ORLANDO, Fla. – When Hollis Stacy was 12, she carried a scorecard in her back pocket wherever she went in her hometown of Savannah, Ga.
The card documented the first time she broke 90.
“There were never enough hours in the day, or holes on the golf course,” Stacy said. “I just loved the game so much.”
The excellence Stacy pursued with her devotion to the game was honored Thursday with news that she is the newest addition to the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Stacy, 57, was announced as a selection through the veterans category during a news conference at the CME Group Titleholders Championship. She joins Phil Mickelson as the second member of the Class of 2012 to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame ceremony on May 7 in St. Augustine, Fla.
Stacy won 18 LPGA tournaments in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, including four major championships. She’s one of six women to have won three or more U.S. Women’s Opens. Mickey Wright (4) and Betsy Rawls (4) are the only players to have won more. Stacy also won the du Maurier Classic.
“I’m shocked, I’m overwhelmed and I’m so honored,” Stacy said.
While Stacy will become a World Golf Hall of Fame member, she’s still not an LPGA Hall of Famer. She accumulated 22 LPGA Hall of Fame points in her career, five short of what was needed to qualify.
Stacy said Thursday that it was difficult being left out of the Hall of Fame.
“That’s why I was so shocked when the call came because I never thought my mom would live to see me get in, because of the politics of being elected,” Stacy said. “I conditioned myself to not think about it. I think it did bug me a little bit, because I won four majors. I considered them like hotels in Monopoly, where a hotel is worth four houses (victories).”
Stacy was one of 10 children. Her mother, Matilda, is 83 and plans to attend the ceremonies with Stacy’s surviving siblings. Stacy’s sister, Martha, will present her. When Whan called Stacy with news of her selection, he said her immediate reaction was focused on the thrill her family would enjoy with the news.
“To be a part of the Hall of Fame is a dream come true,” Stacy said. “I accept it for myself and for my family.”
Her best golf memory? Stacy said it was winning her first LPGA title with her father, John, watching as he walked the steep hills at Brookfield West Country Club in Roswell, Ga. Stacy’s father was shot while fighting for Patton’s Third Army during World War II.
“He had this grossly huge knee,” Stacy said. “It was the size of a ham. I birdied six of the last seven holes, and I won my first tournament. That was probably the most special moment of my career.”
John Hollis died in 2005.
The World Golf Hall of Fame created the veterans category in 2000. Jack Peter, the World HOF chief operating officer, said the category was created “to make sure that the Hall of Fame had a way to recognize great players from yesteryear, who may, for one reason or another, have not been inducted.”
Stacy maintains a passion for the LPGA. She’s busy working to bring an LPGA tournament to her hometown of Savannah in 2013. She’s also working on a new business that would create a “platform for women’s golf that would aggregate all of womens’ golf . . . with heavy social media portions. You will be hearing about it.”