Wegman family among 2025 inductees into RDGA Hall of Hall of Fame

The fourth class of the Rochester District Golf Association Hall of Fame has been announced and it is a diverse group of honorees.

It includes outstanding amateur golfers Dr. Jim Infantino and Kitty Colliflower, former PGA Tour pro Terry Diehl, long-time local club professional Denny Ferstler, and the Wegman family whose leadership and philanthropy have buoyed the game in Rochester for nearly four decades.

The induction ceremony will be held on Tuesday, July 29 at Cobblestone Creek Country Club in Victor, the kickoff to the annual RDGA John H. Ryan Jr. Memorial Championship tournament that runs July 30-Aug. 1.

The RDGA welcomes inductees, their families, friends – as well as members of the public – to attend this year’s ceremony. Tickets are $50 and that includes hors d’oeuvres and a one-hour open bar. They went on sale Friday at RDGA.org.

“On behalf of the entire RDGA and the RDGA Hall of Fame Committee, we are indeed proud and honored to pay tribute to our fourth Class of Hall of Fame inductees,” said Mark Battle, chairman of Hall of Fame committee. “Each has made meaningful and significant contributions to our sport both on and off the golf course. I could not imagine a more deserving class of inductees.”

The committee nominates candidates and approves them based on the following criteria:

Contributions made by a candidate contributing to the enhancement of the sport of golf through playing, teaching, coaching, maintaining/managing, educating, writing or advocating for an extended period of time; candidates who exemplify the spirit of the game of golf; and the achievements of candidates are sustainable over time.

Eligibility can also include candidates who have, by virtue of name recognition, brought honor, distinction, and/or have favorable contributions to golf in the Greater Rochester area.

Colliflower is a long-time member at Oak Hill who has won the women’s club championship an astounding 28 times. She also won the WRDGA Championship twice (1982, 2021); the WRDGA Senior Championship (2008); the WGAWNY Championship twice (1987, 2005); and the RDGA Women’s Open twice (2018, 2021).

She was also named Women’s Senior Player of the Year in 2021, she has served as president of the WRDGA and Women’s Golf Association of WNY.

Diehl won the 1967 RDGA Junior Championship before attending the University of Georgia where he earned All-American status on the golf team in 1969. He won the New York State Men’s Amateur Championship as well as the Monroe Invitational, and when he turned pro he qualified for the PGA Tour, where he recorded more than 20 top-10 finishes in a career that spanned from 1973 to 1983, including a win at the 1974 San Antonio Texas Open – becoming the first Rochester native since Walter Hagen to win a Tour event.

Ferstler became a PGA member in 1982 and spent most of his career as the head Professional and Director of Golf at Penfield CC. A member of the PGA Quarter-Century Club since 2007, Ferstler earned many career accolades, including the prestigious Western New York PGA Section Professional of the Year in 1995, plus numerous victories in WNYPGA section events and in 2013 was inducted into the WNYPGA Hall of Fame.

Infantino won the 1967 the RDGA Championship at Ridgemont and through his long career in amateur golf, he has been known as a tenacious competitor, and that has carried on into his senior playing career. He twice won the RDGA Senior Championship (1995, 1997) before going on to win back-to-back New York State Men’s Senior Amateur titles (1998-99).

The longtime member at Locust Hill won many club championships, and he now plays out of Ridgemont, a nice full-circle since he won his RDGA title there.

The Wegman family has long had a special place in its collective heart for golf and that was most obvious in their unmatched support of the LPGA tournament that was held in Rochester until it left town after 2014.

Robert Wegman, Chairman of Wegmans Food Markets until his death in 2006, and his daughter, Colleen, as President and CEO of the company, were instrumental in that endeavor. Wegmans was one of the original financial backers when the Tour came to Locust Hill in 1977, and in 1998 it stepped up to become the primary title sponsor, taking the purse from $700,000 annually, to $2 million by 2009.

In 2010, Wegmans helped elevate the event by providing a $2.5 million annual purse as it became the Wegmans LPGA Championship, one of five majors on the Tour at the time. The event continued as the LPGA Championship for five seasons – moving from Locust Hill to Monroe Golf Club in 2014 – until it outgrew the Rochester community.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, he has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social. Sign up for his Bills Blast newsletter here:  https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast