Thank God that Larry Nelson has finally been elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame. Although he would never come right out and say it, Larry Nelson must feel like the PGA of America has slapped him in the face every two years by never naming him captain of a U.S. Ryder Cup team. Given the popular players who will be coming up for nomination during the next few contests such as Paul Azinger and Fred Couples, it is a virtual certainty that Nelson will be left out.

It is hard to imagine what the PGA has been looking for when they by-passed Nelson so many times. We are talking about a 3-time major winner, including the 1983 US Open and two PGA Championships in '81 and '87. On top of that, Nelson has one of the best Ryder Cup records in U.S. history. In three separate contests he won 9 matches, tied one and lost only 3 out of 13. It would be fair to say that this man is one tough competitor.

And bear in mind that his major victories were achieved during the golden age of European golf when Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle and Bernhard Langer were leading the Euro charge to the top of golf world over the likes of Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Ray Floyd, Ben Crenshaw, Lanny Wadkins and Curtis Strange.

Nelson's problem in this ridiculous situation is that he is a very spiritual and humble man. His intense will to win was forged during 2 tours of duty in Vietnam. The man was a late starter in golf, never touching a club until he turned 21. Once acquiring the bug, he learned how to play by reading Ben Hogan’s great instructional book and within a years time was breaking par. You think he doesn't know a thing or two about motivation?

The PGA of America should take a good, hard look at its captain selection process when Tom Lehman is selected as captain ahead of so qualified a man as Larry Nelson. It's an absolute travesty.

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