PINEHURST — Fifty years all but have passed since that September in 1974, when 11 golfing immortals were inducted into the old World Golf Hall of Fame behind the fourth green and fifth tee of Pinehurst No. 2.
President Gerald Ford was there. Gov. Jim Hunt, too.
Inductees were Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus, Francis Ouimet, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead and Harry Vardon.
“Being elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame, especially with the inaugural class in 1974, was one of the unquestioned highlights of my career,” Nicklaus, now 84, said in a press release of what the enshrinement has meant to his life and career. “It was a sign of respect and validation for the hard work I put into a game I have always loved and considered the greatest game of all.”
Others of golfing fame have followed to include Lee Trevino, Dr. Cary Middlecoff, Nick Faldo, Johnny Miller, Ken Venturi, Ben Crenshaw, the late Severiano Ballesteros and Fayetteville native Ray Floyd. While they may not be professional golfers, you’ll find others such as Clifford Roberts of The Masters renown, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, past United States Golf Association president Richard Tufts of Pinehurst and Donald Ross, who designed Pinehurst No. 2 in this quaint village back in 1895.
The original World Golf Hall of Fame was relocated to St Augustine, Florida, and where it once stood behind the fourth green and fifth tee is long gone. Now, the USGA Golf House and the World Golf Hall of Fame are back in the village, where this week the 124th U.S. Open is underway on the famed No. 2 layout.
“Being mayor of Pinehurst — North Carolina’s most famous town — is particularly exciting as we welcome a quarter of a million people this week,” Patrick Pizzella, mayor of Pinehurst, told CityView. “Tuesday night, we kicked off our activities for the week with a showing of the golf movie ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played’ on a screen we erected on our historic Village Green.”
‘Here in spirit’
For all of the WGHF inductees, none may ever have delivered a more humble and poignant acceptance speech as did Sandra Palmer on Monday evening before a “Who’s Who” of past golfing greats and notable personalities to include singer Anne Murray, who inducted Palmer, and Jim Nantz of CBS Sports, who inducted the late Tom Weiskopf. Other inductees were Padraig Harrington, the late LPGA trailblazer Beverly Hanson, the late Johnny Farrell and the 13 founders of the Ladies Professional Golf Association in 1950.
Also attending was the widow and family of Payne Stewart, who won his second U.S. Open on June 20, 1999, at Pinehurst with a dramatic 15-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole to edge Phil Mickelson by one stroke. Stewart died in an airplane crash at age 42 on Oct. 25, 1999. A bronze statue commemorating Payne Stewart’s final hole victory is erected behind the 18th green.
“Unfortunately, many of the people that I would like to pay tribute to are only here in spirit,” Sandra Palmer would say. “ I look out and see so many friends and players that I have admired and played alongside over the years. You made me a better player.”
She recalled the beginnings of her LPGA career, when Palmer set out from her Forth Worth, Texas, home in her new Thunderbird to travel the country competing, and where she would win 19 tour events, including two majors, the 1972 Titleholders and the 1975 U.S. Open, and also the prestigious 1975 Colgate Dinah Shore Winner’s Circle tournament. She was the 1964 LPGA Rookie of the Year.
“I had plenty of help from people that helped me along my way,” Palmer, 81, said, including teachers such as Johnny Revolta, Ernie Vossler and Harvey Penick, the renowned golf teacher who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002. “One of Harvey’s sayings to me was ‘Give lady luck a chance and then let God put his hand on your shoulder.’ And I remember many times walking down those last few holes asking God to put his hand on my shoulder, and quite a few times it happened.”
Epilogue
At just under 5-foot-2, Sandra Palmer was a fierce competitor.
She had the will to win.
And on Monday evening in the crowning moment of a more than 37-year competitive golfing career, a humble golf legend would leave those in attendance with a poignant word.
“I just want to say this is one of the greatest honors of my life, and I’m so deeply grateful to be sharing this with all of you and my chosen family who are here this evening,” Sandra Palmer would say. “Tonight, I truly feel his hand on my shoulder.”
The World Golf Hall of Fame is back in Pinehurst, where so many golfing historians will tell you the World Golf Hall of Fame should be. And Sandra Palmer today is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, where so many of the LPGA historians will tell you Sandra Palmer deservedly belongs.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961
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