[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 187 (Friday, December 7, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S15029]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO CURTIS STRANGE

  Mr. BURR. Mr. President, today I wish to honor a man who is a close 
personal friend of mine but more importantly is admired by fans of the 
sport of golf around the world.
  I wish to highlight the career of professional golfer Curtis Strange, 
who on November 12, 2007, was formally inducted into the World Golf 
Hall of Fame.
  I first met Curtis as an undergraduate student-athlete at Wake Forest 
University where he earned the prestigious Arnold Palmer Scholarship to 
play golf.
  Curtis's college career was nothing short of remarkable. Many even 
consider the team that Curtis played on at Wake Forest to be the best 
collegiate golf team in U.S. history. In fact, Golf World called the 
1975 Wake Forest team that featured Curtis Strange, Jay Haas, Bob 
Byman, and David Thore as ``the greatest of all-time.''
  In 1974, Curtis won the Fred Haskins Award that goes to the Nation's 
top collegiate golfer and was awarded 1st Team All-American honors 
three years in a row.
  In 1974 and 1975, Curtis led the Demon Deacon golf team to two, back-
to-back NCAA titles and earned the individual collegiate title in 1974, 
the same year he won the World Amateur Cup.
  Curtis turned professional after his junior year in 1976. Throughout 
his professional career and particularly in the 1980s, Curtis impressed 
PGA fans with his unmatched skills proving how excellent a golfer he 
really is, achieving feats that very few other golfers can say they 
have achieved. For instance, he posted 17 PGA Tour victories including 
back-to-back U.S. Open Championships in 1988 and 1989, becoming the 
first to do that since Ben Hogan in 1950-1951. He has been a member of 
five Ryder Cup Teams--1983, 1985, 1987, 1989 and 1995--and in 2002, he 
was captain of the Ryder Cup team. And Curtis Strange's impressive 
career has not ended. He currently plays on the senior PGA Tour.
  But perhaps one of the most honorable achievements of Curtis Strange 
was his gracious gift to Wake Forest University. He recently very 
generously established a golf scholarship fund at Wake Forest. This 
gesture should not go unnoticed. It shows that Curtis is the type of 
man who wants to give back to the community that helped him get to 
where he is today. He wants others to benefit from his success.
  Curtis Strange is a good man with a good heart.
  I congratulate Curtis on his induction into the World Golf Hall of 
Fame, I commend him for his outstanding achievements as an athlete, and 
I honor him as a person.

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