Class of 2015
Sam Urzetta
Sam Urzetta is a golf legend in Rochester, N.Y. At the age of 22, he won the N.Y.S. Men's Amateur Championship and Monroe Invitational, which he went on to win two more times. Two years later, he won the 1950 U.S. Amateur Championship over career-long amateur Frank Stranahan. The match went on for a record 39 holes, a record that stood alone until 2000 when it was tied. Urzetta played on two winning Walker Cup teams and competed in 12 major championships; four appearances in the Masters Tournament, four appearances in the U.S. Open, and four appearances in the PGA Championship.
In 1954, Urzetta turned professional. His best finish on the tour came in the 1956 Masters Tournament when he finished tied for 12th. After limited success on the tour, he decided to take the head golf professional position at the Country Club of Rochester in 1956. Urzetta remained at CCR until he retired in 1993. Urzetta is remembered as one of the finest gentlemen the game has ever produced.
"When you were in his presence, you knew you were around someone special," Jim Mrva, head golf professional at Monroe Golf Club, said in a GolfWeek magazine interview in 2011. "For anyone who knew him, you felt like he was your best friend."
Career Highlights
N.Y.S. Men's Amateur Championship - 1948
Monroe Invitational - 1948, 1949, 1950
RDGA Amateur Championship - 1947, 1950
U.S. Amateur Championship - 1950
Walker Cup - 1951, 1953
Head Golf Professional at CCR - 1956-1993
