Upstate NY and pro tour players--Haig, Sarazen, Craig Wood, etc

[PEZGolf]

  I have said this before, but it is worth repeating.  Those of us who were born, raised and live in Upstate NY take pride in the many professional golfers who came from our area.  Here is a partial list:  Walter Hagen (Rochester), Gene Sarazen (Harrison), Craig Wood (first to win the Masters and US Open in one calendar year--from Lake Placid), Ed Furgol (1954 US Open Champ over Ben Hogan and others--from New York Mills), Ted Kroll (player of the year on the PGA Tour in 1957 and winner of the Tam O'Shanter--also from New York Mills and the Twin Ponds Golf and Country Club), Wayne Levi (winner of 12 tournaments on the PGA Tour and Player of the Year in 1990 over Greg Norman---from Herkimer), Dottie Pepper (winner of 2 Majors---the Dinah Shore on the LPGA Tour and a star of the Solheim Cup teams for the US---from Saratoga Springs), Laura Diaz (winner of two tournaments on the LPGA Tour and helped the US to win the Solheim Cup---from Scotia), Mike Hulbert and Joey Sindelar---from Horseheads, Tom Scherrer---from Skaneatles, near Syracuse, David Duval (from Schenectady---2001 British Open Champion and #1 in the World Rankings during the Tiger Woods era), Moira Dunn (winner of 2 tournaments on the LPGA Tour---from Utica and New Hartford), etc.  And now we can take pride in Derek Bard, who made it to the finals of this year's US Amateur, before losing to Bryson DeChampeau, the winner of the NCAA and US Amateur Championships, who joined elite company with Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, and 2 others. Derek is from New Hartford, where I live, and plays at the Cedar Lake Club.

[colin007]

David Duval is from Schenectady?? Since when?? I'm from Albany and never heard that one before.

[natureboy]

3 hours ago, PEZGolf said:

  I have said this before, but it is worth repeating.  Those of us who were born, raised and live in Upstate NY take pride in the many professional golfers who came from our area.  Here is a partial list:  Walter Hagen (Rochester), Gene Sarazen (Harrison), Craig Wood (first to win the Masters and US Open in one calendar year--from Lake Placid), Ed Furgol (1954 US Open Champ over Ben Hogan and others--from New York Mills), Ted Kroll (player of the year on the PGA Tour in 1957 and winner of the Tam O'Shanter--also from New York Mills and the Twin Ponds Golf and Country Club), Wayne Levi (winner of 12 tournaments on the PGA Tour and Player of the Year in 1990 over Greg Norman---from Herkimer), Dottie Pepper (winner of 2 Majors---the Dinah Shore on the LPGA Tour and a star of the Solheim Cup teams for the US---from Saratoga Springs), Laura Diaz (winner of two tournaments on the LPGA Tour and helped the US to win the Solheim Cup---from Scotia), Mike Hulbert and Joey Sindelar---from Horseheads, Tom Scherrer---from Skaneatles, near Syracuse, David Duval (from Schenectady---2001 British Open Champion and #1 in the World Rankings during the Tiger Woods era), Moira Dunn (winner of 2 tournaments on the LPGA Tour---from Utica and New Hartford), etc.  And now we can take pride in Derek Bard, who made it to the finals of this year's US Amateur, before losing to Bryson DeChampeau, the winner of the NCAA and US Amateur Championships, who joined elite company with Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, and 2 others. Derek is from New Hartford, where I live, and plays at the Cedar Lake Club.

Cool info. Thanks for sharing. Pretty good pedigree for a state that is unfriendly for golf for a quarter of the year. A lot from the Utica area too. As a state golf historian, have you ever played the Green Lakes golf course? I wondered if that was worth an effort to get to.

  

1 hour ago, colin007 said:

David Duval is from Schenectady?? Since when?? I'm from Albany and never heard that one before.

That surprised me too. Probably born there, but grew up playing golf somewhere else.

[SavvySwede]

4 hours ago, colin007 said:

David Duval is from Schenectady?? Since when?? I'm from Albany and never heard that one before.

It's supposed to be his father Bob Duval. David was born in Jacksonville.

[Mr22putt]

PEZ

You're the guy that was on the old defunct Golf Channel forum....good to see you again.

