Golfers, and athletes of all sports really, take pride in where they’re from. Whether it’s the state, city or area code – you always notice players wanting to rep their home area.
The whole Ryder Cup is basically built on the principle of competing and representing where you’re from.
Fans tend to do the same thing. It’s always more fun to pull for a player when they’re from your home state (or even your hometown).
With all that in mind, we went through the World Golf Rankings and pulled the home states (or countries) of every player in the top 200 (as of 5/19/23).
28 of the 50 states in the US have at least one player representing them in that top 200.
New York has 3 players out of that top 200. That may not seem like a lot, but it’s pretty impressive that 1.5% of the top golfers in the WORLD come from the state of New York.
It also ties New York with four other states for the 7th most of any US state (tied with Georgia, Indiana, Tennessee, and Washington).
Current Golfers from New York
Here are the three golfers from New York in the World Golf Rankings top 200 in the spring of 2023 including what town they’re from.
| Name | City |
|---|---|
| Alex Smalley | Rochester |
| Cameron Young | Scarborough |
| John Huh | New York |
Hall of Fame Golfers from New York
I figured anyone looking for the current players from New York would also be interested in knowing which players from New York have made it into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Here is who I’ve found.
| Name | City | Induction Year |
|---|---|---|
| Johnny Farrell | White Plains | 2023 |
| Craig Wood | Lake Placid | 2008 |
| Jerome Travers | New York City | 1976 |
| Walter Hagen | Rochester | 1974 |
| Gene Sarazen | Harrison | 1974 |
Golf Hometown Fun Facts
California has the most golfers of any state in the top 200 with 21. Second most is Texas with 8, followed by Florida (7), and North Carolina and South Carolina with 5 each.
California actually has more players than any country (outside the US) in the top 200 as well. England has the most, 15, of any foreign country.
More States
We have hometown reference guides for every state (that currently has a representative in the top 200). Here are a few of the other states you can check out:
Current Pro Men’s Golfers from Nebraska