USA: GOLF - Vijay Singh and sports super agent Mark McCormack were among inductees into World Golf Hall of Fame at a ceremony at St Augustine, Florida

Three-time major champion Vijay Singh was one of five people inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame on Monday (October 30) in St Augustine,Florida. Singh was inducted alongside Larry Nelson, Marilynn Smith, the late Mark McCormack and Henry Picard. Singh learned to play golf from his father while growing up on the tiny Pacific island of Fiji. Before becoming the PGA Tour rookie of the year at the age of30 in 1993, Singh worked a club professional in Borneo and labored on international tours in Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe. He has gone on to 29 PGA Tour victories, the 1998 and 2004 PGA Championships and the 2000 Masters. Singh, recognized as one of the hardest-working players on the PGA Tour, remembers especially the two years in Borneo when he gave lessons to rubber and oil workers and hit balls from sunup to sundown to craft a game that would later help him become the world's No. 1-ranked player in 2005. "You know golf took me to so many wonderful places, Its brought me over here to meet all you beautiful people. I think without golf I would still be in Fiji and god knows what I would have been doing. To the selection committee for voting me in I really am proud of this and I think its one of my big achievements in life. I'm really proud and I love this game. Thank you very much," Singh said. Selected in the Lifetime Achievement category, Mark McCormack's legendary handshake with Palmer in 1960 was the foundation for the sports marketing industry and evolved for McCormack into what would become IMG, the world's premier sports, entertainment and media company. In 1966, he formed IMG's media division, TWI, which became the world's largest non-network producer of televised sports. He also began an events division to create, stage and build upon the success of many golf events throughout the world. McCormack also is credited with developing the Official World Golf Rankings, a system that ranks the performance level of male professional golfers. McCormack died in May 2003 in New York, four months after a heart attack. He was 72. "I can't begin to tell you how many times I've shaken peoples hands around the world. Thousands perhaps, maybe millions...and with the man on the street and with the most important people in the world. One of those handshakes though I can''t think has meant more to me than anything than the one I had nearly 50 years ago with Mark McCormack," Arnold Palmer remembered in his induction speech. Picard collected 26 PGA Tour wins during his career, including two major crowns. He was selected in the Veteran's category. Nelson collected 10 PGA Tour wins and has since won 19 times on the Champions Tour. He played in three Ryder Cups, racking up an impressive 9-3-1 record. During her tenure as President, Smith was a co-founder of the teaching division, which is now known as LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals. On the course, Smith earned 21 official victories, including wins at the 1963 and 1964 Titleholders Championship -- at the time, a major tournament.

ITN Source | October 31, 2006

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