Who Deserves Induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2009?

Just days from determining the combatants in Super Bowl XLIII, the sports world has deployed a great deal of resources to cover the league championship games, but I've noticed a more prevalent debate taking place.

Thanks to retirements (Tony Dungy) and actual ballot counting (Major League Baseball), a large portion of the sports talk radio time has been devoted to various "Halls of Fame."

Since golf decided to join the party by unveiling its 2009 ballot, I'd like to weigh in on who should be inducted in St. Augustine, Fla., next November when the 2009 class is enshrined.

Let's start off by listing the criteria for eligibility into the World Golf Hall of Fame, and for the sake of this discussion, we'll be dealing with the PGA and Champions Tours.

In order to be eligible, players must be a minimum of 40 years old, have been a member of the PGA Tour for 10 years, have 10 PGA Tour wins or two wins in the majors or PLAYERS Championship or a combination of 20 PGA Tour and Champions Tour victories.

To be inducted, players must earn at least 65 percent of the vote; in the event that no candidate receives 65 percent, the nominee receiving the most votes with at least 50 percent is elected.

Voters include Hall of Fame members, golf writers, historians and golf dignitaries from around the world. The ballots are due on March 2.

Who's In, Who's Out

The man who received the highest percentage of votes on last year's ballot without being selected for induction was Lanny Wadkins (YES). Wadkins received 52 percent last year, and should receive the 65 percent required this time around.

Wadkins is one of only two players to have reached the 20-win plateau and won a major championship that is not currently in the Hall. His lone major championship came at the 1977 PGA Championship, where he defeated Gene Littler in a three-hole sudden death playoff at Pebble Beach. He did manage to finish second four times in major championships, and on three occasions he finished third in The Masters.

He also won The PLAYERS Championship at Sawgrass in 1979 and was voted PGA Player of the Year in 1985. Wadkins played for the United States in the Ryder Cup eight times between 1977 and 1993, which ties the highest number of appearances in the competition by an American alongside Raymond Floyd and Billy Casper. He also captained the team in 1995.

Before he turned professional in 1971, Wadkins captured the U.S. Amateur and Western Amateur in the same year (1970).

His combination of high-profile victories, quantity of wins on Tour and success in both the Ryder Cup and amateur competition make Wadkins a surefire selection.

Induction to the World Golf Hall of Fame would make it a banner year for Jose Maria Olazabal (YES), who has also been nominated to be the 2010 European Ryder Cup captain.

The majority of Olazabal's success has come in Europe, where he accumulated 22 wins on the European Tour. He is also a two-time Masters Champion (1994, 1999) and has been a part of seven Ryder Cup competitions.

Olazabal has spent more than 300 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings. He is the only player since World War II to have won the British Amateur Championship and then gone on to win a professional major.

Olazabal would be inducted under the International category, and is a deserving recipient of this honor for his transatlantic success.

Next on my list would be Davis Love III (YES), who reached the 20-win Milestone at Disney last November to give him a lifetime exemption on the PGA Tour and solidify his qualifications for induction. Among active players, only Tiger Woods (65), Phil Mickelson (34) and Vijay Singh (34) have won at least 20 times on Tour.

"Fewer and fewer guys are going to be able to reach that number," Brad Faxon said the week after Love's victory. "It's going to be harder and harder to do."

Included in those 20 victories was Love III's win at the 1997 PGA Championship at Winged Foot and two PLAYERS Championship victories. The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill product has now gone over the $1 million mark in earnings for the past 14 years, and has done so a grand total of 15 times during his career.

While he has only one major championship thus far, Love III finished inside of the top 10 in 14 majors during a stretch that spanned the 1995 Masters to the 2001 PGA Championship; that's exactly half of the majors contested during that period.

Love III's victories span two decades, having first won in 1987 and his last triumph being at the tail end of 2008. He has also appeared in six Ryder Cups. In addition to his aforementioned achievements, Love III spent more than 450 weeks in the top ten of the Official World Golf Rankings, started a successful golf course design firm, won the Verizon Heritage five times, is one of the most popular and cordial players on Tour and gave Michael Jordan his first set of golf clubs while at North Carolina.

The most difficult man to leave off of the Hall of Fame list is Doug Ford (NO), a two-time major champion (1955 PGA Championship, 1957 Masters). Ford also won the Jacksonville Open in 1952; the tournament was the precursor to the modern-day PLAYERS Championship.

Ford won 19 PGA Tour events overall and enjoyed a stretch of success in major championships similar to Love III. From 1955 to 1962, Ford finished in the top 10 in 12 of the 23 majors he competed in. However, Ford's wins span only a decade, as compared to 20 years for Love III.

His 1957 Masters win came against one of golf's legends, Sam Snead, but Ford's PGA Championship came under match play rules. Perhaps this is more true of today's golf, but the match play format is far more open to oddity and unpredictable results than is stroke play.

What separates Love III from Ford is his longevity, consistency and level of competition.

There are two other men whom I would strongly consider that fall just short of having Hall of Fame credentials.

The first is Mark O'Meara (NO), trusted friend of Woods, and as of late, adviser and mentor to Anthony Kim.

O'Meara has a sparkling resume, complete with two major championship victories, five Ryder Cup appearances and 16 career PGA Tour victories. Both major wins (Masters, Open Championship) came in 1998; just ask Padraig Harrington how difficult it is to win two in the same year.

However, his dominance over that period in and around 1998 when O'Meara rose to No. 2 in the Official World Golf Rankings begs the question of why he didn't win a major championship before the age of 41. Certainly that doesn't take away from his accomplishments, but in my mind it was too little too late. If major championships and a 20-win total is the litmus test, and there must be some numerical measure by which we make our selections, then O'Meara falls shy of Love III and Ford; not by much, but short nonetheless.

Japan's Jumbo Ozaki (NO) is an interesting case because he is included in the International ballot, and if there were to be a single player from his country to receive this honor, it would be him. Ozaki ranked in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings for almost 200 weeks between 1989 and 1998. He won a record 94 tournaments in Japan, nearly double his nearest competitor. But despite a significant number of starts on the PGA Tour, Ozaki is winless on the most competitive golf circuit in the world and that is a fact that can't be ignored. I would have to pass on Ozaki.

Others who are on the ballot but don't quite have the qualifications are Sandy Lyle, Ken Venturi, Tony Lema, MacDonald Smith, Fred Couples, Kenny Perry, Jay Haas, Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerie.  

Deciding who should be immortalized is a very subjective task for writers, and I'm not even sure they should have the ability to decide who is qualified for enshrinement in any sport. In my opinion former Denver Broncos running back Terrell Davis would be a glaring omission to the Hall in Canton.

Davis has rushed for more than 2,000 yards in a season, been a part of two Super Bowl winners and was nominated to three pro bowls. His stretch of dominance from 1996 - 1998 could be considered the greatest three year performance ever at his position. But do we value longevity, or short-lived brilliance?

If short-lived brilliance won out, O'Meara would deserve induction. But golf is often viewed as a sport with the widest window of opportunity, and long-term success is the measuring stick.

At least I think it should be. The Hall of Fame in any sport is simply a matter of opinion. Maybe we should let the players decide? Then again, maybe not.

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