U.S. stars Max Homa and Billy Horschel commit to TGL

He’s known about the induction for nearly 18 months. He even visited the World Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida, to get ideas for his exhibit and the locker that will be there in perpetuity. But Monday night, the magnitude of what he’s accomplished really hit home for Davis Love III. There he was, with fellow inductees Lorena Ochoa Reyes, Meg Mallon and Ian Woosnam, at a dinner at One World Observatory, a stunning venue with sweeping views of New York City that is nestled atop the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. A host of other Hall of Famers were there to welcome them into the exclusive club. “It was like the ultimate class reunion,â€� Love said. His son Drew got to talk fitness with Gary Player, who toasted the incoming Hall of Famers, while Chi Chi Rodriguez gave the 23-year-old advice on his swing. Many pictures – the cell phone variety and other more official ones – were taken during the convivial evening of good cheer. “My wife, Robin, said, ‘You know, we’re going to get to do this every year,’â€� Love said. “To have that kind of setting that we’re going to be part of this class, this group, this club, for the rest of our lives. “It was an incredible night.â€� Tuesday night’s induction at the Cipriani Wall Street provided a more formal recognition of the class of five that also includes the late British journalist and broadcaster, Henry Longhurst. During the morning’s teleconference, Love, Mallon, Ochoa and Woosnam reflected on some of the highlights of their careers. Love first saw the World Golf Hall of Fame when it was housed in a building behind the fourth green at Pinehurst No. 2. He noticed it while he was playing the course as a kid but he never went in until recently in St. Augustine, where the Hall relocated and reopened in 1998.  And even as he was compiling a resume that includes 21 PGA TOUR victories, among them the 1997 PGA Championship and two PLAYERS Championships, Love didn’t get ahead of himself. It wasn’t until his good friend Fred Couples was inducted in 2013 that Love started thinking he might be Hall of Fame material, too.  “I guess I really thought I might get in, or it was actually a goal after Freddie Couples’ induction ceremony,â€� Love said. “I always looked up to Freddie and tried to hit it as far as him and be as cool as him but it never worked. “To think when he got in and he gave his speech and he mentioned me a few times — we’re basically the same year and did the same things in the game, and that’s when I realized I might actually get in.â€� Love has been a mainstay of the U.S. in international team competition – playing on six Presidents Cup and six Ryder Cup teams. He will spend the rest of the week at nearby Liberty National working as an assistant to Steve Stricker for the U.S. Presidents Cup team, his second such stint, and has captained two of the last three American Ryder Cup squads. A year ago, Love made the difficult decision to leave Bubba Watson, then ranked seventh in the world but not playing his best golf at the time, off his victorious U.S. squad at Hazeltine National. Watson was disappointed by wanted to contribute, asking if he could be an assistant, and Love gladly accepted. “He said, ‘(I) want to be in the Hall of Fame and I want to be a Ryder Cup captain. They are really the same thing,’â€� Love recalled. “And to think that I have done that over the last few years is just an incredible blessing. I just hope this class can carry forward what the classes behind us have done and grow the Hall of Fame.â€� Ochoa Reyes, who started playing golf at the age of 5 in Guadalajara, Mexico, accomplished a great deal in an abbreviated career. She won 27 times, including two majors, in seven years before retiring in 2010 to start a family and continue her charitable works at the age of 28.  She spent 158 weeks as No. 1 in the world, including the week she retired. “It’s great to see the change in the game,â€� Ochoa Ryes said. “Today in my country, there are many, many boys and girls playing. More than a hundred players are playing in the different schools. They have a scholarship in the States. I think we are going in the right direction, and so it’s great to be able to help in that way and make a change and have more golfers representing México in the different tours.â€� Woosnam, who won the 1991 Masters and played on eight European Ryder Cup teams, has been in New York City since Friday, doing a little sightseeing before the festivities began. He won 42 times around the world and twice on the PGA TOUR. The Welshman was part of a stellar group of five European golfers all born within 12 months of each other – joining Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Bernhard Langer and Seve Ballesteros. Now they are all in the World Golf Hall of Fame. “(I am) very excited and very emotional the closer we get to being inducted into the Hall of Game with the greatest players ever,â€� the diminutive Welshman said. “It’s a big deal.â€� Mallon retired the same year as Ochoa Reyes but had played the LPGA Tour for 23 years. She won 18 times, including four major championships, two of which were U.S. Opens captured 13 years apart. She played on eight Solheim Cups and captained the team in 2013. Among Mallon’s favorite memories is the birdie putt she made on the 72nd hole of the 1991 LPGA Championship. It was her first major title, two weeks before she won her second, and Mallon converted when Pat Bradley and Ayako Oakamoto, who joined her in the final group that day, couldn’t. “It was the storybook where all three of us had a chance to win a major and I was the last one to putt,â€� Mallon recalled. “… It was a 10-footer to win a major, and you know, when you make the putt like that and you get to jump into your caddie’s arms and have that moment, it was really cool.â€� Monday’s dinner and Tuesday’s induction were, too.

