Wilton native Pepper among dozen finalists for Hall of Fame
Three-time major champion Padraig Harrington, double major winner Dottie Pepper, a native of Wilton, and swing coach Butch Harmon were among 12 finalists announced Wednesday for the 2024 Class of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
The 31-member nominating panel whittled down the list to four men, four women and four contributors. A 20-member selection panel comprising Hall of Fame members, media and leaders of major golf organizations meet on March 8 at The Players Championship to vote on induction.
Hall of Fame induction is now every two years. The Class of 2024 will be inducted during the U.S. Open next year at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina.
Harrington was a finalist last time, the Irishman with 21 victories worldwide, most notably one stretch when he won the British Open in 2007 at Carnoustie and in 2008 at Royal Birkdale. He also became the first European in 78 years to win the PGA Championship when he won at Oakland Hills in 2008.
Players must be 45 or older at the time of the induction to be eligible. The only eligible players with three majors or more
who have not been inducted are Jamie Anderson and Bob Ferguson, both three-time British Open champions from 1877 through 1882.
The other male players nominated as finalists were Jim Furyk, with 17 PGA Tour wins, a U.S. Open, a Fedex Cup title and nine consecutive Ryder Cup teams; the late Tom Weiskopf, the former British Open champion, golf course architect and television analyst; and Johnny Farrell, whose 22 tour wins included the 1928 U.S. Open. Farrell also was a finalist last time.
Pepper retired in her late 30s because of back injuries, but not before capturing 17 titles on the LPGA Tour, two of them at the Nabisco Dinah Shore. She was an early spark in the Solheim Cup, and for the past two decades has worked as one of the top analysts for NBC and CBS.
Joining her from the female division are Sandra Palmer, with 21 wins and two majors; the late Beverly Hanson, with 17 wins and three LPGA Tour majors, along with the 1950 U.S. Women’s Amateur; and Cristie Kerr, who won two majors among her 20 titles on the LPGA Tour. Hanson was a finalist last time.
Harmon is the son of former Masters champion Claude Harmon and part of one of golf ’s greatest teaching families. He worked with three players who reached No. 1 in the world — Greg Norman, Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson. He reshaped Woods’ swing when he went on a tear in the early 2000s and held all four majors at the same time.
Harmon has been voted No. 1 every year since 2001 in Golf Digest’s annual list of top 50 golf instructors.
Others from the contributors category are retired Royal & Ancient chief executive Peter Dawson; former amateur great Jay Sigel, who played on nine Walker Cup teams; and the remaining seven founders of the LPGA Tour. The other six founders already have been inducted.
Note:
Players who joined Saudifunded LIV Golf can still play in all the majors — and qualify for the Ryder Cup — now that the PGA
Championship and British Open have announced only minor tweaks to existing criteria. But the main avenue to golf’s biggest events still start with the PGA Tour, and that might become increasingly difficult for most LIV Golf players. As for the Ryder Cup, LIV players such as Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed likely would need to win at least one major to have any chance of earning one of the six automatic spots on the U.S. team for the Sept. 28-30 matches in Italy. The qualifying system is 1 point earned for every $1,000 won in PGA Tour events this year, with 1.5 points at the majors and double points for winning a major. “Any PGA of America member who is a U.s.-born player will be eligible to earn points,” Kerry Haigh, the PGA of America’s chief championships officer, said in an interview. “If the only events they get in are the majors, they would need to win one or more, or finish high in a couple of others. “Knowing where that sixth place is will be difficult to predict,” he said. “This year has significantly different prize money.” Haigh was alluding to 10 PGA Tour events that have a $20 million purse — at least double what they were two years ago — plus The Players Championship at $25 million. LIV players are not eligible for any of those events because the tour has suspended them. The four majors have not announced their prize funds yet.
LIV Golf:
A federal judge has ruled the PGA Tour can add Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and its governor, Yasir al-rumayyan, as defendants in its countersuit in the ongoing legal fight with LIV Golf. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman was the second setback for Saudi-funded LIV Golf, which has accused the PGA Tour of monopolistic actions.