South African Ernie Els was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility Monday night. The three-time major champion has 67 victories worldwide in his career (19 on the PGA Tour). Els' consistent play has made him a household name on the PGA Tour and around the world throughout his career and continues to be in contention on Sundays to this day.

Els is joined by Jock Hutchison, Doug Ford, Jumbo Ozaki, President George H. W. Bush and Frank Chirkinian.

The most interesting, and head scratching name on the list is obviously President Bush... until you actually read why he's being enshrined. Bush has been the honorary chairman of The First Tee since 1997. In my opinion, any president who puts time into the First Tee program, especially over such a long period of time, deserves high recognition.

I've seen first hand the impact the First Tee program can have on kids, and it's a commendable program that doesn't get enough attention or main stream support. 

A few months ago I saw a special on Frank Chrikinian, the man known as the "father of golf on television," right after he passed away and it was refreshing to hear the story of a man other than Tiger Woods that had such a huge impact on the popularity of golf on television. Chirkinian was the executive producer of golf on CBS from 1956-1996 and was the first to use technologies such as cameras on blimps, placing microphones to hear the natural sounds of the game, and put reporters in action around the course to broadcast.

My generation is the Tiger Woods generation and too often Woods gets all the credit for all that is good in the game. Sometimes a history lesson is the best way to appreciate what you have. I never knew what Chirkinian did for golf until a few months ago, but I'm glad I do now.

Jim Nantz summed it up best on PGATour.com: "Frank is universally regarded as the father of golf television," said Jim Nantz, CBS' lead golf announcer since 1989. "He invented it. He has touched every golf production we watch today. Frank is a genius. He helped popularize the sport as much as anyone. He took a sport that no one knew how to televise and made it interesting. He brought the Masters Tournament to life. Golf was good to Frank Chirkinian, but Frank was great to golf."

...make sure to read that in your best Jim Nantz voice. It makes it better. 

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