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26-year-old Lorena Ochoa of Mexico is only five points shy of the 27 required by the LPGA Tour to be eligible for the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Could the points be raised from 27?

Probably.

Sorenstam's career is starting to fade, and she has 93 points. Webb had a resurgence last year by winning five times, including her seventh major, and has 47 points. Pak is starting to pull herself out of a case of burnout and is at 30.

Then again, it's not like everyone is beating down the door.

Laura Davies is at 25 points, needing either two victories or one major. Meg Mallon has 22 points on the strength of four majors, including two U.S. Women's Open. If there was a vote, it would be hard to leave either one of them out.

"Our Hall has always taken the creme de la creme," Dickinson said. "It's always been one of the hardest to get into. To reach 27 points, you have to do special things."

And it could very well be that these are four special players.

But the time it has taken — and will take — these players to qualify raises questions about the true depth of talent on the LPGA Tour.

The late 1970s and 1980s featured no fewer than nine players now in the Hall of Fame, and six of them qualified under the old criteria.

Rivalries these days are short-lived or not well-attended.

The Sorenstam-Webb tango lasted as long as Webb was on top of her game, a three-year stretch in which it took her only eight majors between the first and fourth legs of the career Grand Slam. After that, Sorenstam was rarely challenged.

It appears to be the same for Ochoa. She won eight times this year. Suzann Pettersen won five tournaments. The only other player with multiple victories was Paula Creamer, who went nine months between her two wins this season. She now has four for her career.

That's not to say no one is on the horizon.

Remember, Ochoa only had three victories when Webb was inducted in 2005. Maybe when Ochoa is inducted in 2012, Creamer will be closing in on 27 points, then waiting to be inducted at age 28.