The Walter Hagen Story.

HAGEN, Walter; As told to Margaret Seaton Heck.

$2,000.00

Item Number: 82302

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956.

First edition Walter Hagen’s autobiography. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated. Inscribed on the front free endpaper, “On behalf of the “Haig” and myself, good golfing and good luck. Horton Smith.” Today, Smith is best-known as the winner of the first and third Masters. In 1929 he won eight titles. This was an era of expansion and reorganization for professional golf. The PGA Tour was founded in 1934, and Smith was one of the leading players of the early years of the tour, topping the money list in 1936. He accumulated 32 PGA Tour titles in total, the last of them in 1941, and his two major championships came at the Masters, at the inaugural tournament in 1934 and again in 1936. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with some light wear to the extremities. Jacket design by Guy Fraumeni. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. A unique example.

Walter Hagen was an American professional golfer and a major figure in golf in the first half of the 20th century. His tally of 11 professional majors is third behind Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Hagen won the U.S. Open twice, and in 1922 he became the first native-born American to win the British Open, and won the Claret Jug three more times. He also won the PGA Championship a record-tying five times (all in match play), and the Western Open five times when it had near-major championship status. Hagen totaled 45 PGA wins in his career, and was a six-time Ryder Cup captain.