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WORLD GOLF HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CEREMONY


May 7, 2012


Peter Alliss

Tim Finchem

Dan Jenkins

Renton Laidlaw

Martha Leach

Sandy Lyle

Phil Mickelson

Hollis Stacy


JERRY TARDE:  Ladies and gentlemen, golf's most influential writer who made us laugh even when it hurt, especially when it hurt, Mr.Dan Jenkins.
DAN JENKINS:  I've read they put me up here first because Tiger Woods and I have an early tee time tomorrow.
I really enjoyed that video.  I thought it was great, and it was perfectly accurate.  That vase, by the way, in another life, that would have been filled with Scotch, but at this stage of my development, it's going to have to be iced tea.  Of course I'm delighted and overwhelmed and pleased and all those things to be taken into this society.  It's a great club.  And I'm particularly pleased to be taken in as a vertical human.  I may be the first writer that ever did that.
I'm also happy about the rumor if I wear this blazer to my neighborhood drugstore I'll get some discount on my medications.
The first person I want to thank, quit serious, everything I've had that's been good in my life has come to me through the incomparable June Jenkins, who's my bride of 52 years, my sweetheart, my secret weapon actually.
I need to thank an awful lot of people here and I'll try to do it as quick as I can.  But first I want to thank my kids for being here, my entrepreneurial sons Marty and Danny and my successful past winning sports columnist for the Washington Post, Sally Jenkins.  She and I agree she's been the best writer in the family for several years now.
I also want to thank all my friends who came here from Fort Worth and Colonial and Shady Oaks and New York and Boston and even some from Ponte Vedra, and probably a few strangers that I bought drinks for in New York who became their best friend.
I have to thank Deane Beman and Tim Finchem, two great commissioners who got this thing built, got this whole World Golf Village done.  It was a marvelous idea and a tremendous undertaking, and they will be thanked several times tonight, but I want to be the first to do it.  First of all, I don't know how they did it, but they did, and it's going to keep on growing.
I have to tell you if you're a writer, a few years ago at the Atlanta airport this guy came up to me and said, I know you.  I said, I don't think so.  He said, no, no, no, I've seen you.  Why do I know you?  I said, I'm just a guy catching an airplane.  He said, no, I know you.  I've seen you somewhere.  Who are you?  I said, well‑‑ I thought maybe he'd seen me on television.  I said I'm a guy that writes for a national sports magazine and I've written four or five best sellers, and he goes, "well, you don't have to be sarcastic."
To justify my inclusion in this terrific society, I went back and looked at everybody who's in it and did some statistics.  It turns out that I have known 95 of these people when they were living.  I've written stories about 73 of them.  I've had cocktails and drinks with 47 of them, and I played golf with 24 of them.  So I want somebody else to try and go up against that record.
Just to drop a few names, some of the people I've played golf with were Ben Hogan about 40 times, Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and even Babe Zaharias, and the ladies down here, these LPGA ladies will appreciate that, I played with Babe in 1951 at River Crest Country Club in Fort Worth in the old Texas Women's Open.  I was playing on the TCU golf team at the time but I was also working for the Fort Worth Press.  I went over to Babe and saw her chipping and putting around the putting green and I said, Are you going to play a practice round?  And she just kind of looked at me.  She knew me from a couple years earlier, and I said, if you're going to play a practice round, I want to play along with you, and she said, how much you got in your pocket?  And I said, well, I guess I could manage a $2 Nassau or something like that.  So we played, jumped in the golf cart, played in about two and a half hours.  I said, there's no lady golfer going to out hit me.  Well, she did, put that little low hook, went out there about 275, not only outhit me, she shot 71, beat me out of $8.  But she wouldn't take the money.  She said, I don't mind robbing a college kid but I can't rob a newspaper guy.  We need you people.
I know these other ladies have heard this story before, and she dropped one of her standard lines on me.  We came around the golf cart, around the clubhouse to the putting green and we saw George, her husband, who was an ex pro wrestler, and he was one of those guys who got wider the longer you looked at him, and she said, look at that, 12 years ago I married a Greek god.  Now I'm just married to a damn Greek.
As for all those majors I've covered, it's obviously a record that'll never be broken because one day there's not going to be any more magazines and newspapers in paper, and for that matter there's not going to be any more people.  There's just going to be vampires and text messages and some voice saying, "turn left now."
This was my 62nd Masters in a row, and that's a lot of country ham and red‑eye gravy any way you look at it.  I've enjoyed every minute of it, and I'll be going to Olympic next month, where I've suffered several tragedies in the past as a sports writer.  Every time I go there, Jack Fleck beats Ben Hogan, Billy Casper beats Arnold Palmer, Scott Simpson beats Tom Watson, Lee Janzen beats Payne Stewart, so I'm quite sure next month Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy and Bubba Watson are all going to lose in a playoff to Jack Fleck's long lost nephew, and I'll be there to cover it on deadline.
I have to cut to the chase here and get around to Ben Hogan because I knew him better than any other writer.  I played golf with him over 40 times all through the 1950s when he was at his peak.  He called me up one day‑‑ I used to watch him practice.  He'd say, let's go play.  One day in 1956 he called me at the paper on the phone and said, I'm going to play an exhibition for the U.S. Olympic fund, and I want you in the foursome.  And I said, Ben, there's got to be somebody better than me.  He said, no. You're the one I want.  We'll have a lot of fun.  My brother will play, there will be four of us.  So I go out there, I work half a day.  I expected maybe a couple hundred people.  There are 3,000 people lining the first fairway.  I somehow got off the tee okay down the fairway without injuring myself or anybody else, and then I topped a 3‑wood, then I topped another 3‑wood, then I top scraped a 5‑iron, and all I wanted to do was dig a hole and disappear.  I could hear giggles in the gallery.  Who is this idiot?  How did this guy get here?  Then I realized Ben was walking beside me as I dropped my ball and he gave me the greatest golf tip at the time under those conditions I've ever had.  This proves he had a sense of humor.  He said, you can probably swing faster if you try hard enough.
