By Kent Paisley
The LPGA Tour has confirmed to Golf Digest that the tour will announce on Wednesday that it is removing its 10-year requirement for entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame. The first change to the hall’s rules since 1999 will open the door for 27-time winner Lorena Ochoa to enter.

In addition, multiple sources told Golf Digest that the eight LPGA founders of the original 13 who are not in the hall will be announced as eligible as well—a move that would expand the number of members in the hall from 25 to 34. The LPGA declined to comment.

“There’s no question that she’s [Ochoa] worthy of being in the Hall of Fame,” LPGA Tour player Maria Fassi said, “and it makes me extremely proud and happy to know that all her work and dedication is paid off. Because I know this is something that was probably on her list of things that she wanted to accomplish. It’s also very inspiring, humbling for all of us Mexicans to know that we have one of our own in there.”

Currently, there are three objective requirements to earn entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame, which is a different entity than the World Golf Hall of Fame. First, earn 27 points as follows: two points for a major championship win, one for a tournament victory, and one for earning either the Vare Trophy for season low-scoring average or Rolex Player of the Year. Second, a player must win at least one major championship or a season-ending award. Third, a player must have 10 years of being an active LPGA member.

Only four players met the requirements since they were announced in 1999: Annika Sorenstam, who was inducted in 2003; Karrie Webb (2005); Se Ri Pak (2007), and Inbee Park (2016). There are four active players with more than 20 Hall of Fame points: Laura Davies (25), Yani Tseng (23), Cristie Kerr (22), and Lydia Ko (21).

Ochoa’s entry was held back because she only played seven years before retiring from full-time play in 2010 at the age of 28. Nevertheless, the former World No. 1 dominated the tour, winning two majors (2007 Women’s British Open, 2008, Kraft Nabisco Championship) and was a four-time Vare Trophy and Player of the Year winner. She earned 37 Hall of Fame points over her storied career and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2017. Sources tell Golf Digest that Ochoa will be on hand at the Chevron Championship on Wednesday when the LPGA formally announces the change to its Hall of Fame eligibility.

The LPGA announced it would start reviewing the 10-year rule following the announcement of Ochoa getting into the World Golf Hall of Fame, and a 10-member review committee is being formed.

The only other current avenue into the LPGA Hall of Fame is through the veteran’s committee. The LPGA’s website explains that each year, the committee can nominate one player who meets these criteria: active player for 10 years, followed by five years of inactivity; one major win or season-ending award; possessing an extraordinary career that significantly impacted the growth of the LPGA. Three players earned entry through the veteran’s committee: Judy Rankin (2000), Donna Caponi (2001), and Marlene Hagge (2002). In addition, Dinah Shore received honorary membership in 1994.

While not all remaining eight founders meet the veteran’s committee criteria, they certainly impacted the tour’s growth. Founders Alice Bauer, Bettye Danoff, Helen Dettwieler, Helen Hicks, Opal Hill, Marilynn Smith, Sally Sessions, and Shirley Spork will be announced on Wednesday as eligible for entry.

At 94, Spork is the only surviving founder not yet in the hall. She is still visible in the tour, including dancing on the first tee at Solheim Cups, and resides in Palm Springs, Calif.

Sarah Stier
Shirley Spork (right) poses with winner Jin Young Ko and LPGA-USGA Girls Golf member Sofia Riccobono after the final round of the 2021 Cognizant Founders Cup last October. Spork is the only suriving LPGA Founder not in the LPGA Hall of Fame.

“It is about expletive time,” 20-year LPGA veteran Christina Kim said. “I think it’s: one, the right thing to do; two, I am very, very, very … beyond thrilled to know that Lorena, along with the remaining founders, are going to be entered into the LPGA Hall of Fame, because, aside from what the qualifications are from points, there’s so much more that goes into it in the impact you leave on the golf world.”

The last time the tour updated the rules, it went from an even more stringent requirement to the 27-point system. The old requirements meant accomplishing one of three things to enter: 40 victories and no majors, 35 victories and one major, or 30 victories and two majors. The ’99 update allowed Amy Alcott and Beth Daniel to become immediately eligible, while it also lowered the win threshold while expanding points opportunities with the inclusion of the awards.

As of now, the Rolex Rookie of the Year, the Rolex Annika Major Award, and the Olympics do not earn any points.

The post Ochoa, Spork to join LPGA Hall of Fame after eligibility changes approved appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
Nelly and Jessica Korda rank first and sixth, respectively, in scoring average this season on the LPGA Tour. With just two tournaments left on the 2021 schedule, Jessica’s 69.927 is too far back to catch her sister (69.074), or Jin Young Ko, who ranks No. 2 with a 69.186 average. Yet neither she, or Nelly, or Ko for that matter can go down officially as the winner of the scoring title, anyway, due to a caveat in how the honour is handed out.

To be eligible to win the LPGA’s Vare Trophy (and earn a point toward induction into the LPGA Hall of Fame), a player must have played in a minimum of 70 rounds or 70 percent of the round she is eligible to play in a given season. Add four rounds at this week’s Pelican Women’s Championship, and four more at next week’s CME Group Tour Championship, and Nelly still only will have played 66 on the season, while Jessica will have played 67. Ko also falls shy of the 70-round minimum (67) as does Inbee Park, who currently ranks No. 3 in scoring average at 69.534 but is not playing this week.

You have to go to No. 4 in the current ranking, Lydia Ko, to find the first player eligible to win the award—presuming she makes the cut this week at the Pelican and plays all four rounds next week in Naples.

Suffice it to say, the fine print associated with the award’s eligibility is something neither Nelly or Jessica knew much about or sounded all that fond of it.

“I was like, ‘Oh, OK. Cool. That sucks.’ That’s pretty much what I said in our group chat,” Nelly said ahead of the Pelican about learning that she wouldn’t have enough rounds to qualify.

“Yeah, I was like, ‘great rule,’ ” said Jessica sarcastically. “It’s just such a weird rule when your No. 1 and 2 player in the world [can’t win].”

Nelly noted that she pulled out of the LPGA stop in Portland two weeks after the Solheim Cup in September because she wasn’t feeling well. She also took off the Arkansas stop a week later. “I don’t think I could have played more events because my body was just so tired,” she said when asked about not reaching the minimum. “I typically play all the events at the start of the year, and if I play well then I’ll take some time off, because the travelling in the summer was just so crazy.”

Compounding things in 2021 was a crazy summer schedule that included Korda going to Japan and playing in the Olympics, where she won the gold medal.

This is the second straight year that the top players in scoring average aren’t eligible for the Vare Trophy because of failing to reach the minimum-round threshold, although the pandemic in 2020 understandable impacted how many events players could reasonably compete in. Still, it’s a trend that the Kordas hope causes the tour to consider changing the rule.

“There is a board of players and people higher up than us that are going to need to come up maybe with a different plan,” Jessica said.

The post Korda sisters don’t hold back their displeasure over this LPGA rule appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.