History Made. Records Preserved

Filed in archive Golf News on November 14, 2007

Curtis Strange, Hubert Green: Inducted
Last April, Curtis Strange and Hubert Green were finally elected to the golf hall of fame. It was a long time coming for two fine golfers with track records worthy of membership in the Hall.

On Monday night, seven months after their election, they were inducted into the Hall, along with Se Ri Pak from the LPGA tour.

Strange and Green represent an era in golf, perhaps the tail end of that era, when professional golfers were individuals who spoke their minds.

Both men upset the powers-that-be in the professional game more than once by uttering remarks in front of reporters. Rarely did they retract those words, standing on their principles out of conviction or sheer obstinacy.

And they have waited quite a while for the honor of membership alongside the immortals in the game.

Strange said during the induction ceremony Monday night, "This is my finest day and my greatest honor. I understand that you will never confuse my record with Hogan, Nelson, Snead or Nicklaus. I understand I won't be in the starting rotation on this team, but I will be on the team. That's enough for me. And trust me, it's a privilege to be on the team."

Humility and gratitude can co-exist just fine alongside stubborness and conviction.

I have reflected in passing on golf's history in the last couple of posts. And I attribute that to an excellent book that was released on November 6th. It's called The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever. The book chronicles an 18 hole match play contest among four names forever burned into the golf psyche: Hogan, Nelson, Venturi and Ward.

I am going to go into the book in much greater detail tomorrow and feature an interview with author Mark Frost on Friday. For the present moment, though, I am immersed in the past.