April 20 – Vijay Singh, the reigning golfer of the year in the U.S. and Europe, will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in November, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said.
Singh, a 42-year-old Fijian, has 25 career victories on the U.S. PGA Tour and has won 22 more events internationally. He has won three major tournaments, the 2000 Masters and the 1998 and 2004 PGA Championships.
In 2004, Singh won nine PGA tournaments, earned a record $10.9 million in prize money and ended Tiger Woods’s five-year reign as the No. 1 golfer in the world. Singh is second to Woods in the current world rankings.
“On the heels of one of golf’s finest single seasons, this is a deserved honor for Vijay and one he has dedicated his life to earning,” Finchem said at a news conference at the Shell Houston Open, according to the PGA Tour Web site. “Adding World Golf Hall of Fame member to his resume assures his rightful spot among the game’s elite.”
Singh received votes from 56 percent of the Hall of Fame’s balloting committee, which consists of golf writers and historians.
Under Hall of Fame guidelines, a person must receive 65 percent of the votes for induction. If no one reaches that number, the person with the highest percentage of votes greater than 50 percent is inducted, Hall of Fame spokeswoman Peyton Taylor said in an telephone interview.
This year’s induction ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 14 in St. Augustine, Florida. Other members of the 2005 Hall of Fame class will be announced at a later date, Finchem said.
Among the other 32 current and former players on the 2005 World Golf Hall of Fame ballot are major tournament winners Fred Couples, Davis Love III and Lee Janzen, and Champions Tour members Curtis Strange, Larry Nelson and Fuzzy Zoeller.
