Doug Ford was born in West Haven, Connecticut.  He turned professional in 1949 and won for the first time in 1952.  His first major was the 1955 PGA Championship and that victory helped him become that season’s PGA Player of the Year.  In 1957, he holed out from a buried lie in a bunker on the final hole to come from behind and beat Sam Snead by three strokes at The Masters.  Ford had 19 PGA Tour wins and played on four Ryder Cup teams: 1955, 1957, 1959, and 1961.  He also won four Met PGA Championships, two Westchester Opens and a Met Open.  He was inducted into the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame in 1972 and he was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 1992. Ford was also elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2010.  When he won the Met Open in 1956, Ford was at Putnam CC and after stints at Tam O’Shanter and Vernon Hills, wound up his career as the head professional at the Spook Rock Golf Course when it first opened in the late 60’s.