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Walter Hagen

In life, said Walter Hagen, one should always take time "to smell the flowers along the way" - and he did. He said he never wanted to be a millionaire, he just wanted to live like one - and he did. He was a showman, a great golfer, and a tremendous matchplayer. He won 11 major tournaments, including four consecutive USPGA titles from 1924 to 1927, and he completely altered the status of the golf professional in society.

When Francis Ouimet won the US Open from Vardon and Ray in 1913, Walter Hagen, almost unnoticed, was in fourth place. The next year he made his mark, winning the Open at the Midlothian, Chicago, starting with a record round of 68. He won again in 1919, iimmediately after World War I

Hagen was born in Rocester, New York, on December 21, 1892 and died in 1969. He was ambitious to succeed on the other side of the Atlantic, however, although British snobbery did not appeal to him. When he arrived in Deal for the 1920 Open Championship, he was not allowed into the clubhouse. No professional was.

So Hagen hired a Daimler, a chauffeur, and a footman, parked the Daimler outside the clubhouse front door, and had his footman waiting for him and his gear each day as he arrived at the 18th. He finished 53rd, but that did not worry him. He had made his point.

It was this assertive spirit that his friend Gene Sarazen was remembering when he wrote: "All the professionals who have a chance to go after the big money today should say a silent thanks to Walter each time they stretch a check between their fingers. It was Walter who made professional golf what it is."

Although he won the French Open that year, Hagen returned from Europe flat broke. He borrowed the taxi fare from the docks to the Delmonico Hotel, rented the best suite, ordered a case of Scotch and $500 to be sent up, and relaxed. "A couple of tournaments and he was back in the black," Sarazen reported. Hagen simply refused to allow any worries to disturb his relaxation. In 1921 he returned to challenge for the British Open at St. Andrews, coming in sixth. In 1922 he won at Sandwich. In 1923 he lost by one stroke at Troon to Arthur Havers. In 1924 he won again at Hoylake. He did not cross the Atlantic in 1925, but in 1926 he was third behind Bobby Jones and Al Watrous at Lytham. After another year away, he was Open Champion again both at Sandwich in 1928 and at Muirfield in 1929. It was a truly remarkable record of success.

Hagen was a showman, but he meant business. At Troon in 1923 he had whittled away at Havers's lead and arrived at the 72nd hole needing a birdie to tie. He hit his approach shot into a bunker, looked over the situation, and just failed to sink his bunker shot.

In 1926 at Lytham, needing an eagle to tie with Bobby Jones, he walked up to the green before playing his second, surveyed the green, and then asked the referee if he would kindly have the pin removed. He played a beautiful second that finished only a couple of feet from the hole. Despite his successes in the British and US Opens, however, Hagen's main strength was at matchplay. When the USPGA Championship was a match-play event, Walter won in 1921, beating Jim Barnes three and two. In the 1923 final at Pelham, he lost to Gene Sarazen at the 38th hole. Then he beat Jim Barnes again in 1924, Bill Mehlhorn in 1925, Leo Diegel in 1926, and Joe Turnesa in 1927.

Hagen may have been flamboyant, but he was a true gentleman. In 1928 he was beaten 18-and-17 by Archie Compston in a 72-hole match at Moor Park. His own story of that match shows only admiration for Compston. "His every shot was masterful," he wrote later in his autobiography, The Walter Hagen Story. "He gave me the worst beating of my career, and I had only one statement to make to the British press: `When you are laid out good and flat, you must not squawk!'"

Hagen's golf swing reflected his attitude to life: it was totally tension-free. He might have been a first-class baseball player instead of a champion golfer, and this may have accounted for his wide stance and swaying backswing when he drove. He wanted distance, wherever the ball went. If it went into the woods, he would play out of them. When the ball was on the green, he would probably sink the putt. (It was Walter Hagen who showed the legendary Bobby Locke how to putt.) He used an extremely light grip, making a full, free swing with his arms, and he kept his head very still indeed.

Bobby Jones once said that he loved to play golf with Hagen: "He goes along chin up, smiling away, never grousing about his luck, playing the ball as he finds it." In the 1924 British Open, Hagen started with a 77. "That would have crushed a less gallant spirit," commented Sarazen. It did not crush Hagen. He won.

Who Was The Better Player?

Two greats towered over golf in the 1920s. But Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones could hardly have been more different. Hagen came from a working-class background in upstate New York, Jones from the country-club set in Atlanta. Hagen was a professional, Jones an amateur. Hagen was a showman; Jones let his clubs do the talking. Hagen was no stylist, but could recover from trouble like no one else; Jones had a pure swing that kept him out of trouble most of the time.

But as far as which was the better golfer, comparisons are both difficult and tantalizing because their golf worlds didn't intersect often. That's one reason there was a specially arranged match between the two in 1926, referred to at the time as the Unofficial World's Championship of Golf. It was no contest: Hagen won the 72-hole match play event, played on consecutive Sundays, by a 12-and-11 margin.

Officially, the main competition between the two occurred mainly in the U.S. Open, where the results were lopsided in Jones' favor: In the 11 Opens in which both played, Jones finished ahead of Hagen nine times. During that stretch, from 1920 to 1930, Jones won four Opens, while Hagen never won an Open with Jones in the field. Hagen won four British Opens and Jones three, but in those days of long transatlantic sea voyages, they played in the same British Open only twice (a 1-1 split).

The pair's other main accomplishments came in forums in which they couldn't face each other. Jones won five U.S. Amateurs and one British Amateur; Hagen captured five PGA Championships. There, Hagen must receive the edge - while interest in the amateur game was great in those days, the pros clearly were better players.

Still, Jones receives the verdict of history, which has placed him in the Pantheon along with Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and now Tiger Woods. Jones' lofty position owes much to his Grand Slam in 1930. In truth, Jones deserves the nod over Hagen based on his clear superiority in the U.S. Open over a decade, which trumps Hagen's head-to-head win in a one-time, unofficial event.

The matter was sealed at the 1930 U.S. Open, where Jones came in with the first two legs of the Grand Slam and had all the professionals gunning for him. Before the championship, Hagen stated, "It is the field against one man - Bobby Jones:" And Jones won.

Still, history has not done right by Hagen the player, whose on-course accomplishments are overshadowed by his flamboyance, as well as his feats of elevating the social status of the professional and popularizing professional golf to the point where an organized tour emerged.

Hagen's four consecutive PGAs is nearly the equal of Jones' Grand Slam. He won the 1914 and '19 U.S. Opens before Jones came on the scene and stands tied with Woods for second in professional majors with 11 (through the 2006 British Open), although his career was nearly over by the time the Masters started. If Jones wins the verdict over Hagen, it's also true that Hagen is the most overlooked great player of all time.

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