That's a true story.  I must have looked like I was swatting mosquitos or something.  I slowed it down and got around in something under 80, I think.  But it's true that he offered to give me a lesson one day after we played a practice round at Colonial.  We were sitting around having an iced tea or a drink or something, and he said, you can keep the ball in the fairway off the tee and you're a good putter.  I wish I had your putting stroke, which is true, but he said, everything in between is a mystery, and I said, yeah.  He said, if you will work with me three days a week for the next four months, you might be good enough to play in the national amateur, qualify and play the national amateur.  And I said, Ben, I'm flattered and I appreciate that, and I'm embarrassed to have to turn down an offer of free golf lessons from the greatest player in the world, but I just want to be a sports writer.  That's all I've ever wanted to be.  He looked at me like I've seen him look at other people, with that cold stare, and you don't know whether you're going to get a bullet in the head or a dagger in the heart, and you wait and it seems like an eternity, and then he smiled and he said, well, keep working at it.  That's what I've been doing for the last 60 years, and I guess I'll keep doing it until I topple over and they start to work on my tombstone.  I've already picked out two things.  The first one is going to be, "I knew this would happen."  But I've got a better one.  The better one is you guys hold it down here, I've off to the next great adventure.  Thank you all.
RENTON LAIDLAW:  It's fair to say there is no other golfer quite like Sandy Lyle.  Sandy, beloved in Scotland and loved around the world.  His father, Alec, was the esteemed club professional on a golf course Hawkstone Park in Shropshire in England.  The golf course was Sandy Lyle's classroom.  He and his dad spent hours on the golf course, his dad telling him how to play shots, how to play golf and how to behave on the golf course, too, because his father was a stickler for the etiquette of the game and the traditions of the game.
Lyle learned quickly.  Sandy made it into the Open Championship in 1964 at Lytham, where five years earlier he'd sat in the stands and watched Tony Jacklin win the Open Championship.  Lyle made history that week, because no one as young as 16 years old had ever played in an Open at Lytham.
When he arrived he noticed on the practice round time sheet the name Gary Player, so cheekily, he put his name against it and then sought out Gary Player and asked if he minded playing a practice round with him.  Gary Player didn't mind at all.  Lyle enjoyed the experience and was even more elated playing after the round was completed and Gary Player was talking to the press, he said that Lyle had all the potential, all the guts, all the character to win an Open, and that predictions would come true, of course.
16 years after Tony Jacklin had won the Open at Lytham, Sandy Lyle won at Royal St.George's.  At the Masters in 1988, one of the best bunker shots ever played in golf.  The only man to win the Masters with a birdie from a fairway bunker at the last, a magic moment for him.  And he did a little Highland jig, and he realized his father might not like that.  But Sandy Lyle, the Open Champion of 1985 was now the Masters champion of 1988, the first British golfer to win at Augusta.
Between 1979 and 1986, he played in 129 events on the European Tour and missed the halfway cut only seven times.  That was consistency.  In addition, he played in five Ryder Cups and has cause to remember a memorable match when the Europeans came and won on American soil for the first time at of all places Jack Nicklaus's Muirfield Village.
In 1987 he also won THE PLAYERS Championship, beating Jeff Sluman in a playoff, and he proved with that performance that he was as competent and capable of winning titles on both sides of the Atlantic.  Sandy Lyle was a global star.
Sandy Lyle certainly merits his inclusion in the World Golf Hall of Fame, beloved in Scotland certainly and loved around the world for the manner in which he played the game, Lyle is perhaps remembered best by his friend the late Seve Ballesteros.  This is what Seve said about Sandy Lyle, and it says a lot about Sandy the golfer and Sandy the person.  If we were all playing to our very best there would be only one winner every time, and that would be Sandy Lyle.
What a night this is for Sandy Lyle, and I must say for myself, as well, being a Scot, it's wonderful to be here at the World Golf Hall of Fame and have a Scot being inducted into the Hall.  If you were expecting perhaps Sandy Lyle to turn up today in his Highland finery, you know like a sort of golfing Rob Roy or a golfing funny Prince Charlie, you're going to be disappointed, because, unfortunately, his kilt, a Stewart tartan kilt, is in fact locked away in a display cabinet in Jack Peter's museum, so he couldn't wear it.  But the one thing we are happy about is that he is here.  And I'll tell you why.  Sandy Lyle is the 11th Scot to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but he's making his try.  He's had a lot of firsts in his career and he's got another first here today.
The first ten who were honored, the first ten Scots who were honored here today were all dead.  They got the award posthumously.  So Sandy Lyle is the first living Scot to come to the Hall of Fame and be awarded.
Sandy, who is affectionately referred to in Scotland as just "our Sandy" has not changed a great deal over the years.  In this mad cap world of ours he remains normal.  He's modest, he's likable, he's considerate, he's easy going, all Scottish traits I would have to say, and there's not a hint of arrogance, either.  Fame hasn't changed him one bit.  His family are here today, his wife, his three sons and his daughter are here to enjoy this magical moment for him, a moment that many golfers aspire to but very few achieve.  But Sandy Lyle has achieved the pinnacle.  He has made it into the Hall of Fame.
And as his friend and knowing what a great ambassador for golf he's been, I'm very happy to uce Sandy Lyle.
SANDY LYLE:  Thank you, Renton.  You've made me feel very special.  At least I'm alive.  That's a good thing about it.  Congratulations, Peter and Dan and Hollis and Phil.  You'll be enjoying the night.
The Hall of Fame, a great honor.  I just can't say enough words about it.  I did live‑‑ I still live only in Ponte Vedra and I've never been to the Hall of Fame before, and now that I've been here, it's quite an impressive scene, including names of Seve Ballesteros.
Now, I think tonight on this very day, Seve died one year earlier.  I first met him at the age of 16, and it was in a pro‑am.  I was the amateur, and he was the pro, only one year difference, and Seve shot 74, I did 71, and he said, "you good player."  I said, "thank you, Seve.  I'll see you in about a couple years' time."
A little story that sort of reflects Seve.  Some years ago Tony Johnson was playing with Seve, which shows what sort of character he is, and both had driven over the hill and both went to the ball.  And Tony Johnson said Seve, I've got a sprinkler head very close to my ball, can I get a drop?  So Seve comes over in his usual kind of‑‑ didn't speak that much good England.  Can I get a drop?  He folded his arms, and he said, no.  He said, if I move my foot back a little bit further, can I get a drop now?  He said, no, Tony.  Well, Tony being like a little Jack Russell looked up at Seve and said, that's okay, this is your ball here anyway.  (Laughter.)
I'd like to turn the clock back a little bit, sort of 50 years ago or more, Hawkstone Park was really my sort of birth place of golf, and my parents moved down from Scotland from a very cozy place with their own golf course and big family.  My dad was a family of nine, and he had a friend of his, said there was a great opportunity to play golf or be the professional at Hawkstone Park.  So he went down for an interview, and he got the job as a club professional.  In those days you actually almost wore two hats.  He was also actually a green keeper, as well.
It wasn't the most sought‑after place.  There was a nice hotel there.  The clubhouse where I was living eventually wasn't one of the nicer places in the world.  And though my mom was writing a letter back home to Scotland, and in the space of the two hours of writing that letter, she'd already caught 13 mice in the trap.
