR victories. In three Ryder Cups, he was undefeated in singles play.  (WireImage)
With a homegrown swing that featured low hands and a quick tempo, Green was one of the best chippers in history, and he made big putts with a split-handed grip and an old hickory-shafted blade. Although he often wore green slacks, he was most recognized for his one liners. Once, when playing partner Lanny Wadkins complained about his lie in the high rough at 1974 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, Green dryly responded, "It couldn't have been too bad. I could still see your knees." But Green's humor couldn't hide a competitive will that his coach at Florida State University, Don Veller, called the fiercest he ever saw in an athlete. It came to the fore at his finest hour, the final round of the 1977 U.S. Open at Southern Hills. Green was leading by a stroke when officials stopped him on his way to the 15th tee to inform of an anonymous caller claiming that three men were on their way to shoot Green when he reached the 15th green. Given the choice of suspending play for the day and coming back with no spectators the next day, or playing on, Green chose to continue. "I was a little more nervous playing the 15th hole, though, because that's where I was going to be taken out," Green told Golf Digest. "I was a long way from the hole, and when I stood over the putt, I suddenly got the sensation I was going to be shot at any second. As soon as I hit the putt, I knew I'd left it short. I also knew I hadn't heard a gunshot. I said out loud, 'Chicken,' and I wasn't talking about leaving the putt short." But Green made his par, and another birdie, allowing him the luxury of making a bogey on the final hole for the victory. The following year at the Masters, he came to the last hole one stroke behind Gary Player and hit his approach to three feet. As he was about to stroke the putt that would get him into a playoff, he was interrupted by the voice of a radio announcer. He readdressed the putt, and missed. Green refused to blame the announcer. "Only an amateur would have been put off by the interruption," he said, "or try to make excuses about it." Born in Birmingham, Ala. on Dec. 28, 1946, Green grew up playing the Birmingham CC, where his parents were members. Lean and hungry, Green's game was built on accuracy and a knack for getting the ball into the hole. "I just try to move an object from one place to the next," he once said with typical pith. The PGA TOUR's Rookie of the Year in 1971, Green won four tournaments in 1974. In 1976, he won three more, all of them in a row. The victories came less frequently in the 1980s, but Green's last hurrah was a major, the 1985 PGA Championship at Cherry Hills. Battling Trevino in the final group, Green kept chipping and putting for pars to win by two. He called the victory the biggest of his career. Green won four Champions Tour events from 1998 to 2002. In 2003, he was diagnosed with oral cancer, but after undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment, has continued to compete in tournaments. Kel Nagle One of golf's quiet men, Kel Nagle's greatest triumph took place on the game's grandest stage. The 1960 Open was the championship's centenary and the occasion of Arnold Palmer's momentous pilgrimage to St. Andrews. But once play began, it was the then 39-year-old Nagle who mastered the Old Course best with a game built on accuracy and precision.  (Courtesy: pga.org.au) In the final stages, Nagle was leading by one and facing a 10-footer for par on the Road Hole when a tremendous roar went up. Palmer had birdied the 18th, and Nagle now had to make his putt to stay ahead. He did, later calling it "the best putt of my life." After a good drive on the home hole, his 9-iron approach to three feet - "the best shot of my life" - sealed the championship. Nagle's victory was a shock to many, which was understandable. Despite his veteran status, the only two major championships he had played previously where the 1952 and 1955 Opens. Born in Sydney on Dec. 21, 1920, Nagle had entered the game as a lowly apprentice at age 15 and had his playing aspirations put on hold by a five year stint in the military during World War II. By the time he emerged, he was 25 year old fledgling touring professional with little competitive experience and three young children. Powerfully built, Nagle began his career as long but wild hitter and a poor putter. But after studying the top American professionals during his first trip to the U.S. in 1951, he decided to transform his game, sacrificing distance for accuracy in the long game as well as shortening his putting stroke to become a wizard of the greens. "Since I was in bushes all the time, and couldn't control my shots, I decided to shorten my swing," he said. "I staretd keeping the ball in play and started playing much better." Nagle also made himself a master of getting up and down from within 30 yards of the green, giving him what he believed was "a tournament winning edge over his competitors." Encouraged by his close friend and fellow Australian Peter Thomson, Nagle beginning in 1949 would go on to win more than 60 times on the Australasian tours, including the Australian Open, six Australian PGAs, seven New Zealand Opens and seven New Zealand PGAs. He also won 17 times around the world. Thomson, who called Nagle "Mr. Accuracy, the Ben Hogan of Australia," and ranked him one of the dozen best players he ever saw, said Nagle had a natural temperament for tournament golf. "There was absolutely no malice in him, or vice of any kind, and he was always in good humour," said Thomson. The pair won the Canada Cup (now the World Cup) in 1954, and