Davies appears ready for hall

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This article was published 29/05/2013 (4823 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DUBLIN, Ohio — The only thing keeping Laura Davies out of the World Golf Hall of Fame is her stubborn desire to make it on merit.

Now the 49-year-old star from England is starting to reconsider.

Davies wants to get in through the LPGA Tour’s strict criteria of 27 points accumulated primarily through wins and majors. She has been stuck on 25 points since her last LPGA Tour win in 2001 in Rochester. Those numbers are misleading, however. She has played a limited LPGA Tour because Davies has supported the Ladies European Tour for nearly three decades, winning 45 times in the 307 events she has played.

She is eligible to be placed on the International ballot of the World Golf Hall of Fame, but has instructed officials to leave her name off.

“Maybe it’s time to buckle and say, ‘Yeah.’ Obviously, I’ve always wanted to be in, but I wanted it to be my way,” Davies said in the Bahamas. “I’ve read articles where people have said it’s nuts that I’m not in. But that’s being mean to the World Golf Hall of Fame. People should know it’s been me that’s been saying no. I’ve always had the dream of getting in the LPGA Hall of Fame by playing my way in.”

The feeling is Davies would have had well over the 27 points needed to qualify through the LPGA standards if she had stuck primarily to an LPGA schedule because she gave up about 10 tournaments a year for 20 years during the height of her powerful game.

“I just think she represents women’s golf as an icon. Laura is worldwide golf. She’s a slam dunk for the Hall of Fame for what she’s done for golf, women’s golf and European golf. There’s no reason she shouldn’t be in,” Juli Inkster said.

Told that Davies was thinking about allowing her name to be on the International ballot, LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan said, “It couldn’t be early enough.”

Davies would still have to allow her name to be on the ballot — the last woman elected that way was Ayako Okamoto of Japan in the class of 2005. She received 52 per cent of the vote, elected because of the loophole that takes one player with at least 50 per cent of the vote if no one gets the minimum 65 per cent.

If Davies were to allow her name to go on the International ballot, she likely would easily clear the 65 per cent threshold.

LONG AND SHORT OF IT: The LPGA Tour was quick to announce last week that it would go along with the new rule that bans anchored strokes, even though a few of its players use the long putters.

One of them is Mo Martin, who has used a broom-handle putter anchored to the chest from the day she first learned to play. Martin grew up with scoliosis, though not to the same degree as Stacy Lewis. She didn’t have to wear a brace or have surgery.

“I was six years old,” Martin said. “My dad wanted me to play a sport for life, and he thought the long putter would spare my back. And if there was a stink about them, he thought it might be an advantage.”

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Martin said she was frustrated the Royal&Ancient and United States Golf Association adopted the new rule, though she won’t fight it. Like others, she has until 2016 to change.

What puzzled Martin was how “anchoring” became part of golf’s vernacular during this debate.

“Anchoring didn’t come up until the belly putter came along,” she said. “No one ever referred to anchoring with the long putter. It was always the broom stick or the long putter. Because the end of the club wasn’t stuck into your body.”

— The Associated Press