Three-time major champion Irish golfer Padraig Harrington was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame on Monday.
Also inducted in the new hall, which opened this week in Pinehurst after being relocated from Florida, are Sandra Palmer, the late Tom Weiskopf, Johnny Farrell, Beverly Hanson and 13 other LPGA founders.
Harrington, 52, from Dublin, won the British Open in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Championship in 2008. She was also the European Tour Player of the Year in 2007 and 2008, Money Queen in 2006 and the PGA Player of the Year in 2008.
“I’m very excited,” Harrington said, “and a little bit humbling. I feel like I’ve been recognized for what I’ve accomplished in golf at this stage in my life. It’s really satisfying and I’m very proud to be included with the older players.”
Palmer won 19 LPGA Tour titles, including two majors, the 1972 Titleholders Championship and the 1975 U.S. Women’s Open.
The LPGA was founded in 1950 by 13 founders, including Alice Bauer, Betty Danoff, Helen Detwiler, Helen Hicks, Opal Hill, Sally Sessions and Shirley Spork, who joined past inductees such as Patty Berg, Marlene Bauer Hadge, Louise Suggs, Babe Zaharias, Marilyn Smith and Betty Jameson.
js/rcw