There was also a coal that was stored in the bath, so you get an idea, it wasn't the best of places.  But my dad saw the future, and I was born sort of three years later at Hawkstone Park.
And then at the age of 16, I left school, and probably the best time of my life actually, leaving school.  We managed to make some wine in the science lab, and I drunk those two bottles of wine all the way back home for four miles in the school bus.  So I was feeling very merry and member every bit of it, and I was quite happy to leave school because my future was going to be in golf.  And at the age of 16, my father said to me, what do you want to do, do you want to carry on playing golf or do you want to do something else, and I said, I'm going to play golf, and he said, well, if you're going to play golf, you'd better stay away from the three B's.  So I looked at him and said, what are the three B's, and it was the birds, the booze and the boredom.
I said, okay, so I carried on playing amateur golf until I turned pro at 19.  I went off to the Tour school.  The words of wisdom from my father was tempo before temper, do the waltz, not the quick step.  All these lovely technical ideas of playing golf went on in my mind, and I went on to play down in Fox Hills in London at the Tour school, and I managed to win the Tour school and virtually doubled my bank balance for a grand total of £300.  I was ready to fire away at the regular Tour in Europe.
My goal my first year really was to be in the top 60, which I managed to do, finishing about 49th, and then the following year things were going pretty good.  I won the Money List in 1979, and then not long after the Open Championship, the TPC and the Masters.
Now, in the press conference later that evening at the TPC, I got asked from a certain press guy who said, now that you've won the Open Championship and you've won also now the TPC, what do you feel the difference is.  And I very quickly replied, it was 125 years.
And another little occasion when I was in Los Angeles when Tiger Woods played at the Riviera Club, and I got asked by a very impatient sort of film crew, I'd just finished second in the tournament, and then I was asked with this microphone in my mouth with the cameras rolling what do you think of Tiger Woods.  So I very quickly replied, thinking I don't think I've played that golf course before.
But he's not done too badly since, I know that.
And just a little bit of my caddies, Dave Musgrove who was with me through all the thick and thin from the Open Championship to the Masters, he's not here tonight, but I know he'll be watching probably back in Mansfield.  Thank you very much for his duty to call.  The coach, my dad obviously who's not with me anymore in '96, Jimmy Ballard, Ken Martin, and Todd Jones, and Noel, who you probably don't know over here, he's come all the way from Australia tonight and he was working some of my head programs.  Did I need him a few times, I can tell you.  So thank you, Noel, for all your great work, the sponsors and manufacturers over the years have supported me, if it's Ping or if it's Mizuno, and the Tour themselves, I've played many tours and they've all been a great help to me, allowing me to use their clubs.  Thank you very much.
And managers Rocky, and Rocky is still looking after me, and Robert who I've just seen in the crowd is now venturing off into another venue.  Good luck to you, Robert.  My family who are all here today, and my mom and dad obviously would be watching from above the clouds.  My two sisters who are a lot older than me, they're back in England watching on the TV, I'm sure.  And Stewart and James, Monica and Quinton, work hard and your dreams will come true.  And also the person who has the biggest shoulders in the family is my wife, Yolanda.  Thank you very much.
To finish with, the nine core values, at the First Tee we have, I think is a great skill that needs to be learned and taught to the young players, respect, honesty and all these things, I think I've covered most of the points.
Thank you very much, and I look forward to more drink later on in the evening.
MARTHA LEACH:  Hollis, your family is so proud of you.  Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great joy I uce to you my big sister, Hollis Stacy.
HOLLIS STACY:  Well, it's such a pleasure to be here tonight.  I said, Martha, did you cry?  Oh, it's such a thrill.
Thank you, Martha.  Thank you, World Golf Hall of Fame board of directors.  Having my sister present this award to me is so special.  I know how much it means to my family.
Martha and I are the second pair of sisters to have won national championships, the first being the Curtis sisters 100 years ago.
It's an honor to share the stage with Peter Alliss, Dan Jenkins, Sandy Lyle and Phil Mickelson, and I might add that Sandy and I were joking the other day, we are the wall flowers of our class.
Special thank you to Honda Motors.  Your car saved Gene, my beautiful sister's life 10 days ago.  If not for the side airbags, I would not be here celebrating my career.  Thank you, Honda.
I am here because 13 courageous women had a dream of starting a Tour.  They formed the LPGA over 60 years ago.  I am indebted to those women.  Thank you.  Donna Orender, thank you for getting the ball rolling for this day.  Congratulations for all your work with Generation W.  You will help empower millions of women.  Amy Alcott, you are a true friend for nominating me.  I met you when you were 13 years old.  I'm so proud you helped Gil Hanse win the bid for designing the Olympic golf course in RiodeJaneiro.
My hometown of Savannah, Georgia, the coastal empire, from Pooler, where everything is cooler, to Tybee Island to Richmond Hill, you treated a little girl with so much love.  The Savannah Golf Club deserves so much praise.  Your slight restriction of keeping kids off the golf course allowed John and I to practice our short game together.  Our special time together led me to a fantastic short game which was the secret to my success.  Your love and support was always there.
Tommy, thank you for letting me play with you.  I know you did not like it in the beginning.  I was a girl.  You and John came home glistening with sweat and beaming.  I took note and decided to join you two.
My early teachers were Matt Warren, Ralph Dillard, Fred Halmgren.  Seal McLauren uced me to many competitions and she drove me to the North South, which I won.
Tilly, my mom, took me to Atlanta to work with the late, great Davis Love.  Once he said, look who's coming up the 9th hole, and it was Mark and Davis III, their bags were bigger than them.  Mom, did you know you had a lot to do with my golf swing?  When I was 10, I had trouble getting over this one hill on No.12, and you told me, swing with this tempo, la‑la‑la‑la‑la (to the tune of the Skater's Waltz).  And I did that my entire career, and most of the time it worked.
But for women since we have that lower center of gravity, we have to complete our backswing to the right and move to the left.  You were the reason for my tempo.
Jim Ferree, Jim Flick, Peter Kostis, Mike McGetrick, thank you.  John Leach, you know more about the game of golf than anybody I know, plus you love the game.  Thank you for making me the player I am today.  J.D. Ebersberger, thank you.  And Elliott Horovitz, thank you for that tip.  Just don't swing like me.
I had the finest teachers in the game, no doubt, but the intangible that separated me from others in competition was growing up in a large family.  My nine brothers and sisters were my biggest fans, fiercest competitors and best friends.  I learned never to let the big things bother me.  If you did, you were way up the creek.
I learned things don't have to be perfect.  You can manage with almost.
