Ochoa & Mallon among five Hall of Fame inductees
Former long-standing world No 1 Lorena Ochoa and four-time Major champion Meg Mallon have been selected to join the World Golf Hall of Fame for 2017.
The pair will be joined by former Masters winner Ian Woosnam, 2016 Ryder Cup winning captain Davis Love III and English golf writer and commentator Henry Longhurst, who died in 1978.
All five will inducted into the Hall of Fame at a ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on September 26, 2017, which will be during the week of the Presidents Cup.
It will take the total number of Hall of Fame members to 155.
I'm so honoured to be part of the world golf hall of fame joining so my great champions
— Ian Woosnam (@IWoosnam) October 18, 2016
Woosnam, 58, who won the Masters in 1991, said on his Twitter account: “I’m so honoured to be part of the World Golf Hall of Fame, joining so my great champions.”
The Welshman, who was ranked No 1 in the world topped the world rankings for 50 weeks during the early nineties, represented Europe in eight consecutive Ryder Cups from 1983 to 1997.
Davis Love III, 52, won 21 times on the PGA Tour, including a Major title in the form of the 1997 PGA Championship.
He represented the United States six times as a player in the Ryder Cup and was the non-playing captain in Medinah in 2012 and most recently for this year’s US victory at Hazeltine.
Thirty-four-year-old, Ochoa, whose 27 LPGA Tour victories include two Major championships, was the number one women’s golfer on the planet for 158 successive weeks. She is the first Mexican-born golfer to enter the Hall of Fame.
She tweeted: “Thank you for this honor. Being a part of this group and being Mexican fills me with pride.”
Mallon, 53, claimed four Major victories, represented the USA in the Solheim Cup eight times and also served as skipper in 2013.
She put a message on her Twitter account which simply said: “#honored #humbled”
#honored #humbled https://t.co/eRBJl77bH1
— Meg Mallon (@MegMallonUSA) October 18, 2016
Longhurst wrote a weekly column for the London Sunday Times for 40 years and became what many considered the first golf TV personality by providing coverage for the BBC from the 1950s until his death in 1978, at the age of 69.
The class of 2017 was elected by the Hall of Fame’s selection commission, which was co-chaired by Nancy Lopez, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Annika Sorenstam, after they debated a group of 16 finalists.
The five members of the class of 2017 each passed the required 75 percent voting threshold – approval by at least 12 of the 16 members.
The other finalists were: Susie Berning, Johnny Farrell, Max Faulkner, Peggy Kirk Bell, Catherine Lacoste, Graham Marsh, Sandra Palmer, Calvin Peete, Samuel Ryder, Macdonald Smith and Jan Stephenson.
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