Edina, Minn. (June 24, 2008) – Carol Semple Thompson, a seven-time winner of United States Golf Association championships, will be recognized alongside posthumous inductees Denny Shute, Craig Wood and golf writer Herbert Warren Wind as part of the 2008 Class at this year’s World Golf Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, it was announced today at Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minn., site of the 2008 United States Women’s Open. Shute, Thompson, Wind and Wood will be inducted alongside golf course architect Pete Dye and one other inductee who will be announced later this summer.
“Carol’s life in golf is that of the quintessential amateur,” said Carol Mann, Hall of Fame member and ambassador. “Her game is strong but her grace, humility, dedication, and humor are her strongest assets. She has contributed with intelligence and integrity, preserving the best interests of the game of golf in each of her leadership roles. Her parents, Phyllis and Bud, both past leaders of the USGA, would be very proud of this new honor and recognition as a 2008 inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame.”
On the news of Shute, Wind and Wood, Hall of Fame member Ben Crenshaw said, “The induction of these individuals is richly deserved and I think anyone who studies what they have achieved would be overjoyed for them and their families. When I heard the news I went immediately to Mr. Wind’s book ‘The Story of American Golf’ and was struck by the irony of it all. In that book Mr. Wind so eloquently details the pursuits of Denny Shute and Craig Wood, two men with incredibly successful careers that often overlapped. And now, so many years later, the three will forever be linked again as they join the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2008.”
Shute, selected in the Veterans Category, has 15 PGA TOUR victories to his credit, including three majors: the 1933 Open Championship and 1936 and 1937 PGA Championships. For 63 years Shute carried the title as the last man to win back-to-back PGA Championship titles until Tiger Woods achieved the same in 1999 and 2000. Shute was a member of three U.S. Ryder Cup teams: 1931, 1933 and 1937.
Shute first started winning as an amateur in West Virginia before returning to his native Ohio to win the Ohio Amateur in 1927 and the Ohio Open from 1929-31. From 1945 until he retired in 1972, he was the head professional at Portage Country Club in Akron, Ohio. Shute was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on Oct. 25, 1904 and died May 13, 1974.
Thompson, selected in the Lifetime Achievement Category, is one of only 11 golfers to have won the United States Women’s Amateur and British Ladies Open Amateur, events she won in 1973 and 1974 respectively. She has won six additional USGA championships: the 1999-2002 USGA Senior Women’s Amateurs and the 1990 and 1997 United States Women’s Mid-Amateurs. She has played in more than 100 USGA championships, including 32 U.S. Women’s Opens. Thompson played on a record 12 USA Curtis Cup teams and captained the victorious 2006 and 2008 USA teams. She has played for the United States in five Women’s World Amateur Team Championships.
Thompson has served on the USGA Women’s Committee and Executive Committee, as well as on the Advisory Committee for the PGA of America. She won the USGA’s 2003 Bob Jones Award, the Association’s top award given in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf, and the 2005 First Lady of Golf Award presented by the PGA. She was born on Oct. 27, 1948 in Sewickley, Pa., where she still resides.
Wind, selected in the Lifetime Achievement Category, wrote for The New Yorker from 1947 to 1953 and again from 1960 to 1990, when he retired. He spent the interim years writing for Sports Illustrated and in April 1958, termed the phrase “Amen Corner” when writing about holes 11, 12 and 13 at Augusta National Golf Club. Wind also wrote several books about golf including “The Story of American Golf” and “Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf,” written with fellow Hall of Fame member Ben Hogan.
Wind graduated from Yale University and earned a master’s degree in English at Cambridge University in England. He won the USGA’s Bob Jones Award in 1995 and remains the only writer to have ever done so. He also served as a volunteer on two USGA committees for nearly 30 years. Wind was born Aug. 11, 1917 in Brockton, Mass. and died May 30, 2005.
“Mr. Wind, in my mind, is the foremost golf writer in America,” Crenshaw added. “He knew so many people and witnessed so much in golf history, and had the talent to make people come to life through his writing. He enriched my life beyond golf and encouraged my love of golf history. He was a remarkable person.”
Wood, elected on the PGA TOUR Ballot with 65 percent of the vote, earned 21 PGA TOUR titles, including the 1941 Masters Tournament, where he became the first wire-to-wire winner of that tournament. Wood won the United States Open the same year, becoming the first person to capture the first two major championships in one year. He also was a member of three Ryder Cup teams: 1931, 1933 and 1935.
Wood was born in Lake Placid, N.Y., on Nov. 18, 1901 and died May 8, 1968. In 1948 Wood’s home city of Lake Placid honored him by renaming the Lake Placid Golf and Country Club the Craig Wood Golf Course.
“The World Golf Hall of Fame continues to recognize the greatest players and contributors that this game has seen, regardless of the era in which they lived,” said Jack Peter, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Hall of Fame. “The Class of 2008 will be a convergence of those from a bygone era with those who continue in golf today.”
Ninety-two percent of the PGA TOUR Ballots mailed out were returned. (A complete list of percentages for the 2008 Ballot Candidates is below.) And, while 88 percent of the International ballots were returned, no candidates reached the minimum percentage required for induction.
Dye, Shute, Thompson, Wind and Wood, plus the final inductee yet to be announced, will be honored at the 2008 World Golf Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Monday, Nov. 10 at World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla.
World Golf Hall of Fame is the ultimate destination for the celebration and recognition of golf’s greatest players and contributors and an inspiration to golfers and fans throughout the world. A collaboration of 26 national and international golf organizations support the Hall of Fame, including the PGA TOUR, LPGA, USGA, Augusta National, PGA of America, The European Tour and The R&A. The museum houses interactive exhibits and historic and personal artifacts that tell the stories of its members and the game of golf. The Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village, a resort destination celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2008. For more information, visit www.wgv.com.
# # #
As sole founding partner of World Golf Hall of Fame, The First Tee and World Golf Village, Shell Oil Company provides financial support and plays the lead role in charitable initiatives aimed at introducing golf to young people, and through the golf experience promotes scholastic achievement, community service and those values intrinsic to the game of golf: honesty, integrity and sportsmanship.
PGA TOUR Ballot results – 92% returned
Craig Wood 65%
Lanny Wadkins 52%
Denny Shute 43%
Doug Ford 35%
Bob Charles 28%
Mark O’Meara 24%
Ken Venturi 23%
Davis Love III 19%
Fred Couples 18%
Tony Lema 18%
Macdonald Smith 18%
Fuzzy Zoeller 13%
Dave Stockton 10%
Miller Barber 10%
Don January 9%
Harold (Jug) McSpaden 5%
David Toms 0% 2008 International Ballot results – 88% returned
Jose Maria Olazabal 49%
Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki 46%
Sandy Lyle 35%
Colin Montgomerie 29%
Graham Marsh 25%
Christy O’Connor Sr. 22%
Ian Woosnam 18%
Peter Alliss 17%
Norman Von Nida 16%
Max Faulkner 5%
Craig Parry 1%
Contact:
Jane Fader
904-940-4009
jfader@wghof.org
www.wgv.com