I learned to live in chaos and handle things not in my control.  Gosh, it sounds like I'm playing the last hole of the U.S. Open.  It's no small wonder why I love the stillness of the golf course.  I loved everything about it.  I loved the game at an early age more so.  To me it was heaven on earth.  I could actually hear myself think.
I love the small of dew in the morning, the moss in the trees and the basic richness of the ecosystem of the humid south.
A few weeks ago at Generation W I was asked, what was the defining moment of my career.  December of '66 Golf World, there was a notice for a USGA junior girls event in California that would change my life forever.  I sent the entry fee of $2 immediately, six months early.  I was entry fee No.1.
I met little girls just like me who loved to play golf.  After that experience, there were never enough hours in the day, days in the week, weeks in the year to play golf.
The following year's event was in Flint, Michigan, the site of the famous playoff.  The playoff consisted of Pat Bradley, who had a huge Tour bag; Bonnie Lauer; Martha Jett McAlister.  There I was with my stick bag, and I wore a half glove.  Oh, yes, Pat, you remember very‑‑ I proceeded to lose and lose really badly.  I never got my four shots off the ground.
So I made a vow never to make a fool of myself ever again.  I won the next three USGA Junior Girls.  Thank you, USGA.  And the reason why I played so well in USGA events was because we grew up together.
When I joined the Tour in '74 I had visions of seeing golfers holding trophies at the end of the week.  I learned early, win some, lose a lot.  Golfers of every handicap, do not go out there thinking you're going to win right off the back.  Golf mirrors life.  We learn by our mistakes, our three‑putts at the wrong time, our bogeys coming in, that 9 at the last.  It's all the same.  Winning is a result of learning from our mistakes.
My favorite place to play in the world was Japan.  Marrying those images from my fifth‑grade geography book and the images on the bus ride to the golf course of Mount Fuji, the rice paddies, the Shinto Shrines, was unforgettable.
One of my funniest experiences in golf was there.  Early in the round I decided I was going to speak Japanese.  I had won two Opens, so when Noriko Ishikawa missed a putt, I said, oh‑e‑shee, when I meant to say oh‑she.  I had to stand near her so she could hear me.  I practiced.  So instead of saying, I am so sorry you missed that putt, Noriko, I told her when she missed that putt that it was delicious.
She looked at me like I was crazy.  So the funnest times for me were a trip to Japan playing with Bonnie Lauer, Debbie Matthew and Jan Stephenson, and my special friends who are in (indiscernible) Prefecture.  To my friends and fans in Japan, have courage.  I continue to pray for you.
To my sisters of the LPGA, the wind is in our face.  In fact, it's always been in our face.  1,500 miles south from where I stand, $6 billion is being spent to widen the Panama Canal.  Most ports east of the Mississippi along the Atlantic and Gulf will eventually be dredged to accommodate the larger ships from Asia.  This will help ease the dependence of oil.  I see this as a fantastic opportunity for new LPGA events, and maybe some PGA events.  Our Asian, African, South American and European LPGA sisters with their enormous fan bases could help support these events.  We can help America while we help ourselves.
As you have heard, I could never accomplish anything without all of you.  That includes not just my family but the LPGA, the USGA, the entire golf community, and all my friends.  You are all part of my success.  Thanks.
Making a six‑footer to win a major championship takes a lot of courage.  I would like to think or hope I had 1/1,000 of the courage my dad had.  My dad was with General Patton's Third Army in the Lorraine campaign.  The replacement rate in his unit, the 26th Infantry Yankee Division, was over 500 percent.  I know how he lived his life was due to what he experienced in World War II.  He certainly loved life, and he certainly lived it to the fullest.
I am lucky that Jack and Tilly fell in love.  I am lucky that they loved the game of golf.  I dedicate everything I've done to my family.  Thanks.
TERRY JASTROW:  Never let it be said Peter Alliss doesn't know how to make an entrance.  He was born in Berlin a 14 pound, 12 ounce baby, biggest ever in Europe at the time, and emerged with a golf club in one hand and a wine gob let in the other.
His golf professional father percent I returned the family to England, where Peter spent his youth mischief making and managing to pick up his first golf club at the ripe old age of 18 months.  At 14, Peter decided he'd had all the formal education he needed and dropped out of school.  Two years later at 16, he turned professional and competed with distinction for 27 years.
Highlights include playing 25 times in the Open Championship, finishing in the top 10 five times.  He played in eight Ryder Cups, winning his share of matches, and along with his papa Percy, were the first father and son to compete for the Ryder Cup.
During a 15‑year stretch between 1954 and 1969, Peter won 21 tournaments, including five Opens, the Spanish twice, the Italian, Portuguese and Brazilian once.  He won three of these Opens in consecutive weeks, which had never been done before and will never be done again because of scheduling changes.  By all accounts, Peter was among the best tee to green players of his day, prompting the Daily Telegraph to note that Alice is one of the finest strikers of the golf ball in the land.
In 1961 when Peter was 30, a very great thing happened for the sport of golf.  That year when Arnold Palmer was winning his first Open Championship, the venerable BBC first hired Peter as a commentator.  It would be fair to say that both master craftsmen have played their respective roles in spreading the popularity of the game to all corners of the earth.  Consider Peter's commentary career.  Like Byron Nelson's 11 tournament wins in a row and Jack Nicklaus's 18 major championship victories, it is a record that could well stand for all time.  Peter's clever, charming, ironic often humorous sometimes sardonic, always interesting commentary has graced the air waves for 51 consecutive years.
Peter added his distinctive voice and perspective to elevate every telecast, working jointly for the BBC and ABC, counting this year's Masters, Peter has commentated at 190 major championships.  Repeat for clarity, 190 majors.
Peter's unique quality is that he can add perspective and gravitas to even the greatest of moments with his commentary and can infuse even the quiet moments of the game with a human at this and sense of human that communicates to all viewers, golfers and non‑golfers alike.
As we all know from listening to Peter, he is peerless with his magical use of the English language.  Again quoting the Daily Telegraph, when it comes to painting a picture with words, Alliss is nothing short of Rembrandt.
I once asked ABC's legendary television sports producer Roone Arledge what are the qualities of a great announcer.  Roone said having a keen knowledge of the game is just the beginning.  The best announcers have a child‑like passion for the game.  Their love and appreciation of the game is so infectious that those watching at home feel that something interesting and important is happening.  Roone went on to say that his private test was what kind of dinner partner do they make.  The best are full of fun and humor and keep you entertained for hours, just what's needed when audiences invite them into their home for a telecast.
On this particular count, Peter is and always has been the undisputed champion of the world.
