Ken Venturi In The World Golf Hall Of Fame
/Garry Smits with the news of Ken Venturi getting in the World Golf Hall of Fame via the Lifetime Achievement category.
Venturi, 81, will enter the Hall through the Lifetime Achivement Category. He will join Fred Couples, who won a Masters in 1992 and a Players Championship in 1984 with Venturi providing the analysis on CBS.
The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be May 6 at the St. Johns County Convention Center, at the World Golf Village. The ceremony will kick off Players Championship week.
Venturi was one of the top amateurs in the U.S. during the 1950s, and won the California State Amateur twice. He finished second by one shot to Jack Burke Jr., in the 1956 Masters, which remains tied for the best finish by an amateur at Augusta.
Venturi turned professional a year later and won twice on the PGA Tour during his rookie year. He won multiple tournaments in five seasons, going on win 14 Tour titles.
Randall Mell posts a lengthy column on Venturi's career and what the Hall induction will mean for the former U.S. Open Champion.
Rich Lerner interviewed Ken Venturi in Pebble Beach Monday and talks about how Tim Finchem broke the news some time ago. I missed the memo naming Finchem head of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Anyone know when that one came out?
**Bill Fields added his thoughts.
Venturi made the most of his life away from competition, as a talker and a giver -- helping various charities, from raising money for guide dogs for the blind, a children's hospital and the mentally challenged. Nelson, long ago, had given his protege some advice.
