Closed shop for the Hall of Fame

No one should have been more thrilled than Vijay Singh to hear about the voting changes for the World Golf Hall of Fame.

He was elected in 2005 with 56 percent of the vote from a panel that consisted mainly of golf writers, most of whom the big Fijian had blown off over the years.

By then, Singh had 25 PGA Tour victories, three majors, two PGA Tour money titles and one Jack Nicklaus Award as Player of the Year.

In sweeping changes announced Sunday, a 16-member panel with a majority of golf administrators now decides who gets in the Hall of Fame.

The LPGA Hall of Fame, which existed before it was morphed into the World Golf Hall of Fame, was seen as the highest honor for its players.

So that’s four people who will be expected at the next induction ceremony in May 2015, along with the six Hall of Famers from the nominating panel (Curtis Strange, Johnny Miller, Karrie Webb, Carol Mann, Beth Daniel and Peter Alliss).

The rest of the voting panel includes the heads of the PGA Tour, LPGA, European Tour, PGA of America, the Masters, the USGA, the R&A, the Japan LPGA and the Sunshine Tour in South Africa.

The explanation from Jack Peter, the chief operating officer of the World Golf Hall of Fame, was bordering on offensive, if not ridiculous.

“We believe it puts the decision-making of who gets into the Hall of Fame in the right hands individuals who know the history of the game, have a passion for the game, who know the players, who understand the qualities that make up a Hall of Famer,” he said.

The induction ceremony long ago became more about a celebration of golf than a celebration of greatness when it lowered the minimum vote required for election from 75 percent to 65 percent, and then created a loophole that said if no one received 65 percent, whoever had the most votes over 50 percent would get in.