The World Golf Hall of Fame will leave Florida and return to North Carolina, where it will become part of the USGA Pinehurst campus and hold two induction ceremonies during the weeks of the US Open in 2024 and 2029. This will involve moving some articles and pieces exhibited in the Hall of St. Augustine (Florida).
The USGA, headquartered in Far Hills, New Jersey, began building a “Pinehurst Golf House” last month. Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner who heads the World Golf Foundation, said Wednesday’s announcement will “solidify the long-term relevance and viability” of the Hall of Fame and expand the partnership with the USGA. “Both organizations are committed to prioritizing the preservation of golf’s history, which will serve fans for years to come,” Monahan said.
Tiger Woods was part of the final induction ceremony in March at the PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. In recent years, induction ceremonies have been associated with major events – St. Andrews during the 2015 British Open, Liberty National during the 2017 Presidents Cup, Pebble Beach in 2019 during the US Open_.
It was not immediately decided whether there would be other induction ceremonies between the 2024 US Open and the 2029 US Open and US Women’s Open at Pinehurst.
Golf has long struggled to create a Hall of Fame to rival Cooperstown (baseball) and Canton (NFL), in part because its origins involve more than one organization. The Hall of Fame opened in 1974 in Pinehurst is privately run. The PGA of America took over in 1983 and acquired it three years later, merging its 1940 Hall of Fame.
The World Golf Hall of Fame has brought a global dimension to golf, including the LPGA Tour. But traffic is slow at World Golf Village. Attendance exceeded 250,000 spectators a year at its peak and last year it dropped to around 60,000. The World Golf Foundation’s 25-year lease expires at the end of next year. Monahan is looking for ways to preserve the rich history of golf even without the physical structure in St. Augustine, and the partnership with the USGA provides a clear path.
The USGA will be responsible for day-to-day operations. The World Golf Foundation will continue to oversee the selection process and the investiture ceremony. Along with World Golf Hall of Fame memorabilia – such as Johnnie Miller’s clubs from his 63 at Oakmont in the 1973 US Open and the wedge Seve Ballesteros used to win his first British Open – the sanctuary will include extensive collection of the USGA Golf Museum and Library.
Miller and Nick Faldo were the first players to be inducted into the Florida facility in 1998. The last World Golf Village induction ceremony was in 2013, an act that included Fred Couples and Colin Montgomerie.
Source: La Verdad
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