Tom Creavy was born in Tuckahoe, New York. The son of a carpenter and one of seven children, Creavy learned golf as a caddie and first worked as a professional at Bonie Briar in the Met Section. A fierce match play opponent, and somewhat a child prodigy, Creavy topped US Open champion Johnny Farrell in the quarterfinals of the Met PGA Championship at age 17 at Farrell’s home course, Quaker Ridge. He won the 1931 PGA Championship at Wannamoisett Country Club at age 20. He played in 11 major championships, including the inaugural Masters in 1934. Creavy was also the head professional at the Albany Country Club and Saratoga Spa. Creavy was also a respected teacher whose pupils later in his career included Tommy Aaron.
Bobby Cruickshank first rose to prominence in reaching the semi-finals of the 1922 and 1923 PGA Championship, losing both times to eventual champion Gene Sarazen. In 1923, Cruickshank also lost in a playoff at Inwood Country Club in the US Open to Bobby Jones, a win that helped catapult Jones to a legendary career. He was also the runner-up in the 1932 U.S. Open. Cruickshank won 17 PGA Tour events and finished 16 times in in the top-10 at major championships in his career. Cruickshank was runner-up in the qualifying at the very first Metropolitan PGA Championship and went on to lose in the semifinals while playing out of the Progress Club in Westchester. His greatest year was 1927, when he won the Los Angeles and Texas Opens and finished as the leading money winner for the year. He last won on tour in 1936.
One of the most popular and successful professionals in Met PGA history, Darrell Kestner has enjoyed success as both a player and a teacher as well as holding one of the area’s most prestigious positions – Director of Golf at Deepdale Golf Club. Darrell was selected the 1997 Met PGA Teacher of the Year and renominated several times for this award on a national basis. He has been honored twice as the National PGA’s Senior Club Professional Player of the Year (2004 and ’05) and won the Met PGA Player of the Year Award 3-times (1994, ’95 and 2003). Among his other career victories are five Met PGA titles, three Met Open Championships, two New York State Opens, the 1994 Dodge Open, three LIPGA’s, two Westchester PGA’s, and two LI Opens. He also won both the Met PGA Assistants Championship and Head Pro title. Nationally he won the 1996 National Club Pro Championship and is a two-time winner of the National Assistants Championship as well as a Hogan Tour stop in the Charley Pride Golf Fiesta. As a senior he has been equally as dominating with four Senior Player of the Year Awards for the Met PGA (2004, ’05, ’08, ‘10) as well as holding every Senior area title. Other top finishes and accomplishments include a tie for 5th in the National Sr. PGA Professional Championship, T-32nd in the 2004 U.S. Senior Open, T-13th at the 2004 Master Card Classic and T-18th at the 2004 SBC Classic on the Champions Tour. Darrell has qualified for eight U.S. Opens & nine PGA Championships, as well as five Senior PGA Championships and one PGA Cup Team.
Jimmy Demaret won 31 PGA Tour events in a long career between 1935 and 1957 and was the first three-time winner of the Masters. In perhaps his best year, Demaret won the Masters, the Vardon Trophy and was leading money winner in 1947. During his outstanding career he played in 13 PGA Championships at Match Play winning 63% of his matches, never lost a Ryder Cup match and played in 17 US Opens with a runner-up finish in 1948 his highest finish. Demaret played on three Ryder Cup teams: 1947, 1949, and 1951 and totaled 24 Masters Championship appearances. Demaret was affiliated with The Concord Resort and represented them extremely well in regional events. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1983. In 2000, he was ranked as the 20th greatest golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.
Clarence Doser was born in Rochester, New York in 1909. He grew up near the Rochester Country Club where his uncle and Walter Hagen were the co-professionals. In 1925 Doser turned pro and became a PGA member at age 16. He was a PGA member for more than 70 years. In 1937 he came to Philadelphia as the assistant at the Merion Cricket Club where he stayed for three years. Doser played in 21 PGA Championships, 19 U.S. Opens and three Masters Championships. When the PGA Championship was still played at match play he made it to the semi finals once and the quarterfinals once. Doser won the Western New York PGA Section Championship four times, the Metropolitan Section PGA Championship three times and the Middle Atlantic PGA Section Championship twice. Because of the strength of the field his three Met Section titles were considered the equivalent of wins on the PGA Tour at that time. Doser finished his career at Scarsdale and is a member of all three of those PGA Sections Halls of Fame.
