European Tour pioneers Neil Coles and John Jacobs have joined the recognised elite in golf history with their election to the World Golf Hall of Fame.
The World Golf Foundation Board of Directors honoured both for their remarkable contributions to the international development of the game over the past 50 years with their admission to the World Golf Hall of Fame through the Lifetime Achievement category.
A new category for Hall of Fame selection, the Lifetime Achievement Award voting process on a global basis stipulates that candidates “should have made an impact on golf equivalent to the great players and candidates already inducted”.
The World Golf Foundation Board of Directors selected Sir Michael Bonallack and Deane Beman, in addition to Neil Coles and John Jacobs, and the Board also announced that Jack Burke Jnr. had become a new member of the World Golf Hall of Fame through another category, the Veteran’s Category.
All five will be inducted along with LPGA Hall of Fame qualifiers Beth Daniel, Juli Inkster and Judy Rankin on November 20, 2000.
Timothy W. Finchem, World Golf Foundation Chairman, said: “The World Golf Hall of Fame will be distinguished greatly by the addition of Deane Beman, Sir Michael Bonallack, Jack Burke Jnr., Neil Coles and John Jacobs whose achievements and personal standards have left such an indelible mark on the game.”
In a joint response, Coles and Jacobs, declared: “ We are, of course, both extremely proud to have been found worthy of standing alongside those who have served golf so well for so long. But our pride is shared with the many who have contributed to the success of the European Tour and the encouragement it has given to the internationalisation of the game. It has been a tremendous team effort.”
Ken Schofield, who succeeded Jacobs in 1975 as European Tour Executive Director, said: “It is impossible to exaggerate the value of all that Neil and John have done for golf, both as playing champions and immensely dedicated administrators, respected throughout the world. Together they have now given 103 years of service to the professional game and their selection to the World Golf Hall of Fame deservedly recognises the great debt of gratitude owed to them by the many who have followed the European trail they helped pioneer together.”
Neil Chapman Coles, MBE has championed the cause of European unity through golf for the past 29 years, and continues to do so in an unparalleled act of dedication and service to his fellow professionals.
While maintaining his career as the most enduring of all Europe’s champions – he has portrayed British sportsmanship at its finest as a consistent winner for 43 years – Coles also serves as the Chairman of the PGA European Tour’s Board of Directors.
A leading pioneer in the inception of the Tour in 1971, Coles became its first chairman, and still holds that office to maintain the proud image professional golf gives to British sport throughout the world.
The demands of administration have grown dramatically for the Tour as it has progressed to command ever increasing international respect, and Coles has contributed tremendously to the success achieved with his dedicated involvement.
He saw clearer than most the cause British golf could play in the unification of European sport, and since helping guide the European Tour into existence, he has devoted himself to making it an example for others in all walks of life to follow.
The rewards have been shared by many and given pleasure to even more. As a member of eight Ryder Cup teams to 1977, he was among the visionaries who saw that this historic and prestigious event should be expanded to involve Continental professionals and so strengthen European unity in sport. The immense worldwide interest in the match is the result, and the benefits for sport have been widespread. In various international events, Coles has represented his country 19 times.
Now a champion on the burgeoning Seniors Tour, Coles is extending a remarkable career that will span 50 years as a professional next September and 44 tournament victories, including two in 1999. He sets the highest of examples for all, and willingly continues to shoulder the responsibilities of Chairman of the PGA European Tour to ensure that golf remains a successful portrayal of European unity at work.
John Jacobs, OBE has served a lifetime in golf and is enormously respected as the pioneering architect of Europe’s united approach to the modern game. As a Ryder Cup player, tournament winner, administrator, writer, commentator and an outstanding coach, he has reached the peak of success in many widely different areas of golf.
A Yorkshireman (born 1925), son of a golf professional, Jacobs earned the unique distinction in his 1955 Ryder Cup debut of winning both his matches in America. Two years later he won the Dutch Open and beat Gary Player for the South African Match Play Championship.
On deciding that his real strength lay in teaching the game he soon became one of the most sought-after of all golf coaches; throughout Europe; the United States, where teaching academies still bear his name; by amateurs, national teams, and by his fellow tournament professionals.
In 1972, after a successful business venture to establish driving ranges in Britain to help encourage the growth of the game, and following his coaching of the victorious Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team, he accepted the challenge of becoming the first Tournament Director General of the PGA, a position from which he inspired the uniting of nations on the Continent with Britain, and the development of what has become the extremely successful European Tour. He turned the vision into reality and the position of respect commanded by Europe in the world of golf owes much to his pioneering spirit.
John’s great contribution to golf was recognised by his fellow professionals with his appointment as captain of the 1979 and 1981 European Ryder Cup teams, and in 1997 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire by the Queen for 50 years of outstanding service to golf. He is an Honorary Life Member of the European Tour.
Sir Michael Bonallack won both the Amateur Championship and the English Amateur five times. He was a member of nine Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup teams, and three times the captain. He was secretary of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews from 1983, successfully overseeing the Open Championship, until his retirement in 1999.
Deane Beman was winner of both the Amateur Championship and the United States Amateur Championship and was a five time winner on the PGA TOUR before becoming its second Commissioner in 1974. Under his 20 years of leadership the Tour experienced unprecedented growth in every area and assumed its current status as one of the world’s leading professional sports organisations.
The Veteran’s Category was formed for the Board to consider players whose career occurred primarily before 1960. In this category the Board selected Jack Burke Jnr., winner of 17 PGA TOUR events in his career, including both the Masters Tournament and the US PGA Championship in 1956. In 1952 he won four consecutive events. Burke participated on five US Ryder Cup teams and was captain twice. He is President and co-founder of The Champions Club in Houston, and he is a very respected instructor on the game.
Nominations in the Lifetime Achievement Category were received this past winter from members of the 380-person Voting Body for the Hall of Fame’s International Ballot. Nominations in the Veteran’s Category came from the 31-member Hall of Fame Advisory Board.
The induction this November of these five new members, along with Daniel, Inkster and Rankin, will bring the total membership in the World Golf Hall of Fame to 84.
