Arkansas State Golf Association Hall of Fame classes typically honor golfers for being the state's best of the best.
This year's class is no exception with former state junior amateur champion David White and PGA Tour member Bryce Molder, who will be joined tonight at Chenal Country Club by national amputee champion Jim O'Keane, and club-maker and U.S. Kids Golf founder Dan Van Horn.
ASGA Hall of Fame inductees
2017 Bryce Molder, Jim O’Keane, Dan Van Horn, David White
2016 Jack O’Keefe, Julie Oxendine, Warren Stephens
2015 No inductees
2014 Glen Day, Barry Howard, Wes McNulty
2013 John A. Cooper Family, Ken Duke, Bev Hargraves, Orville Henry, Ginger Brown Lemm
2012 Petey King, Dr. Malcolm Moore Jr., Dan Snider, Tim Zimmerebner
2011 Randy Beaver, Tom Raney
2010 Carolyn Creekmore, Mike Mitchell, Sam Spikes, Horace Lacey
2009 Bobby Baker, Rosey Bartlett, Jay Fox, Bobby McGee
2008 Jeff Hamm, Carl Jackson, Al Rayford, Ralph Williams
2007 Joe Bushee, Sean Fister, E.B. Gee, Pete Fleming, Chester Lowe
2006 Al Alexander, Jack Jordan, Louis Lee, Bill Martin, Tanna Richard
2005 Cliff Calderwood, Harold Calderwood, Tommy Hanson, Jim Lindsey, Grover Poole, Don White
2004 Joe Brown, Paul Collum, Bob Ralston, Steve Ralston, Patricia Weis
2003 Richard Crawford, Charles Lewis III, L.E. “Gene” Kenney, Pat Summerall, Clyde “Sug” Wilson
2002 Jane Whitmore Chronister, John Daly, Walter Eugene Davis, George McKeown, Richard “Bubba” Smart, R.H. Sikes
2001 Martha Jett McAlister, Dick Murphy, Wyn Norwood, Frank Stiedle, Tommy Stobaugh
2000 Robert Dedman, Jack Fleck, Ed Harris, Ed Dell Wortz
1999 Byron Nelson, Ross Collins, Stan Lee, Lucy Byrd Mock
1998 Davis Love Jr., Mary Perrin, Jack Stephens, Willis Watkins
1997 Miller Barber, Fred Gordy Jr., Bill Henry, Charles Lewis Jr., Paul Lewis
1996 Ellis Bogan, Tommy Bolt, Alice Fryer, Lou Miller, Ron Richard, Charles “Monk” Wade
1995 S.W. Creekmore, Ted Darragh, “Dutch” Harrison, Jack Robinson, Hogan Roundtree
1994 Walter “Junie” Dowell, Herman Hackbarth, Don Murphy, Paul Runyan, Hattie Turnage
"We've got a multinational amputee champion in Jim O'Keane; and a four-time, first-team NCAA All-American in Bryce Molder; David White who was Mr. Jr. Everything in the state; then we have Dan Van Horn, who has done more to advance the game of golf than nearly any of our class of inductees," ASGA Executive Director Jay Fox said.
Molder, who played on two Walker Cup and three Palmer Cup teams, was a four-time, first-team All-American at Georgia Tech and was the 2001 NCAA Collegiate Player of the Year. The Conway native has more than $11 million in career earnings and won the 2011 Frys.com Open. He also has a second- and a third-place finish on the PGA Tour, 29 top-10 finishes and was an inductee into the 2016 Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.
White won the ASGA High School Overall in 1989 and was a past Arkansas Junior Amateur champion. He was a two-time NCAA All-American at Oklahoma before transferring to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He also made the cut as an amateur at the 1997 U.S. Open.
O'Keane, who had his left leg amputated below the knee in 2003, won six National Amputee Championships between 2004 and 2011 in the senior and super-senior divisions.
Van Horn founded U.S. Kids Golf in 1996 and also serves as its president. The U.S. Kids World Championship at Pinehurst hosts 1,200 participants ages 12 and younger from the U.S. and 30 other countries.
"This is truly a very diverse class of inductees," Fox said. "Not only have they excelled on the golf course, but they have been at the forefront of promoting the game off it. We're truly blessed to have these four going into the ASGA Hall of Fame."
Also to be honored tonight at the sold-out event are the 2017 state players of the year: Nick Zimmerman, men; Nora Phillips, women; Mark Graham, mid-senior; Bev Hargraves, senior; Pat Elliott, senior women; Bill Wrentz, super-senior; Connor Gaunt, junior boys; and Elizabeth Moon, junior girls.
Sports on 09/28/2017