Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bryce Molder among four to be inducted in ASGA Hall of Fame today.
Arkansas State Golf Association Hall of Fame classes typically honor golfers for being the state’s best of the best.
This year’s class is no exception with former state junior amateur champion David White and PGA Tour member Bryce Molder, who will be joined tonight at Chenal Country Club by national amputee champion Jim O’Keane, and club-maker and U.S. Kids Golf founder Dan Van Horn.
“We’ve got a multinational amputee champion in Jim O’Keane; and a four-time, first-team NCAA All-American in Bryce Molder; David White who was Mr. Jr. Everything in the state; then we have Dan Van Horn, who has done more to advance the game of golf than nearly any of our class of inductees,” ASGA Executive Director Jay Fox said.
Molder, who played on two Walker Cup and three Palmer Cup teams, was a four-time,
first-team All-American at Georgia Tech and was the 2001 NCAA Collegiate Player of the Year. The Conway native has more than $11 million in career earnings and won the 2011 Frys.com Open. He also has a second- and a third-place finish on the PGA
Tour, 29 top-10 finishes and was an inductee into the 2016 Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.
White won the ASGA High School Overall in 1989 and was a past Arkansas Junior Amateur champion. He was a two-time NCAA All-American at Oklahoma
before transferring to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He also made the cut as an amateur at the 1997 U.S. Open.
O’Keane, who had his left leg amputated below the knee in 2003, won six National Amputee Championships between 2004 and 2011 in the senior and super-senior divisions.
Van Horn founded U.S. Kids Golf in 1996 and also serves as its president. The U.S. Kids World Championship at Pinehurst hosts 1,200 participants ages 12 and younger from the U.S. and 30 other countries.
“This is truly a very diverse class of inductees,” Fox said.
“Not only have they excelled on the golf course, but they have been at the forefront of promoting the game off it. We’re truly blessed to have these four going into the ASGA Hall of Fame.”
Also to be honored tonight at the sold-out event are the 2017 state players of the year: Nick Zimmerman, men; Nora Phillips, women; Mark Graham, mid-senior; Bev Hargraves, senior; Pat Elliott, senior women; Bill Wrentz, super-senior; Connor Gaunt, junior boys; and Elizabeth Moon, junior girls.