So it is only fitting this man who has lived his life in the patient service of the game would be honored as the first golf commentator ever to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.  Congratulations to Peter and your terrific family.  You have set the gold standard of golf commentary.  Finally and respectfully, we petition Her Majesty the Queen to bestow something special on our friend.  Sir Peter Alliss, for example.  Don't you think it has a nice ring to it?
Ladies and gentlemen, since the very inception of the beautiful love affair between television and the sport of golf, this is the greatest golf commentator of them all, England's Peter Alliss.
PETER ALLISS:  Well, thank you, Terry, for that very under stated welcome.
I've watched a lot of these ceremonies, you know, the Oscars and the Emmys, and I've always marveled at everyone who goes up to get a prize and they never know what to say, do they, and they're all in tears and they're all gushing and saying how surprised they are, but I always assumed they'd known who'd won the prizes a few days before.
So I must thank somebody, and there's so many people here tonight.  I've really done very little in my life.  I've just waffled along, loving the game of golf and being observant, and things have always just come my way.  I listen to people and they say, I've always wanted to do that job or that job and they've worked and schemed and connived to get it, whereas all these wonderful things have just fallen into my lap for some inexplicable reason.
Two people I should really thank first of all are my mother and father.  I want you to picture the scene and the time.  It was late April, 1930.  My father was the golf professional at the Van Zee Golf Club on the outskirts of Berlin.  He'd been in the first world war, and he fought with the Argyle Southern Highlanders, was wounded twice.  Came out, though.  He was born in 1897.  He came out as a 20, 21 year old and went into the world of golf.  He'd done a bit of caddying and that sort of thing.
Anyway, in 1926 he decided, I thought bravely or foolishly, when a job was advertised in Germany that he would go and work there because on the continent you became a professor, whereas in Britain you were just‑‑ on the continent you were really something a bit special.  He built up a very good reputation as a teacher at this club, which was very splendid, and I can picture the scene at the end of April, father had a busy day teaching.  They lived in a handsome bungalow, in the middle of the Black Forest where Van Zee Golf Club was situated.  I can see mother standing at the door with the light behind her probably wearing her best Winceyette nightgown with the high collar and long sleeve, and father arriving back home, and supper is ready dear, what sort of day have you had?  And he would say, well, it's been a bit tricky today.  The word Nazi had not been invented then, but there were some nasty people, and he explained to my mother what a miserable day he'd had and these people were horrible.
But as he drank his soup, he started to smile, and he said, but I sent two of them away with the worst slices you've ever seen.  He said, the sort of slice that is totally incurable and will stay with them all their days, and somehow I felt that that was indeed a little bit of a comeuppance for his two bullets that had gone through his arm two years ago.
I was indeed the heaviest baby.  37 years I had that record.  I was one of twins would you believe.  The other boy did not develop.  Mother was 5'2" and weighed about 120 pounds.  So she had a very difficult time.  I mean, I was that sort of big, almost ready for work as soon as I popped out.
She did have a difficult time, and I know for a fact it was almost seven months before she rode her bicycle.  That was a joke for the gynecologists actually.
1932 the family came back to Britain, father went on his professional career playing and teaching, good golf jobs, and I went to school and all that stuff.  But the first competition I ever played was 1946, the boys championship, played on the west side of Edinburgh at a course called Brunsfield.  I went there and I was playing off scratch at that time, and I went there and they picked me to play for England boys against the Scots, and I played very well and we beat the Scots.  They'd been beating us every year we went about 8 & 6 or something.  I was installed as one of the favorites to win, sailed through a few rounds, and I was up against a little lad calls Donald Dunston in the semifinals, a rather pasty, pale looking boy with a very bad complexion, and I was six foot tall and bordering on the beautiful, I suppose.  I really was.  I mean, I look at those old pictures, and I really fancied myself.
Anyway, we set off, and I won the first couple of holes, and I was‑‑ it was a beautiful day.  Anyway, he beat me 3 & 2, which brought me down to earth a bit, and going back on the train, my father said, well, you've learnt your lesson, you should have done this, you should have defended when you attacked, but I don't think there's any point in you trying for any further education, you're not going to be a doctor or lawyer at calm den.  You could come and be my unpaid assistant.  I thought that was very generous.  He was remember a Yorkshire man and had been spending a lot of time with the Scots in the first world war.  So it came to pass I went to work for my dear old dad, and I had no concept at that time going back a bit crest fallen having been beaten by this pimply‑faced youth when I had so much to offer, I had no idea that the game of golf would take me down so many wonderful paths.
I played pretty well, got in my first Ryder Cup cap in 1953, went on to play in another seven, World Cups 10 times, winner of 20 odd tournaments, and then the chance of television came along, journalistic experience, writing for a couple of newspapers, magazines, and so on and so on.
But of all the places and things I've had‑‑ people say, which part of your life did you enjoy the most.  I've enjoyed it all because I've never really worked very hard at it, just dear old Gary Player will absolutely guarantee that he never saw me out practicing.  I used to hit a dozen balls with a 2‑iron.  I was bloody good with a 2‑iron.  And the ground was a bit rough.  If I hit sort of seven decent ones out of 10, I didn't see the point in spending all day long hitting any more.  I knew how it worked, and if it went all right, it was fine.
I must tell Tiger that one day if I get a chance.
But it was a wonderful time for learning, and then of course I started doing television in the early '60s, and by 1974 pro celebrity golf had started, and through my association with Mark McCormack and IMG, he uced me to the world of television over here and working for ABC television.
It's very difficult to pick the BBC or ABC.  I'm an Englishman, and of course one is always happiest at home.  But I never enjoyed myself more than coming here and working with ABC.  Why?  Well, there were lovely people.  One or two of them shouted a bit and swore, but they didn't swear at me too often.  And the big boys always wound up the tournaments.  They did the 17th and the 18th holes, so I could clear off after the 16th green.  I suppose in four days of television I might have actually spoken for about an hour, and they paid me a ridiculous amount of money.  And a first‑class airfare from London, and if it was necessary, use the Concord.
So I had nothing to complain about at all, but I've loved coming here and working on the television and watching the changing face of the world of golf.  The Allisses have been around the game for over 100 years, and we've pretty well seen everything, all the changes in equipment and clubs and what have you, and people say, well, what has been the most significant part of the game, and probably something silly like cylindrical mowers to cut the fairways.  In early days, and I've always said the players between 1900 and 1930 were probably the most skillful the world has ever seen.  And they look at you and they say ‑‑ I do believe that if you look at the equipment they had, and you can go to the museum and look at it, the balls weren't round, the equipment was very weird, the greens weren't cut.  The two sheep would nibble away and that was that.