again before home crowds on the glassy greens of Royal Melbourne in 1959. Of Nagle's performance, Sam Snead said, "Kel never hit one bad putt. I've never seen putting like that in my life." It was the onset of a late prime. After his victory at St. Andrews, Nagle won the 1961 French and Swiss Opens, and in 1964, won the Canadian Open, again nipping Palmer. In The Open Championship from 1960 to 1966, he was only out of the top 5 once. Nagle nearly won a second major championship at the 1965 U.S. Open at Bellerive, where he tied Gary Player after 72 holes before losing the 18-hole playoff 71-74.But he continued winning against younger men, taking the 1969 New Zealand Open, and at age 54, the New Zealand PGA in 1975. He also won the World Seniors in 1971 and 1975, and thrice won the European Seniors. Throughout, Nagle was considered one of the game's great gentlemen. Bruce Devlin name his son after Nagle, and Player once said, "I can honestly say I never met anybody in my life that didn't really like Kel Nagle." Se Ri Pak Se Ri Pak will always be remembered as one of golf's most important pioneers. With her victory at the 1998 U.S. Women's Open, she inspired the wave of Korean women who have swept over the top rank of the LPGA.  (WireImage) Pak remains the standard. Indeed, when she qualified for the Hall of Fame at age 29 with 24 LPGA victories, including five major championships, she became the youngest person ever to be inducted (Young Tom Morris, who died at aqe 24, was elected posthumously in 1975). Pak's most influential victory took place at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Wisc. Seemingly beaten when she hooked her drive into the water on the 72nd hole, Pak stood in knee-deep water to fashion a recovery back into the fairway, then wedged to 10 feet and made the putt to gain a playoff berth against amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn. The next day, Pak fell behind early but rallied late to tie after 18 holes. Finally, on the 21st hole, she made an 18-foot birdie putt to become the youngest Women's Open champion ever. Pak also won the McDonald's LPGA Championship that year, giving her LPGA Rookie of the Year honors and making her - along with Juli Inkster - one of only two woman ever to win two majors in her first season. Pak would go on to win two more LPGA Championships, as well as the 2001 Women's British Open. She also won the 2003 Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, the first Asian player ever to do so. In 2007, she won the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic for the fifth time, becoming only the third woman in LPGA history to win the same tournament five times. Her playoff record of 5-0 is an LPGA record for most wins without a loss. Pak also competed in a men's professional event at the 2003 SBS Super Tournament on the Korean Tour. She finished 10th, becoming the first woman to make the cut in a professional men's event since Babe Didrickson Zaharias did so in 1945. Pak was born Sept. 28, 1977 in Taejon, South Korea. Blessed with powerful legs, Pak was a track star before being introduced to golf at age 14 by her father, a former professional baseball player in Korea and a demanding taskmaster. The regimen he designed for his daughter included runs to the top of their high-rise apartment building through the stairwell and working out without shoes in the snow. As an amateur, the teenage Pak won 30 tournaments. After turning professional in 1996, she won six of 14 tournaments on the Korean LPGA tour, finishing second in seven others. In her first six seasons on the LPGA Tour, Pak finished second on the money list four times and was third once. Despite all the rigor she endured, Pak has always been known for her bright smile and friendly disposition. However, the imposed stress of her journey and the pressure of carrying South Korean hopes took its toll. In late 1999, she was hospitalized for exhaustion. In 2005, Pak completely lost her game, her best finish a tie for 27th. Injuries played a role, but the root cause was burnout from a life she said "needed balance." Pak regrouped and came back strong, winning the 2006 McDonald's LPGA Championship in a playoff with Karrie Webb for her fifth major. A national hero in Korea, where children's books are written about her, Pak is proud of being the trailblazer dozens of Koreans have followed to the LPGA. "I've given them the confidence to come out here," she said. "I think of them like my sisters." Charles Blair Macdonald If there was one individual who provided the foundation of golf in America and the organic linkage to the very roots of the game, it is Charles Blair Macdonald. In fact, because of his significant contributions to the game, he can justly be called the Father of American golf.  Born in 1855, Macdonald was sent to live with his grandfather in Scotland to study at St. Andrews University as a 16 year-old boy. Being in the Old Toon, he became adept enough at the game to regularly play with two of the finest players at the Old Course -- Davey Strath and Young Tom Morris. Needless to say he became both enthralled by the game and deeply immersed in it. Alas, when he returned to Chicago two years later, there was not a single golf course in the United States, but in the ensuing years he had the opportunity to travel frequently to Great Britain and play some of the best British courses. As luck would have it, Charlie was asked to lay out a 7-hole course in conjunction with the 1892 Chicago World's Fair. Based on the short courses' popularity, he was asked to design another two, the latter in Wheaton, Ill became the Chicago Golf Club. While these were not the first golf courses