Is Colin Montgomerie a Hall of Famer?

By MERCER BAGGS
Managing Editor, GolfChannel.com

 
NICE FOURSOME: Christy O'Connor Sr., Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jose Maria Olazabal and Lanny Wadkins were inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame last Monday. Eisenhower, whose love of the game helped dramatically increase golf participation during his presidency, became the first U.S. President to become a member of the Hall of Fame.
 
There are a lot of intriguing names on the PGA Tour and International ballots who are still waiting for the requisite number of votes, but none more so than Colin Montgomerie. Monty has 31 European Tour wins, eight Order of Merit crowns [including seven in a row] and a 20-9-7 career Ryder Cup record. Yet he never won a major or a PGA Tour event. With the open-door policy that the WGHF seems to have, Montgomerie will one day be enshrined. But he wouldn't get my vote. In today's game, in which money and modernization have made cross-continental travel much, much easier, you can't be a Hall of Fame member when fellow countryman Martin Laird has as many major championships as you and one more Tour title.