The bunkers weren't raked.  They perhaps from 1926 on they raked them on Mondays and Fridays and that was it, and players had to scoop out the holes they made on the bunkers.  And yet they were going around with 72s and 74s on our championship courses which was quite remarkable with the tools they had, people like Bobby Jones and the people before him, quite remarkable.  That doesn't mean to say that we don't marvel of the skills of the players today.  But I do believe, and I'm not saying this as some old fart, with the equipment today, it has changed the face not only of golf but sport.  One of my dearest friends is Sterling Moss, motor racing driver.  When he was in his peak, they used proper petrol in the car, not whatever it is today, and if you hit something, the car burst into flames and you died.  Now they have wonderful cars which you can hit a wall at 200 miles an hour and the chances are you'll escape with a couple of broken ankles.  Everything has improved.
I saw Roger Banister break the 4 minute mile, and when he went through the tape he almost died.  Now they do the 4 minute mile in about 3? minutes, and they come off and the fellow is waiting, well, what do you think about that?  I don't feel much.  It'll clear off, but they're hardly out of breath.  These fellows and women are hardly out of breath.  So times have changed quite dramatically.  I've loved every moment of it, and coming here, I'm not saying this just because you're all here and everyone is looked after, my wife and my son and his dear wife, Kelly Rose, while we've been here.  I'm not saying all that because people are expected to say it.  This facility is most remarkable I've seen in the world of golf.  It's sort of golf's answer to Disney World to me because you go to Disney World and you marvel at what was created there.  The museum, the golf courses, the hotel, when you come in from the main road, the way the gardens are prepared, the trees, the staff, the volunteers, it's quite magical.  And I've seen a fair bit of stuff in my time.  But it is truly amazing the way they've done the museum, the way it's encapsulated all these personal bits and pieces of memorabilia.  It's quite stunning.  Quite stunning.
So it's time to‑‑ I could waffle on for another four or five hours.  I just want to say this:  I think of it often because I did leave school early.  I was quite bright, but I remember my last report which was sent home.  We had a headmistress that my modest school was called cross by house school.  She was a Mrs.Violet Weymouth, and she was a short Welsh woman.  She always had a cigarette dangling out of her mouth and the smoke used to trickle up here, and you could see where the smoke went.  There was sort of a brown line up there.  But she was‑‑ you didn't mess about with Mrs. Weymouth, I can tell you that.  I'm always staggered today where I read that children go to school and beat up the teachers.  They wouldn't have done that in my day, I'll tell you.  But I remember the last report she sent back to my parents, and it went something like this:  Peter does have a brain, but he's rather loathe to use it.  His only interests appear to be the game of golf and Violet Pretty, a girl I liked.  She never knew about Iris Baker, but they were the two that uced me to some of the ways of the world, for which I'll be eternally grateful.  And although we were very young, I wish to God we could do it today.
I fear for his future were the last words she wrote on my report.  So mom and dad died a long, long time ago, and if there is such a thing as heaven and if people do look down, well, mom, dad, here we are.  Look at this lot.  Look where I've been, look what I've done.  Never worked very hard at it.  But it's all fallen into place.  Lovely family, lovely wife, looks after me, shouts a bit occasional.  But they are remarkable.  They put up with all my nonsense, and I love them dearly.
And Mrs.Weymouth, if you're there, (holds up middle finger).
COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM:  Thank you, Dan, and good evening, everyone.  I was delayed a little bit.  Peter was asking me to define conduct unbecoming.  I told him we'd have a conference later.
First of all, let me just thank everybody for being here and supporting tonight and what this Hall of Fame is all about, and in addition to that, I think I speak for all the directors who are here from the board of the World Golf Foundation, we also appreciate your support for the First Tee and the other initiatives that have come about because of the coming together of the golf organizations at this Hall of Fame almost 20 years ago.
I also want to convey my congratulations to Peter and Dan and Hollis and Sandy for the recognition that they received as they enter the Hall of Fame.
I just did want, though, to spend a couple of minutes and share a couple of thoughts about Phil tonight, and on the one hand, I'd like to congratulate him on behalf of the PGA TOUR.  You know, the main thing about getting into a Hall of Fame in this sport is how you performed on the playing field, and the main thing he has been nothing short of incredible.  41 times he's won, four major championships, THE PLAYERS Championship, which he did in Mickelson style, hitting that shot at No.10 between two palm trees that he and Bones were arguing about afterwards.  Phenomenal moment.  Playing all nine of the Presidents Cup since 1994, eight Ryder Cups, just an incredible competitive record.
But also I want to thank him for what he's done for the game and particularly for the PGA TOUR.  First of all, the contribution that he has made to the image of the sport, I have said so many times over the years that our image, the athletes in the PGA TOUR and the LPGA, their No.1 asset is the image that they have and the image of the game.  And Phil's contributions to that image have been numerous, many and impactful.
I'll mention a couple.  His prioritization of his family, a hallmark of his career ever since he started playing, and his commitment with Amy and his family to charitable causes.  In addition to the work that they've done in the education area, I'm not so sure everyone understands that the Birdies for the Brave program, which is an effort to use golf to raise money to support soldiers and soldiers' families is really a product of the involvement of Phil and Amy in getting resources together to support our troops abroad and their families here at home, and that work continues on that they started years ago.
I think I would like to thank him in addition for being a role model, a role model for young players coming up, and a role model for people who play the game of golf just for fun, because you've never seen Phil Mickelson on or off the golf course that he wasn't showing the proper professionalism and comportment that you want to see in any athlete, particularly an athlete in our sport.
He has demonstrated to the young players what it means to support the tournaments, the charities, the sponsors, how to go about that, how to create an environment at our tournaments that's a world‑class business to business experience.  I know Bob Diamond is sitting here tonight who chairs the Barclays Corporation who have been involved with Phil for a number of years.  I remember being at a dinner with Bob and some of his customers in Scotland a few years ago, Phil was the guest of honor, there were 25 people around the table, two hours later, I said to Bob, I don't know what you're paying Phil, it's not enough.  He absolutely commanded the evening.
And in particular, I want to thank Phil for his capturing the enthusiasm of our fans.  I think only Arnold Palmer maybe could be classified as better at enthusing our fans and having the fans fall in love with him.  The way he interacts with the fans, the way he signs for the fans, the way he catches the fans' attention, the way he gives them eye contact, the way he shakes their hands when he has the opportunity.  Anywhere I go in the country, and you mention the words Phil Mickelson, people say, you've got to love Phil Mickelson.  Well, our fans love Phil Mickelson, and for all those reasons‑‑ so Phil, I want to congratulate you for your induction, but I also want to on behalf of our tournaments, our sponsors, our volunteers, the charities that benefit from our tournaments, thank you for everything you've done to build the sport into what it is today over the first part of your career, and I wish you many more years going forward.  Thank you very much, Phil.