Johnny Farrell was born in White Plains, New York and turned professional in 1922. In 1928, Farrell won the U.S. Open. He tied with amateur Bobby Jones after the regulation 72 holes, at the Olympia Fields Country Club near Chicago, and won a 36-hole playoff by one stroke. He was voted the 1927 and 1928 Best Golf Professional in the United States, after a winning streak of six consecutive tournaments, on his road to a total of 22 career PGA Tour wins in addition to winning the Westchester Open and Met Open.  He played for the United States in the first three Ryder Cups: 1927, 1929, and 1931. Farrell was the head professional at the Quaker Ridge Golf Club from 1919-1930 and later became the head professional at nearby Baltusrol in New Jersey.
The professional at The Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Connecticut from 1964 – 2000, Billy Farrell’s record of playing accomplishments touches both the local and national levels. Born in Springfield, New Jersey in 1935, the son of the legendary Johnny Farrell, Billy began his career in New Jersey where he was the Assistant Professional of the Year, the New Jersey Open Champion and Met Open runner-up all in 1961. He was a 3-time member of the Ballantine Team honoring the top players from New Jersey, Long Island and Westchester. Billy won the 1964 Met PGA Championship and owns a number of other area titles including the Westchester PGA, Pro-Lady, Pro-Pro and Senior Pro-Pro and Westchester Senior Open Championships. But it is his record in qualifying for 8 US Opens (1961, ’63, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69 & ’71), seven PGA’s (1961, ’62, ’63, ’65, ’66, ’67 & ’68) and four National PGA Seniors Championships that has helped distinguish Billy’s playing career. A two time medalist for the US Open (his best finish was 22nd) and a 3 time medalist at PGA Qualifying where his best outing was a 14th place finish. In 1964 Billy was presented with the Sports Illustrated Award of Merit recognizing his outstanding accomplishments.
Mike Fetchick was born in Yonkers, New York.  He turned pro in 1950 and joined the PGA Tour in 1952.  He won the 1956 Western Open at The Presidio in San Francisco in an 18-hole playoff over Doug Ford, Jay Hebert and Don January.  Then considered a major championship, the Western Open was eventually demoted in status but clearly,  Fetchick’s victory was a triumph among the top names in golf. He also boasted a top 15 finish at the 1957 U.S. Open at Inverness Club. After his club professional career, Fetchick joined the Senior Tour and holds their Champions Tour record for the oldest winner (63 years of age when he won the Hilton Head Seniors International in 1985), and the longest time between his last PGA Tour victory and his first Champions Tour victory: 28 years, 9 months and 27 days. Even during his Senior playing career, Fetchick continued to call Dix Hills home and was often found at Glen Head Country Club where he had served as their head professional.
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.
Ed Furgol was born in New York Mills, New York. He won six times on the PGA Tour including one major championship, the 1954 U.S. Open at Baltusrol Country Club.   Furgol played in 21 U.S. Opens, 16 Masters, and 13 PGA Championships (7 at Match Play and 6 at Stroke Play). In the Match Play Championships of the PGA, Furgol won almost 60% of his matches and went to the semifinals in his best showing while in his later years he still competed in six PGA’s at stroke play with a tie for 13th in 1964 his highlight. He also played on the losing 1957 Ryder Cup team at Lindrick Golf Club in Yorkshire, England and drew the unenviable task of having to face the British Captain, Dai Rees in the event’s singles competition.
Claude Harmon was serving as the head professional at Winged Foot Golf Club when he became the last club professional to claim a major championship, winning the 1948 Masters Tournament.  In 1959, he was also hired as the head professional at Thunderbird Country Club where he served for the remainder of his career while retaining his position at Winged Foot until his retirement in 1977.  In 1959 Harmon turned in an incredible feat placing third in the U.S. Open, while serving as the host professional at Winged Foot.  Harmon is a two time Met PGA Champion and a six time Westchester Open Champion. The Harmon Family was honored by the Golf Writers as the Family of the Year in 1969 while Harmon was named the Sam Snead Award recipient for the Met PGA in 1982 for his contributions to golf, the PGA and the Met Section. A former President of the Met PGA, Claude was inducted into the PGA Hall of Fame in 2009.
Smithtown Landing’s Mike Hebron is one of the few PGA Professionals to have won two National Awards. In 1990 Hebron was named the PGA of America’s Horton Smith Award recipient for his contributions to PGA education and then a year later, Hebron was named the PGA Teacher of the Year. On the Section level in addition to multiple Horton Smith and Teacher of the Year honors, Hebron was the first Public Course Met PGA Merchandiser of the Year, the first Met PGA Junior Golf Leader Award and the 1982 Met PGA Professional of the Year. Hebron inaugurated the Met PGA’s Junior Championship (now called the Met PGA Junior Classic) and the National PGA Teaching & Coaching Summit. After more than 40 years at Smithtown, Hebron is still active hosting the Junior Classic and is a sponsor for the Met PGA (with their women’s events) and the LIGA. Hebron was also named the 2010 San Snead Award recipient for his contributions to golf, the PGA and the Met Section.
