It's Worth the Wait for Lanny Wadkins

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- Lanny Wadkins wanted to make one thing absolutely clear. "It's great to be here," he said.

Wadkins was seated on a stage at the World Golf Village on Monday, or on top of the world. Definitely one of the two, and as far as Wadkins is concerned, the views are identical.

With his name now in the Golf Hall of Fame, Wadkins has finally fulfilled something that was long overdue.

Wadkins -- along with Irishman Christy O'Connor, Sr., Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal and former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower -- was being inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

That was the good news. The bad was that it had taken Wadkins 14 years to get the call.

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Impatience can make a guy say things he probably shouldn't have.

So when Wadkins, a 21-time PGA Tour winner and U.S. Ryder Cup star, finally got the vote that was announced in April -- a year before his name would have been removed from the ballot -- he didn't get all mushy.

Basically, Wadkins wondered what took so long? He suggested it would have meant a bit more had the honor come in a more timely manner.

When you realize Wadkins' 21 tour victories are more than Greg Norman, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite and Curtis Strange -- all hall of fame inductees -- ever won, it's a fair complaint. Still, it made Wadkins sound like a guy who had been chewing on a lemon.

That wasn't going to be the case Monday.

"It means a lot to me, and it always has and it always will," Wadkins said. "No, I don't have any regrets at all about being here now. I don't know that I could enjoy it any more.

"I think a lot that I alluded to, what I said earlier, is that it's interesting to look at a hall of fame. I know what I've done, and I know that when I look at guys like Palmer and Snead and Nelson and Hogan and Watson, -- the guys that have really had huge careers, won six, seven, eight, nine majors and more -- no question they're head and shoulders above everybody else. I just think there is a group of us that are all very similar -- wins, majors, the whole deal. So I think that it's almost like if one or two of us belonged in here, then all of us from that group belong in here, and I think it's about complete."

The knock on Wadkins had been only one major championship -- the 1977 PGA. To counter that, however, he was an absolute Ryder Cup terror. Wadkins' eight team appearances between 1977 and '93 ties Raymond Floyd and Billy Casper as most by any American. He also captained the 1995 U.S. team. And with 21.5 points, Watson is the third highest career scorer for the United States, behind only Casper and Arnold Palmer.

"Should have won more majors, no question," Wadkins said. "I was there. I had nine top-3s. It's not a lot compared to some people, but I was there a lot."

It's not an issue any longer. It's official. Jim Nantz, the CBS sportscaster who Wadkins worked with as an analyst, introduced the new hall of fame member. The Wadkins display was opened.

Late, maybe. But it's forever.

Wadkins' display at the World Golf Village features some of his Ryder Cup golf bags, a few clubs and various memorabilia -- all pretty standard stuff.

Not so common is the check for $4 made out to Wadkins and signed by Ben Hogan. Dated June 12, 1981, it was payment for a skins wager.

The typed note that accompanied the un-cashed check is a dandy.

"With all the confusion of our intruder, I simply forgot this," Hogan wrote.

"I can't imagine this fellow doing that. It was my first experience of this kind of thing and I didn't know how to handle the situation except to just quit."

Wadkins relished the chance to elaborate.

"I played a lot of golf with Ben around the early '80s, '81, '82," Wadkins, a Texan like Hogan, said. " We usually had a foursome that played all the time. Well, this day one of the guys didn't show up, so there were three of us out there playing.

"We got on about the 14th, 15th hole and a guy rides up in a cart. He's got shorts on and he's got a beard. That's probably two of Hogan's least favorite things on a golf course. The guy doesn't ask anything, he says 'I'm going to join you guys the rest of the way in.' Didn't even ask. Now, would you ride up to Ben Hogan and say, 'Hey, I'm playing with you today?' That didn't fly with Ben. He looked at me and said, 'Are you ready to go?' We drove off and left him sitting there."

A few days later, Wadkins received Hogan's note and check in the mail.

"And of course his secretary's name was Clara Bell," Wadkins remembered. "She called me every month for the next six months wanting me to cash Mr. Hogan's check so she could balance his account. I said, 'Clara Bell, there's no chance I'm cashing that check ever.' So there you go."

Lanny Wadkins laughed loud when he finished the story. He felt at home.