And I guess there's no more appropriate person to uce Phil into his induction than the man who was his former coach, is his business partner, his business manager, his close friend and confidant and the guy that usually has to deal with the people in my office on anything related to Phil's business and does a great job doing it.  He's a great guy.  Please welcome Steve Loy.
STEVE LOY:  Phil Mickelson is 41 years old and has been winning tournaments for 36 years.  His first was a putting contest, and it was one of his greatest victories.  His parents, Phil and Mary, promised him a set of his own clubs when he won his first trophy.  Months later, the family was driving through all places, Death Valley, and Phil was asking when he was going to get those clubs.
Phil senior, thinking he pulled off a good one, pulled into the parking lot at feathers creek golf course, thinking he was safe.  But the boy spied a ladies' left‑handed set, and that was it.
Phil the Thrill was unleashed.  Soon after his father constructed a 40‑yard golf hole in their San Diego backyard, and ever since, Phil has been hitting shots only as Phil can hit them.
His first major victory, the 2004 Masters, where he birdied five of the last seven holes, including the last one, had people around the world jumping for joy.  He had come back before, and he would do it again.  As a 20‑year old amateur, Phil made triple bogey on the 14th hole Sunday in the 1991 Tucson Open and gave up his lead for the first time in the tournament.  Then he birdied two of the last three holes, including a ten‑foot putt on 18 to give him entry to the life he'd always dreamed of leading.
But not before graduating from Arizona State University did Phil join the PGA TOUR.  His parents had always encouraged their children to get a good education and found no resistance from Phil on this one.  To this day, Phil says publicly that the Tucson Open victory was the most important of his career because it gave him a free pass to the PGA TOUR and allowed him to finish his education with pride and a peace of mind.
There also had been some setbacks in Phil's career.  Our great champion, Payne Stewart, one‑putting five of the last seven holes, including the very last one to win the 1999 U.S. Open; the drive at No.18 in 2006 at our U.S. Open Championship which gave him his fourth of five runner‑up finishes.  That one hurt but didn't scar.
As a matter of fact, afterward his daughter Amanda asked if he'd won.  He told her, no, honey, I finished second.  The six year old with a bubble smile said, daddy, I'm sorry, but second is so good.  Do you want some pizza?
Possibly his biggest setback, though, came three years ago when his wife Amy and mother Mary were both stricken with cancer.  It has always been Phil's forward thinking, his generosity and his fighting spirit inherited from his parents and passed on to his children that brought him back from a triple bogey as a kid trying to win his first pro tournament and his love and dedication to his family to move forward when cancer may have said differently.
Phil the golfer has won 41 tournaments, played in every Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup since he's turned pro, and has been most instrumental in raising millions of dollars through the Phil and Amy Mickelson Foundation for hundreds of thousands of people around this country.
As fans, friends and family, we have been blessed to share in Phil's career for many years.  And tonight, the World Golf Hall of Fame acknowledges one of its greatest players of all time, Phil Mickelson.
What an honor this is, a very emotional one.  The cameras are rolling, the telecast is starting, and you can hear Johnny and Dan saying one thing:  What will Phil do next?  What you probably aren't hearing is on the sidelines, quietly roaming through the crowd, a proud mom and dad saying, we're proud of you, son.  Three priceless children on the sidelines saying, go for it, dad.  And the most loving, caring, giving bride of all saying, Phil, you can do it.  That is why he is the people's champion today.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's my honor on behalf of this family to uce you to and welcome to the Hall of Fame Phil Mickelson, our people's champion.
PHIL MICKELSON:  I love that man.  He's been with me through the whole journey, and I've been very fortunate to have him in my life.
I want to congratulate Dan and Peter, Sandy, Hollis for their induction this year.  It's really cool and it's an honor for me to be in the same induction class.
I think that they can attest that you can't start fulfilling your dreams until you dream big.  You need a lot of people along the way to help you out, and we've all had people help us along the way.  We've all had big dreams from the start.  And I remember dreaming when I was a kid before I could even walk about playing the game of golf.  I would watch my dad hit balls in the backyard dreaming of being able to stand up so I could hit my first shots.  And he gave me a cut‑down club when I finally could walk, and I would hit balls in our backyard over and over for hours on end.  I would sleep with those clubs at night, and I would dream about the game of golf.
That's when golf became my passion and that's when golf became the basis for my dreams.  And I was fortunate that my dad put a chipping green in our backyard where I could practice all those years.  But when I got to be eight years old, I wanted to advance up and be able to hit balls on a real range, play a real golf course.
And we didn't have access at the time, but my parents did drive me down to our local course, Navajo Canyon, and allow me to get a job there picking the range three days a week so I could have playing privileges there.
I remember one night when they were waiting to pick me up when my competitor spirit started to come about, I would have putting matches with the other coworkers, and we would putt for a soda and a candy bar.  Unfortunately I was somewhat successful.
But I went to work at Stardust Country Club shortly thereafter and worked there through high school so I could further my practice and my play.  There were some members of the PGA of America, Rick Thompson, Gary Griggs, Scott and Barry Mahlberg, Dean Reinmuth who allowed me the opportunity the to work there at these fine courses at a young age and also helped advance my game.  They would give me instruction that I needed.  They would play with me.  They would teach me the etiquette of the game, and it's these members, these five plus some others along with the other 27,000 members of the PGA of America that have helped grow the game, and I'm appreciative for what they've done and what they've taught me.
I'm appreciative of my mom when I was starting to get a little bit better and wanted to play some junior golf tournaments so I could hopefully get a college scholarship, she would take on little extra jobs to come up with a little extra money so I could travel and compete nationally.  And it was my success in those tournaments that allowed me to go to Arizona State on a scholarship, and that's where I met Steve Loy.  And he's had one of the biggest impacts on my life.  He's been with me through all the great moments, all the tough moments.  He's been with me as a golf coach, as a friend, as a manager.
We shared one of the most emotional experiences of my career winning that Tucson Open that you saw some of the highlights there for.  He was the guy on the bag, and he realized that‑‑ or felt, I guess, that after playing as well as I could and finishing better than everybody else and the paycheck was still zero that this wasn't what he wanted, he wanted to do something else, and he became my manager.
As my manager, he helped me find the next hugely influential person in my life, which is Bones.  Bones is such a great man.  He's a great caddie.  He's a most loyal friend.  In the mid‑'90s we were playing a tournament in Las Vegas and there was an earthquake at 2:00 in the morning.  The chandelier was swaying from side to side hitting the ceiling.  His roommate told me the next day that Bones leaped out of bed, grabbed the clubs and ran outside.  He didn't want anything to fall on them and hurt them.
