Walter Hagen

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Walter Hagen
Nation: United StatesUnited States United States
Career data
Tournament wins: 52
Major wins : 11 (1914-1929)
Awards: World Golf Hall of Fame (1974)

Walter Charles Hagen (born December 21, 1892 in Rochester , New York , † October 6, 1969 in Traverse City , Michigan ) was an American professional golfer . With his eleven major victories, he was one of the most successful golfers of the first half of the 20th century and the pioneer of professional golf.

The successes

Walter Hagen won the US Open twice, was the first American to win the Open Championship in 1922 (a total of four times) and won the PGA Championship five times. He recorded a further 34 victories in North American tournaments - the PGA TOUR did not exist back then - and was captain (five times as active, once as non-playing) in the first six Ryder Cup matches. The fourth major tournament, the Masters , was not set up until Hagen had already passed its sporting climax. Instead, he won the Western Open five times, a tournament that was considered a "major" at the time.

Hagen is undisputed as the best player of all time in the Match Play ( Match Play considered). Between 1921 and 1928 he lost only one of 33 games in this mode. Hagen defeated Bobby Jones in 1926 in a 72-hole competition that was supposed to determine the best player in golf history at the time, with a clear result of 12 & 11 (that is, after 61 holes the match was already decided). The stunned Bobby Jones said afterwards: “ When a man misses his drive, and then misses his second shot, and then wins the hole with a birdie, it gets my goat. ”(German:“ If a man misses his drive and then misses his second shot and then wins the hole with a birdie, that annoys me ”) Indeed, Walter Hagen was able to his often moderate tees and fairway -Mending shots with his outstanding short game around the green and in putting he was one of the very best anyway.

Hagen was also a very gifted baseball player, but he skipped an audition for the Philadelphia Phillies in order to compete in a golf tournament. In the same week he became US Open Champion and finally decided on a golf career.

Walter Hagen (left) and Horton Smith in Berlin in 1929

The pioneering activity

Walter Hagen became a key figure in the development of professional golf in an era when the amateurs still had the upper hand. This was particularly true of Great Britain, then the leading country in competitive golf. In these times professional golfers were often not allowed to use the amenities of a clubhouse, and mostly not even enter it through the main entrance. At the 1922 Open Championship at the Royal St. George's Golf Club , Hagen rented a luxury limousine, used it as a changing room and ate his meals there because he was not allowed to enter the clubhouse. Another time he refused to take his prize in the clubhouse because he was denied entry before the competition.

Hagen became the world's first full-time professional golfer in tournaments and was also the first club professional in the now legendary Oakland Hills Country Club , in Bloomfield Hills , Michigan (most recently hosted the Ryder Cup in 2004 ).

With courage and tenacity, Walter Hagen fought for the recognition of the professional golfer status and improved their income. He may have been the first athlete to earn more than a million dollars in his career. Hagen once said that he never aspired to become a millionaire, only to live like a millionaire. Gene Sarazen , who was his student for ten years, said professional golfers should say a quiet thank you to Walter Hagen every time they hold a price check between their fingers. Because it would have been Hagen who made professional golf what it is today.

Walter Hagen died as a highly respected personality at the age of 76. One of the pallbearers was Arnold Palmer . Hagen was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.

The major victories

  • US Open: 1914, 1919.
  • Open Championship: 1922, 1924, 1928, 1929.
  • PGA Championship: 1921, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927.

The tournament victories

  • 1914: US Open
  • 1916: Metropolitan Open, Shawnee Open, Western Open
  • 1918: North and South Open
  • 1919: US Open, Metropolitan Open
  • 1920: Florida West Coast Open, Metropolitan Open, Bellevue CC Open, Open de France
  • 1921: Western Open, Michigan Open, PGA Championship
  • 1922: Deland Open Championship, Florida West Coast Open, White Sulfur Springs Open, Open Championship
  • 1923: Texas Open , Florida West Coast Open, Asheville-Biltmore Open Championship, North and South Open, Kansas Mid-Continent Pro Championship (shared with Joe Kirkwood, Sr. )
  • 1924 North and South Open, Metropolitan PGA, Open Championship, PGA Championship, Princess Anne CC Open
  • 1925: PGA Championship
  • 1926: Florida West Coast Open, Eastern Open Championship, Western Open, PGA Championship
  • 1927: Western Open, PGA Championship
  • 1928: Open Championship
  • 1929: Long Beach Open, Miami International Four-Ball (with Leo Diegel ), Open Championship, Great Lakes Open
  • 1931: Coral Gables Open, Canadian Open
  • 1932: Western Open, St. Louis Open
  • 1933: Tournament of the Gardens Open
  • 1935: Gasparilla Open-Tampa
  • 1936: Inverness Four-Ball (with Ky Laffoon )

See also

Web links

(all english)

personal data
SURNAME Hagen, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hagen, Walter Charles (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American golfer
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Rochester , New York , United States
DATE OF DEATH October 6, 1969
Place of death Traverse City , Michigan , United States