How can the World Golf Hall of Fame snub a legend like three-time major champion Padraig Harrington?

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How can the World Golf Hall of Fame snub a legend like three-time major champion and European Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington?

  • Four inductees were chosen from a shortlist of 10 by the 20-strong committee 
  • Three have been revealed so far – Tiger Woods, Marion Hollins and Tim Finchem
  • Fourth will be revealed on Wednesday but it will not be the name of Harrington

By Derek Lawrenson for the Daily Mail

Published: | Updated:

Goodness, you are loath to argue with a 20-strong selection committee containing players who can put as many medals on the table as Nick Price, Curtis Strange and Annika Sorenstam. 

Not to mention CEOs of organisations as august as the PGA and European Tours, the USGA and the R&A. But let’s have a try, shall we? They have surely got it grievously wrong in snubbing Padraig Harrington when it comes to the inductees for the 2021 class of the World Golf Hall of Fame. 

Yes, Padraig Harrington; the South of Ireland’s greatest ever golfer, a three-time major champion and the current European Ryder Cup captain. How on earth can he not be inducted at the earliest possible opportunity? 

World Golf Hall of Fame have surely got it grievously wrong in snubbing Padraig Harrington

The names of the four inductees chosen from a shortlist of 10 are being announced singly, with the last of the four named on Wednesday. 

So far, they have announced Tiger Woods — I think we can all agree on that one — Marion Hollins, a pioneer of the women’s game, and former PGA Tour CEO Tim Finchem. While it would be wrong to reveal the name of the final selection ahead of the official release, it is hopefully not breaching protocol in revealing who it is not: the Irishman. 

I should declare an interest at this point. I was part of the nominating committee who put forward 48-year-old Harrington’s name (one of the criteria was changed this time, with the age of eligibility lowered from 50 to 45).

Harrington kisses the trophy after winning The Open Championship at Carnoustie in 2007

Harrington kisses the trophy after winning The Open Championship at Carnoustie in 2007

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK

The Miracle at Medinah watchalong on Sky Sports Host Nick Dougherty and Sky pulled out all the stops with their innovative coverage of the 2012 Ryder Cup last weekend. 

This was the first time I had re-watched the stirring events of that Sunday afternoon in Chicago, when Europe did what no away team had done before and overhauled a four-point deficit. What a joy to do so in the company of five of the team — Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Paul Lawrie and the man who sank the winning putt, Martin Kaymer — as they relived the experience remotely and contributed their thoughts. Poults, bless him, was even dressed in the shirt he wore on the Saturday, when he finished his four-balls match with five successive birdies to galvanise the European team and change everything. 

‘It’s never been washed and now, seeing the action again like this, it’s getting sweaty all over again!’ he said. Westwood added: ‘Watching this, I’m still not convinced we’re going to win even though I know the result.’ 

You knew what he meant. How on earth did Justin Rose beat Phil Mickelson, when all looked lost as he stood over a buried lie in a bunker at the 15th? How did Jim Furyk lose to Sergio Garcia? Kaymer became positively misty-eyed when asked about his 8ft winning putt, acknowledging the prodigious efforts of those who had given him the chance to complete the miracle. 

‘It was the greatest moment of my career and always will be,’ said the eloquent German. ‘I was very proud of that moment and I was very lucky to get that gift.

I have also been part of the final selection committee, so I am aware of the horse-trading that goes on before the inductees in this biennial process are finally chosen. 

In 2017, I was pleased to play a part in getting Ian Woosnam an induction that was scandalously overdue. And yes, I get why you would want to recognise Hollins and Finchem. 

The former was an influential voice in golf architecture and the amateur game in the 1920s, and the latter harnessed the power of the PGA Tour to make it the most powerful organisation in the game. 

But is that why people go to visit golf ’s Hall of Fame, situated just outside Jacksonville in Florida; to read about architects and administrators? 

Or would they rather learn about the stirring deeds of its legendary players? 

In this induction cycle, we have two golfers and two from the contributors category, which strikes me as a skewed sense of priorities. It should almost wholly be about the players, and particularly when you have the chance to recognise a man who has won two Opens, a USPGA and played in no fewer than four winning Ryder Cup teams. That is not the only thing wrong with this list. It is also allAmerican. 

Nothing wrong with that, of course, if the four most just cases are, indeed, American. 

But if you’re trying to convince the world outside America that you really are a World Golf Hall of Fame, leaving off Harrington when he plainly should be one of the four is not the way to go about it. Led by Tiger and Padraig, this should have been a quartet of inductees to stir wider recognition and interest in the Hall of Fame. Instead, outside America, it will do more harm than good 

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