After you got banned...you signed in under another alias as your pretend daughter....basically posting near 24/7...you were/are too funny.

[PEZGolf]

21 hours ago, colin007 said:

David Duval is from Schenectady?? Since when?? I'm from Albany and never heard that one before.

His Dad is Bob, of course, and yes,they are from Schenectady.  Hap was David's grandfather and was well-known in the Albany-Schenectady area.  I am the publisher and editor of "The Golf News"---based in Utica, and I published an article written by the late Pat Ranalli, where he discussed Hap, Bob, and David.  I also published my interview with Ron Philo who had a driving range in Scotia, and he told he how Hap asked him to play with Bob in the Schenectady YMCA tournament when they were only about 12 years old!

13 hours ago, Mr22putt said:

PEZ

You're the guy that was on the old defunct Golf Channel forum....good to see you again.

After you got banned...you signed in under another alias as your pretend daughter....basically posting near 24/7...you were/are too funny.

I do not know if I want to admit to what you just wrote---except that I appreciate your statement that I was/am funny.  My wife says that I "try" to be funny, but she thinks that I am not successful.   I said that people laugh at what I write or say, but she says they are laughing at me, and NOT with me.

17 hours ago, SavvySwede said:

It's supposed to be his father Bob Duval. David was born in Jacksonville.

I will not dispute that.  I do know that Bob and his Dad, Hap, were from Schenectady---see my post about them and Ron Philo, Sr. (the father of Laura Diaz).

20 hours ago, natureboy said:

Cool info. Thanks for sharing. Pretty good pedigree for a state that is unfriendly for golf for a quarter of the year. A lot from the Utica area too. As a state golf historian, have you ever played the Green Lakes golf course? I wondered if that was worth an effort to get to.

 

That surprised me too. Probably born there, but grew up playing golf somewhere else.

I did play the Green Lakes course  in Syracuse about 30 years ago.  It was worth playing.  I believe it was designed by Robert Trent Jones, and built as a WPA project during the Great Depression (similar to Valley View, the City-owned course in Utica).  The clubhouse is amazing, and the course was a nice challenge and in good condition.  It is owned by the State of New York, I believe.

[colin007]

So he's NOT from Slumectady. 

 

And @natureboy, I've played GreenLakes as recently as a few years ago, it's a good layout. Very interesting, lots of elevation changes, some very narrow, tough holes too. Worth taking a day trip out if you know people out that way.

[Rainmaker]

I realize how odd this sounds but, when we were about 8 or 10 years old growing up in Rochester, NY . .my buddy and I would hit golf balls in our back yards pretending to be Jeff Sluman. 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Rainmaker said:

I realize how odd this sounds but, when we were about 8 or 10 years old growing up in Rochester, NY . .my buddy and I would hit golf balls in our back yards pretending to be Jeff Sluman. 

PAYCHEX!

[Rainmaker]

On ‎12‎/‎18‎/‎2015 at 9:37 AM, iacas said:

PAYCHEX!

Lol - my mom worked for Paychex. 

[PEZGolf]

On Friday, December 18, 2015 at 9:32 AM, Rainmaker said:

I realize how odd this sounds but, when we were about 8 or 10 years old growing up in Rochester, NY . .my buddy and I would hit golf balls in our back yards pretending to be Jeff Sluman.

PEZ SEZ:   I cannot believe that I left PGA Champion, Jeff Sluman, off my list!   I have written stories about him in my golf magazine, "The Golf News".  If I remember correctly, was he not involved in a partnership that owned a course in Syracuse (perhaps the Lafayette Golf Course)?   He is one of my favorites, and uses one of the "other" Harmons as his golf coach.

[PEZGolf]

On 12/11/2015 at 6:34 PM, colin007 said:

So he's NOT from Slumectady. 

 

And @natureboy, I've played GreenLakes as recently as a few years ago, it's a good layout. Very interesting, lots of elevation changes, some very narrow, tough holes too. Worth taking a day trip out if you know people out that way.

I believe that the golfer George Burns lived in Syracuse for a time when growing up. He talked about Green Lakes in an interview. Sally Dee, of course, is from Syracuse!