WALTER HAGEN 6 In the 1920s Walter Hagen was the biggest name in golf He wore stylish clothes on and off the course He loved fancy cars He won 11 major championships And he is believed to be the first athlete to reach 1 million in career earnings But life was not always a party for Hagen He was born to a working-class family in Rochester New York He began caddying at age seven to help earn money for his family When he was 12 he decided to quit school and concentrate on golf So he went to work at the local country club Hagen became an assistant golf pro in 1907 when he was just 15 He played in his first professional tournament in 1912 He finished eleventh Hagen entered the US Open in 1914 at Chicago’s Midlothian Country Club He shot an opening-round 68 and won the title with a record-tying low score of 290 Walter Hagen left and his caddie as they prepare for the 1926 British Open
ano in
8 10 The number of cents per hour Walter Hagen made when he started caddying in 1900 Hagen helped form the Professional Golfers Association PGA of America in 1916 He went on to win the PGA Championship a record-tying five times This included a run of four titles between 1924 and 1927 At the time the PGA Championship was a match-play event During Hagen’s four-year title streak he won 22 straight matches Hagen also had success at the British Open He was the first US-born player to capture the British Open title And he won it four times In all he collected 45 PGA Tour wins Eleven of those wins were majors which was still the third-most in history through 2014 Hagen was instrumental in forming the match-play competition between the United States and Europe Today that competition is known as the Ryder Cup Hagen was the captain of the first seven US teams
9 WALTER HAGEN Hometown Rochester New York Height 5 feet 10 Birthdate December 21 1892 PGA Tour Victories 45 Major Championships 11 US Open 1914 1919 British Open 1922 1924 1928 1929 PGA Championship 1921 1924 1925 1926 1927 Walter Hagen accepts the trophy for leading the US team to victory in the 1937 Ryder Cup
