Walter Hagen

Hometown

Rochester

New York

Year Inducted

1974

Inducted Category

Competitor

Birthdate

Dec 21,1892

Date Deceased

Oct 05,1969

Major Championships: 11

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

Additional PGA TOUR Wins: 34

1916: Metropolitan Open, Shawnee Open, Western Open
1918: North and South Open
1919: Metropolitan Open
1920: Florida West Coast Open, Metropolitan Open, Bellevue Country Club Open
1921: Western Open
1922: Deland Open Championship, Florida West Coast Open, White Sulphur Springs Open
1923: Texas Open, Florida West Coast Open, Ashville Biltmore Open, North and South Open, Kansas Midcontential Pro Championship
1924: North and South Open, Metropolitan PGA, Princess Anne Country Club Open
1926: Florida West Coast Open, Eastern Open, Western Open
1927: Western Open
1929: Long Beach Open, Miami International Four-Ball, 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

Addtional Wins: 12

1914: Pinehurst Amateur-Pro
1915: Massachusetts Open, California State Open, Panama Exposition Open
1920: French Open
1921: Michigan Open
1922: New York Open
1923: Long Beach Open
1924: Belgian Open
1929: Virginia Beach Open
1930: Michigan PGA Championship
1931: Michigan PGA Championship

Ryder Cup Apperances: 6

Wins in bold

Player: 1927, 1929, 1931, 1933, 1935
Captain: 1937

Awards & Honors:

PGA of America Hall of Fame: 1940
Michigan Sports Hall of Fame: 1955
The Memorial Tournament Honoree: 1977

Walter Hagen was golf’s greatest showman, a flamboyant, princely romantic who captivated the public and his peers with sheer panache. He was “Sir Walter,” and “The Haig.” Such is his legacy as the most colorful character the game has ever seen that it often overshadows what a supreme player he was.

Hagen was the world’s first full-time tournament professional. He won so often and in such lavish style that he single-handedly ushered in the era of the playing pro – who through the early century was clearly of a lower station than the game’s wealthy amateurs – into the socially exclusive world of golf. As Arnold Palmer, the other great democrat of his sport, once said at a dinner honoring Hagen: “If not for you, Walter, this dinner tonight would be downstairs in the pro shop, not in the ballroom.”

“I expect to make at least seven mistakes a round, therefore, when I make a bad shot, it’s just one of the seven.”

Of course, what gave weight to Hagen’s persona was his often underrated talent and never overrated champion’s heart. Hagen won 11 professional Major Championships, third only to Jack Nicklaus with 18 and Tiger Woods with 15. Between 1914 and 1929, he won the PGA Championship five times (four of them in a row, only the second time that has been accomplished in a Major Championship); the Open Championship four times and the U.S. Open twice. He also won the Western Open five times between 1916 and 1931 when it was widely considered a Major Championship.

Hagen is generally considered the greatest match player of all time. He once won 22 straight 36-hole matches in the PGA Championship and, between the first round in 1921 and the fourth round of 1928, 32 out 33. With a long game often made erratic by the pronounced sway in his swing, but with an incredible ability to scramble and putt, Hagen lived by the principle that “three of those and one of them still count four.” After he defeated Bob Jones, 12 & 11, in a 72-hole challenge match in 1926 –which temporarily decided which of them was the greatest golfer of the day – even the gentlemanly Jones couldn’t contain his frustration. “When a man misses his drive, and then misses his second shot, and then wins the hole with a birdie,” said Jones, “it gets my goat.”

Fact

Walter Hagen gave his entire £100 winner’s check from the 1929 Open Championship to his 16-year-old caddie.

Hagen had a model attitude during competition, one part bravado and five parts serenity. He understood completely that the only shot that matters is the next one, and wouldn’t let a bad one ruffle him. “I expect to make at least seven mistakes a round,” he said. “Therefore, when I make a bad shot, it’s just one of the seven.” He never complained about bad breaks, and, perhaps because of that attitude, always seemed to be getting good ones. “I love to play with Walter,” said Jones. “He can come nearer beating luck itself than anybody I know.”

It was all a natural extension of his overall philosophy of life. Born in Rochester, New York, December 21, 1892, the son of a blacksmith, Hagen came from modest beginnings and entered golf as a caddy, but he resolved to live big. “I never wanted to be a millionaire,” he said. “I just wanted to live like one.” Although an imposing six feet tall with slick black hair and covered in the finest fabrics, Hagen nonetheless had a kindly face and a twinkle of irony that invited rather than repelled the common man. His gestures were grand, but wonderfully human. When he won the 1922 Open Championship at Royal St George’s, Hagen’s reaction to professionals not being allowed in the clubhouse was to hire an Austro-Daimler limousine, park it directly in front of the clubhouse and change his clothes and take his meals in the car.

Hagen once expressed his creed in these words: “You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.” When he died in Traverse City, Michigan, October 5, 1969, there was no doubt he had lived it.

Walter Hagen was originally inducted in Pinehurst.