LPGA Working on Change to Ease Entrance Into Hall

The LPGA Tour is voting whether to change the requirements for election to its Hall of Fame, one of the toughest shrines to enter in sports.

Under the new criteria based on points, Amy Alcott and Beth Daniel would easily have enough to get into the hall. Former players such as Judy Rankin and Donna Caponi would also have a chance to be elected through a veterans’ committee.

“I’ve thought for a while that we’ve needed to change our criteria,” Daniel said Thursday. “I think this is a step in the right direction.”

The LPGA has been working on the change since 1985. A committee proposed the new criteria on Tuesday, and ballots from all LPGA members are due Feb. 5.

JoAnne Carner said she and the other 13 members of the LPGA Hall of Fame support the new criteria.

The last player to qualify for the hall was Betsy King in 1995, when she got her 30th victory. Under the previous standards, there was some concern she might be the last.

Players had to have 30 victories and two major championships, 35 victories and one major or 40 victories and no majors. That criteria had shut out players such as Alcott, who counts five majors among her 29 LPGA victories. Only nine other players have won more majors, and all are in the hall.

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Tommy Tolles, who came within a whisker of losing his PGA Tour card last year, shot a seven-under-par 63 to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the inaugural Sony Open at Honolulu.

Tour rookie Notah Begay III and Esteban Toledo, one of the few afternoon starters to conquer the windy course, were two strokes behind.

Masters and British Open winner Mark O’Meara joined Joe Durant Bob Burns, Fred Funk and Craig Barlow at four-under 66.