in the United States, these two courses were the very first 18-hole courses in America. No less an authority than Bernard Darwin accurately referred to Macdonald as the first great American golf course architect. It is a tribute to Macdonald's genius that his trilogy of truly great courses in the United States -- Chicago, Yale and, of course, his crowning achievement, The National Golf Links of America, are among the very finest courses in the United States to this day. But Macdonald is also deserving of enshrinement for his contributions to golf as a player and what his outsized ego and personality wrought. The story is a unique one. In 1894 two early American golf clubs, Newport and St. Andrews, attempted to conduct national amateur championships. When C.B. did not win either, although he did come close in both instances, he vociferously claimed each was not a true national championship because of inconsistent rules and were not conducted by a true national body. As a result of the furor he created, five prominent clubs came together later in the year to form a national governing body for golf in America. The organization, first known as the Amateur Golf Association of the United States, later became the United States Golf Association. The next year, Macdonald won the very first U.S. Amateur by the whopping score of 12-and-11 in the final at Newport, to become America's first true national champion. Not only was old C.B. a wonderful player, he was golf's first great character. Many stories abound, but the one that stands out concerns his beloved National Golf Links. When one of the members of the new club mentioned to Charlie that the club should build a windmill on the course similar to the ones that dotted that end of Long Island since the late 1600s to provide power for grinding grain, Charlie agreed and had one built. And when it was finished, he then sent the financier a bill for its construction! To this day, the handsome windmill stands between National's second green and the 17th tee. And to top off this Renaissance man's golf career, Charlie wrote one of the very best golf books ever - "Scotland's Gift - Golf". Joe Carr One of golf's greatest career amateurs, Joe Carr possessed a swashbuckling playing style and a poetic Irish soul.  (Getty Images) During a prime that lasted from the end of World War II to the 1960s, Carr was a dashing figure. Tall and lean, he was an exceptionally long hitter with an ability to recover from trouble with winning strokes. As a competitor, he cut a wide swath. At the top of the list of more than three dozen significant victories were three British Amateur championships (1953, 1958 and 1960), and four Irish Open Amateurs (1946, 1950, 1954 and 1956). Carr was also a Walker Cup stalwart, playing on 10 teams from 1947 to 1965, the most by any player from either side in the biennial matches. "Stroke play is a better test of golf," said Carr, who also captained two Walker Cup sides, "but match play is a better test of character." As an ambassador, his impact was even greater. In 1961 he became the first non-American to receive the USGA's Bob Jones Award for distinguished sportsmanship. In 1967, the same year he became the first native Irishman to play in the Masters, he was given the Hagen Trophy for his contribution to Anglo-American goodwill. In 1991, he was chosen the captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, the first Irishman to hold the post. Carr was born Feb. 18, 1922 on the outskirts of Dublin, the fifth of seven children. At 10 days old, he was adopted by his mother's sister and her husband, James Carr, who had just been appointed steward and stewardess of the Portmarnock Golf Club. It allowed young Joe to play golf from a very early age, and he developed a self-taught slash that he once described as "very agricultural." His fondest victory was the 1958 British Amateur at St. Andrews. Carr was desperate to win it, and in the months before the championship, he embarked on a strict daily regimen that began with a morning run along the sea front followed by a session with the driver on the practice tee. After several hours attending to his prosperous clothing business, he would return for an evening session with his irons, often under makeshift floodlights. Before bed he would practice putting on his carpet. On his way to St. Andrews, he told his wife, Dorothy, with whom he won nine Irish mixed foursomes championships, "No one else has done the work I have done. They can't beat me." They couldn't. Carr was an astute student of the game, who, after working with swing coach John Jacobs, played his best golf as he was approaching 40. He also had a keen eye. After losing in the semi-finals of the U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach in 1961, Carr returned to Ireland and wrote a newspaper article that called the championship winner, Jack Nicklaus, "the best player the world will ever see." Carr was never an outstanding putter, which made his singles victory over Charlie Coe in the 1959 Walker Cup at Muirfield particularly memorable. Carr was 1 up with seven to play when someone in the large gallery inadvertently stepped on his putter, snapping it in two. Carr went to his 3-iron, and closed out the match with a 15-footer on the 35th green. When he died on June 2, 2004, the tributes poured in. "I consider myself very fortunate to have played golf in the Joe Carr era," said his rival and close friend Michael Bonallack. "I still have yet to meet a finer sportsman." Carr spent his last days near Portmarnock, in a home that shared a wall with the one where the poet W.B. Yeats had lived. |
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