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Tyrrell Hatton lost his swing on his back nine without losing his head, a small victory. He battled through a tough test at Bay Hill on Friday and was only surprised by what he saw when he finished. His tidy short game was strong enough to carry him into a share of the lead with Sung Kang going into the weekend at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Related: Leaderboard | Morikawa takes over top spot for consecutive cuts “I just didn’t have a clue where it was going,” Hatton said after a 3-under 69 in a wind that came out of the opposite direction. “Just happy to get in the clubhouse with no damage done, really.” Kang birdied four of his last seven holes for a 68. Rory McIlroy made a mess of No. 8 and felt he made Bay Hill harder than it was — and it was plenty difficult — for a 73 that still left him within two shots of the lead. Matt Every thought it was awesome that his 65 in the opening round was 20 shots better than his previous round on the PGA TOUR. Not so awesome was being 18 shots higher the next day, an 83 that allowed him to join the wrong list in PGA TOUR annals by going from the 18-hole lead to the weekend off. He missed the cut by one shot. “I really didn’t see this coming, to be honest,” said Every, who is rarely anything but honest. “But it happens. It kind of happens to me quite a bit.” His last three rounds on the PGA TOUR dating to a week ago at the Honda Classic: 85-65-83. He was he first player since Camilo Villegas in the 2013 Honda Classic to go from the first-round lead to a missed cut. Talor Gooch fared a little better. He followed a 67 with an 80 and made the cut on the number. Phil Mickelson, who opened with a 77, drilled a 5-iron from 239 yards away over the water to 7 feet for an eagle on the par-5 sixth to get on the cut number with three holes to play. He finished with a double bogey and missed the cut for the fourth time this year. It’s the first time in 25 years Mickelson has missed four cuts before The Masters. “I thought it was a really hard golf course, and I enjoyed the challenge of trying to play on these type of conditions,” Mickelson said. “And I’m a little frustrated that I haven’t gotten off to the start his year I would like. I’m not discouraged. I don’t feel like I’m that far off.” Henrik Stenson also opened with a 77. He also battled back to give himself a chance to make the cut. And he also took double bogey on his final hole to miss the cut for only the second time in 12 appearances at Bay Hill. The average score was 74.08, the highest at Bay Hill since the opening round of 2011. And it left a 69-man field for the weekend that is up for grabs. Hatton and Kang were at 7-under 137, the highest score to lead at Bay Hill in 10 years. Danny Lee had the low round of the day, a 67, that left him one shot behind. McIlroy, The Honda Classic winner Sungjae Im (69) and Harris English (70) were two strokes behind at 5 under. Another shot back was a group that included Patrick Reed, who had another 70 in his bid to win his second straight tournament. Hatton is making up for lost time from an accident in the oddest of places. He was walking in from the Par 3 Tournament at The Masters three years ago when it was halted by storms and slipped on pine straw, injuring his right wrist as he braced for the fall. He tried cortisone shots to buy time, and he finally felt the only option was surgery last November. The Englishman was out longer than he expected, but he returned in Mexico City by tying for sixth in the World Golf Championships event, and now he has a share of the 36-hole lead at Bay Hill. McIlroy was happy to still be in range. His round looked as though it might come undone when he got caught up in the trees to the right of the eighth fairway and made double bogey, this after a three-putt bogey from long range on the par-3 seventh. He birdied his next hole, limited the mistakes to only one bogey on the back nine and wound up in good shape. “It was a grind. I think I made it more of a grind than I needed to,” McIlroy said. “Conditions were tricky, greens are getting firm, wind was out of a different direction today, so that made things a little interesting, too. … I’m still right there in the golf tournament.”

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