Philadelphia, PA -- (Sports Network) - Sometimes an innocent throw-away phrase can startle you some.

For me, the experience came Sunday when Kelly Tilghman proclaimed Davis Love III would now be a mortal lock for the Hall of Fame after collecting his 20th PGA Tour victory.

Nick Faldo, a six-time major winner and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, agreed in a fashion that made me feel stupid for not immediately conceding Tilghman's point.

Let's be clear on something. I treat the Hall of Fame, no matter what sport, with the utmost reverence. It's not the Hall of Above Average or the Hall of Playing for a while and Achievement of some goals.

In a shrine for immortality that hosts Tom Kite (18 wins and one major), maybe Love is a guarantee. I'm not so sure he deserves it, although he absolutely will get it.

PGA Tour voting for the Hall of Fame is done by "golf journalists, historians and golf dignitaries," according to the World Golf Hall of Fame website. Those are people that respect Love and also his father before him. Not to diminish Love's achievements, but his popularity helps.

Like the 500-homer or 300-win plateaus in baseball, golfers with 20 wins and a major don't often get shown the door. Look at Kite. He won 18 tour events and one major. Love topped that, but take a further look at Love's resume and we might see some flaws.

Love has 20 PGA Tour wins, but 13 came at five tournaments. He's got five titles at the Heritage, two at the International and two at Greensboro. With all due respect, those three tournaments have never seen an elite field roll into town.

Love has two wins at The Players and two more at Pebble Beach, which are impressive. However, he's a big-time horse for specific courses. Wins are wins, don't get me wrong, but taking five titles at the same place tells me he benefits from that geographical spot.

He has one major title - the 1997 PGA Championship. He had plenty of chances at others, but never got it done. In reality, Love could have won the 1995 Masters, the 1996 U.S. Open and the 2004 PGA. You shouldn't hold not winning majors against someone, but for a golfer considered one of the best of his era, to be in position so often and have only one major is a little underwhelming.

Love never even won a money title. His closest was a second to Fred Couples in 1992. Kite won the 1989 money race. Love played in almost every Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup of his time, and will one day lead his American side in the Ryder Cup.

It's a close call to be sure. Love played in what will most likely be the prime of Tiger Woods' career. Vijay Singh is already in the Hall, and Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els are real locks.

At the beginning of Love's career, he perfected his craft while Hall of Famers Nick Price and Greg Norman were atop the sport. Faldo was there for a time, too. Those are some impressive names, and all are better than Love. That's not a knock, but a reality. Winning 20 times with those kind of players ahead of him is a pretty strong testament to his consistency.

Adding to the impressive nature of Love's career is that he has rarely been healthy for long periods of time. His back, neck and shoulder have all been chronic problems. Last year, Love stepped in a hole and tore two ligaments in his ankle. It's fair to suggest that Love could've looked at two or three more wins with maybe one injury in his career.

And, yes, 20 wins is a milestone and yardstick. If he would've won Greater Milwaukee 20 times, it's still a special accomplishment. Ben Crenshaw, Kite, Larry Nelson, Fred Couples, Price, Curtis Strange and Els are all on the wrong side of 20.

It's a tough decision and that's the point. Love should not be considered the lock Tilghman and Faldo believe he is. In researching this, DL3 is probably a Hall of Famer, but if it took me hours to figure it out, that doesn't make him a lock.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

- John Daly should be suspended from golf for at least six months. Not sure who could authorize this and maybe all golf federations (truthfully, the sponsors) could come together to do it, but enough is officially enough. When you are found drunk in a Hooters parking lot and the police and paramedics are summoned, you are embarrassing the game and have become a caricature. Daly has a disease that needs treatment, but he refuses to acknowledge it. Maybe taking away the game he's made plenty of money from will shock some sense into the guy.

- The aforementioned Mr. Faldo should act more like Golf Channel Nick Faldo on his CBS broadcasts. There has always been a reverence to CBS' telecasts, but with Gary McCord and David Feherty, there is plenty of room for some of that dry wit that makes most British people funny.

- I was pleasantly surprised to hear Tiger Woods speak of how excited he was about the election of President-elect Obama on CNBC. Woods rarely speaks of politics or takes stands on issues of any kind. It always impresses me when an athlete will speak his mind, because as Michael Jordan once famously said, "Republicans wear sneakers too." Well trust me - Republicans wear golf spikes, so this was kind of gutsy. I just wish I had an appropriate forum and people wanted to hear my views on things.

- Non-golf thought - I'd like to channel my inner Larry David here. My weekly pilgrimage to the grocery store is big for me. I'm a circular hound and shop for the best deals. Some nights when I feel like cooking something specific, I make a special trip. I believe in technology and advancement, so the self- checkout lane is the one for me. This area needs to be policed and I will tell you why - there are people with full shopping carts going through there. That's not right. I know there isn't a sign limiting (or "censoring" as TSN colleague Mike Rushton put it), the number of items, but why bother with something built for convenience if you have the potential for that to be destroyed? Annoying.