The World Golf Hall of Fame has announced the 15 Finalists in four categories, Male Competitors (4), Female Competitors (5), Lifetime Achievement (3) and Veterans (3). A Sub-Committee of 20 people decided the Finalists, six of which are Hall of Famers.

The Finalists are:

Male Competitors:

Reteif Goosen: From South Africa, Goosen won 33 times on tour and was the 2001 and 2004 U.S. Open winner. He is also a six time Presidents Cup winner.

Graham Marsh: The Australian won 50 tournaments, 20 of which were on the Asian Tour.

Corey Pavin: Pavin won 24 tournaments, which included 15 on the PGA Tour. Pavin won the 1995 U.S. Open and four Ryder Cups and was also named the PGA Player of the Year in 1991.

Hal Sutton: Sutton won 14 PGA Tournaments, three of which were Majors (the 1983 and 2000 Players Championship and 1983 PGA Championship). He as also a five time Ryder Cup Champion and was the 1983 PGA Player of the Year.

Female Competitors:

Susie Berning: Berning won 11 LPGA titles, which included four majors; the 1965 Western Open and the 1968, 1972 & 1973 U.S. Women’s Open Championship.

Beverly Hanson: Hanson won 17 times on the LPGA including the 1955 LPGA Championship, 1956 Women’s Western Open and the 1958 Titleholders Championship.

Sandra Palmer: Palmer won 21 tournaments, 19 of which were on the LPGA circuit. Palmer was named the LPGA Player of the Year while winning the U.S. Open that year.

Dottie Pepper: Pepper was the LGPA Player of the Year in 1992 and she won the Kraft Nabisco Championship twice (1992 & 1999). She would win 17 tournaments on the LPGA circuit.

Jan Stephenson: Stephenson won 16 LPGA tournaments and the Australian won three Majors, 1981 du Maurier Classic, the 1982 LPGA Championship and the 1983 U.S. Women’s Open.

Lifetime Achievement:

Peggy Kirk Bell: Bell was a charter member of the LPGA in 1950 and she would win the Titleholders Championship in 1949. She would achieve more notoriety as an instructor as she would become the first woman to be named in the World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame.

Billy Payne: Payne was the Chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club from 2006 to 2017.

Dennis Walters: Walters was a strong golfer who was paralyzed at age 24 due to a golf cart accident but he became a trick shot artist and gave golf clinics throughout the world.

Veterans:

Jim Ferrier: The Australian star won 18 Titles on the PGA Tour, which was highlighted winning the 1947 PGA Championship. He was also a four time Australian Amateur Champion.

Catherine Lacoste: Lacoste won the 1967 U.S. Open as an amateur (the only one to do so) and the native of France also won the U.S. and British Women’s Amateur Championship in 1969.

Calvin Peete: Peete won 12 Tournaments on the PGA Tour and was a two time Ryder Cup Champion. He also won the Players Championship in 1985.

To gain induction, the finalist must receive 75% of the vote. The Class of 2019 will be announced on October 10 and the ceremony will take place on June 10, 2019.

We will certainly be watching to see who will comprise the 2019 Hall of Fame Class.

Now that the Baseball regular season is over we know that there will be significant retirements occurring in the next few months but on the last weekend we knew that we saw that end of David Wright’s career. Wright played two games after coming back from serious injury that prematurely ended his 2016 season. Those were his first games back in 855 days

Wright made his Major League debut in 2004 with the New York Mets, which would be the only franchise that he ever played for. Wright would prove to very good hitter as he batted .300 five times in a row (2005-09) and two more (2012-13) and he put forth decent power numbers with five 25 Home Run seasons. He would finish in the top ten in National League MVP voting four times and was a two time Silver Slugger and two time Gold Glove winner.

Wright retires with 1,777 Hits, 242 Home Runs a .296/.376/.491 Slash Line and a bWAR of 50.4. He is Hall of Fame eligible in 2024 and it will be interesting to see what percentage of the votes that he will tabulate. It will be difficult for the seven time All Star to get past the first round as while he has solid metrics in both traditional and advanced statistics but they accumulatively do not measure up to other Hall of Fame Third Basemen.

While we don’t think he will be enshrined in Cooperstown there is a good chance that he will receive a post career honor by the New York Mets.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish David Wright the best in his post-playing career.

We have another significant retirement to discuss as Brian Gionta announced that he is retiring from professional hockey and has taken a job with the Buffalo Sabres as a Developmental Coach.

From Rochester, New York, Brian Gionta was drafted 82nd Overall in 1998 but prior to joining the professional ranks he went to play for Boston College where he would help the institution win the National Championship in his senior year. Shortly after, he would win the Stanley Cup in his second year in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils. In the 2005-06 season Gionta would by far have his best season in the NHL where he scored 89 Points and set the franchise record for Goals with 48. The American would never come close to that level of offensive production again but he would score 595 Points over a 16 Year, 1,026 Game career in the National Hockey League. He would also represent the United States in the 2006 Olympics and he would captain the American team in 2018.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Brian Gionta the best in his new role with the Sabres.

It was announced today that Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Tommy McDonald passed away at the age of 84. There are no details at this time as to the cause of death.

A two-time All-American and two time National Champion from the University of Oklahoma, the 5 foot 7 Wide Receiver was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 3rd Round of the 1957 NFL Draft where he played for six seasons. McDonald was a star immediately going to five consecutive Pro Bowls (1958-62) and he was also a First Team All Pro in 1959 and 1960, the latter of which would see him assist the Eagles win the NFL Championship. He would twice lead the NFL in Touchdown Receptions and was the Receiving Yards leader in 1961.

McDonald would finish his career with the Dallas Cowboys (1964), the Los Angeles Rams (1965-66), the Atlanta Falcons (1967) and the Cleveland Browns (1968). He finished his career with 495 Receptions, 8,410 Receiving Yards and 84 Touchdown catches. At the time of his retirement he was second overall in Touchdowns Receptions.

He would be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998 and he is also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com offer our condolences to the friends and family of Tommy McDonald at this time.