When Amy got diagnosed three years ago, he and his wife Jen drove overnight to be with us the next day in San Diego.  When Amy went through surgery, they were there through it all, and I cannot think of a better person, a better friend to have spent the last 19 years with along this journey than Jim Bones Mackay.
I tried to show him how much I care about him in my own special way.  It was the U.S. Open a few years ago, many years ago, and we were in the parking lot.  One of the fans walking through the parking lot didn't see the car, ran into the side and kept on walking.  We parked the car.  I kind of got this idea, I went to the police officers to help us out.  I told them that Bones was involved in a hit and run.  And they went and cuffed him on the range and pulled him aside for questioning 15 minutes before our tee time.  And it was entertaining for me to watch him try to explain how he needs to go caddie and that they didn't care, this is felony hit and run.  That's, I guess, my own little sick humor.
But Bones and I were on the putting green at the Phoenix Open early in my career, first six months or so of my career, and there was a Special Olympics event going on.  There was this smoking hot girl working it.  And I never really had much game off the course, but I managed to muster enough to get a date with this hottie.  And from the moment Amy and I went on our first date, we've just wanted to be together.  We've just‑‑ she's charismatic, she's fun, she's funny, she's always up for anything, and she's become my best friend and my wife, and I'm very fortunate and feel very fortunate to share this life's journey together.
She didn't know much about golf when we first started out, and so when I was away on a tournament and I ended up missing the cut and I called her and I was a little bit down and I had missed the cut, and she would say I don't understand what does that mean.  I would say I'm getting on a plane I'm coming home this weekend.  She would say, well, I like this missing the cut.
A little earlier in our relationship than we probably should have been doing this, I was going to go to Paris, and I thought, wow, I cannot imagine‑‑ I would love to spend time in Paris with Amy.  I couldn't think of a better person.  And so I called Gary and Renee, two of my favorite people.  Gary runs my foundation now, level headed, two people I admire the most and explained to them how this was somehow a good idea.  And Gary in his great parenting put it on us and said, listen, you're going to have plenty of time.  You're going to have plenty of time to go to Paris together.  Amy, it's your decision, but you're not going.  And I have found this to be very effective in my own parenting skills.
But I do want to say to him that we still have not been to Paris together.  However, in two weeks we'll be there.  Amy turns 40, and we'll have a chance to do that.
As we got married and started to share our lives' dreams together and started a family, it's amazing how golf has become part of our timeline of our family's development.  On the video you saw where Payne Stewart made a putt on the last hole to beat me and he grabbed my face and said, you're going to be a father, it's the greatest experience.  I'm so happy for you.  The next day, we had our first child, Amanda.  She'll be 13 next U.S. Open.  That's how I think about it, next month.
In 2004, I won the Masters tournament, and as many of you probably saw, as I leaped just over the three‑foot barrier, that was a great memory, but what I remember about that Masters was that blond curly hair, the binky in her mouth, the 2‑year‑old Sophia waving to the camera at CBS panned out from the scorer's tent.  That's my memory of the '04 Masters.  She's 10 now, and we've had a lot of other great experiences.
2005 PGA at Baltusrol, I ended up on the last hole, coming to the last hole tied, I needed a birdie to win.  Hit my second shot on a par‑5 up by the green, hit this great chip shot out of the rough and made it for birdie.  What I remember is after the tournament, 35 or so New Jersey state troopers lined up like they were guarding something in London, and they were so stiff, and my son ran around high fiving them like Hale Irwin did in the 1990 U.S. Open.  Don't shake your head, Evan.  That's true.  He's nine now.
As any career will go through highs and lows, I had a tough time in 2003.  I went to Dave Pelz and Rick Smith in the off‑season and I said, listen, I haven't won a major.  I've been close.  I know that I can get this done.  I need some help.  Let's get a game plan together how we can accomplish this.  They sat down and thought about it for month.  We came together, it was time to start working and they gave me a game plan how to get better and achieve my goals.  Dave and Rick, I am very appreciative of the time we have spent together.  Dave and I continue to work on it.  Rick and I have continued to be great friends and business partners in course design, and they're relationships I cherish.
Five years ago I wanted to work on a couple of weaknesses in my game, and I got a chance to work with the best teacher the game has ever seen in Butch Harmon, and these last five years working with Butch have been awesome.  I remember, though, before I met Butch, I went to his office there in Las Vegas, and he decided to take advantage of the opportunity and showed me the wall of major flags that he had, which was quite impressive, from a number of players throughout the years.  There were a lot of them, and he said, you know, if you can start to do this, this and this, you might be able to get you some of those.
So when we first started working together five years ago, I had him come over to my house and I had lined up the two Masters and the PGA and I said, hey, Butchy, I've got me some of those, now let's go get some more.
We were able to achieve a PLAYERS Championship, a Masters championship and we're still working on some other.  We've got a big one coming up this week as well as next month.
Terry Jastrow has been a main stay in TV and gave me my first uction into the media in the 1991 Walker Cup in Ireland.  I had a chance to spend some time with Jack Whittaker and Jim McKay and the very next day I was able to issue my first public apology for the statements I had made the day prior.
The way I see it is there are a lot of people that we are all in this together, from my management company that handles things behind the scenes, from fellow PGA TOUR players, wives and caddies to members of the media, we are all in this together, this great game.  We're all in it to promote this game, to enjoy this game and enjoy the journey and the opportunities that it brings.  I want to thank everybody for competing against me, for your friendship, for sharing this journey, for telling the stories the way the media do.  For being a part of this whole journey.  Again, this has been so much fun, and I love sharing this with everybody.
I want to thank the fans because the fans have made this such a fun ride.  There have been a lot of highs and a lot of lows that we've shared together.  There have been a lot of times where I've struggled, and it's been their energy that's helped pull me through.  I've tried to reciprocate by launching drive after drive in their general direction.  My mom and dad have given me every opportunity in this world to pursue and live the dream that I've always had, and I can't thank them enough for the sacrifices they've made.  I can't thank my sister and brother for being genuinely supportive of my career and not competitive, for caring about my success.
I am so lucky to have Amy, Amanda, Sophia, Evan, Gary, Renee, my family to be a part of this journey because sharing these moments with family members, those that you love, Steve Loy, Bones and everybody I've mentioned, it makes this so much more enjoyable and valuable.
I would just like to say that since I was a kid and first picked up my golf club, I've been living my dream, and I want to thank you for this great honor tonight.

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