William P. Turnesa (January 20, 1914 – June 16, 2001) was an American amateur

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er, best known for winning two

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

titles and the

British Amateur The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...

. He was one of seven famous golfing brothers; Phil (1896-1987), Frank (1898-1949),

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(1901-1991),

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(1907-2000), Doug (1909-1972),

Jim Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim ...

(1912-1971), and Willie (1914-2001). Willie was the only brother not to turn professional.7 Famous Brothers And What They Did
/ref> The family was referred to as a "golf dynasty" in a 2000 ''New York Times'' article. Turnesa was born in

Elmsford, New York Elmsford is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. Roughly one mile square, the village is fully contained within the borders of the town of Greenburgh. As of the 2010 census, the ...

and lived most of his life there. His older brothers forbade him to turn pro and pooled their money to send him to college.New York Times obituary
/ref> He graduated from Holy Cross in 1938 and won his first U.S. Amateur later that year at Oakmont Country Club. Turnesa won the

in 1947 at

Carnoustie Golf Links Carnoustie Golf Links is in Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland. Carnoustie has four courses – the historic Championship Course, the Burnside Course, the Buddon Links Course and a free-to-play short, five-hole course called The Nestie. Carnoustie ...

, beating fellow American

Dick Chapman Richard Davol Chapman (March 23, 1911 – November 15, 1978) was an American amateur golfer. ''Time'' magazine crowned Chapman "the Ben Hogan of amateur golf". Chapman was born in Greenwich, Connecticut. He was the 1940 U.S. Amateur golf ch ...

3&2. He won his second U.S. Amateur in 1948 and was runner-up in the 1949 British Amateur, losing to Irishman

Max McCready Samuel Maxwell McCready (8 March 1918 – 1994) was an Irish amateur golfer. He won the 1949 Amateur Championship and was in the British Walker Cup team in 1949 and 1951. McCready lived near the Dunmurry golf course, near Belfast, where he learn ...

. He won numerous other amateur events, mostly in the New York area. Turnesa played on three straight winning

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup Match (not "Matches" as in Ryder Cup Matches). It is ...

teams, 1947, 1949, and 1951. He was playing captain on the last team.The Turnesa Story
/ref> Turnesa served as president of both the Metropolitan Golf Association and New York State Golf Association. He co-founded the Westchester Caddie Scholarship Fund in 1956.
/ref> Turnesa died in Sleepy Hollow, New York.

Tournament wins

''this list is incomplete'' *1933 Westchester Amateur *1936 Westchester Amateur *1937

Metropolitan Amateur The Metropolitan Amateur or Met Amateur is an amateur golf tournament organized by the Metropolitan Golf Association. It has been played annually since 1899 and is one of the oldest amateur golf tournaments in the United States along with the U.S. ...

, Westchester Amateur *1938

, Westchester Amateur, New York State Amateur *1943

Florida Open The Florida Open is the Florida state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is now organized by the Florida State Golf Association (FSGA). It has been played annually since 1942 at a variety of courses around the ...

*1947

*1948

Major championships

Amateur wins (3)

Results timeline

''Note: Turnesa never played in the

British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

.''
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10 Source for The Masters:
www.masters.com
Source for U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur
USGA Championship Database
Source for 1948 British Amateur:
The Glasgow Herald, May 29, 1948, pg. 3.
Source for 1950 British Amateur:
The Glasgow Herald, May 25, 1950, pg. 9.
Source for 1951 British Amateur:
The Glasgow Herald, May 24, 1951, pg. 7.

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur *

: 1947 (winners), 1949 (winners),

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

(winners, playing captain)

References

External links

New York Times obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turnesa, Willie American male golfers Amateur golfers Golfers from New York (state) College of the Holy Cross alumni People from Westchester County, New York 1914 births 2001 deaths