A Tale of Two Visits
BY ROBERT E. HARLOW
Hagen's Victory at Sandwich Was a Fine Vindication of His Failure at Deal
From American Golfer 1922
HOSTS OF PEOPLE WILL SAY THAT THE CROWNING moment of the successful golfing career of Walter Hagen was at Sandwich, England, when he became the first American-born golfer to win the British Open Championship. That was a big moment, and one which will live always in the history of American golf. No other man can ever claim the honor of being first to do this thing, although they may duplicate the feat of winning.
There is a little group of golf lovers in America who think they know of a greater moment in the career of Hagen than when he had won at Sandwich. These were in England, in 1920, when Hagen, then the United States Open Champion, played in his first British championship. It was held that year at Deal, in the same section as Sandwich.
Nearly everybody believes that Hagen failed at Deal, and so he did if the merit of a golfer is to be judged alone by the figures on his score card. Hagen finished in fifty-fifth position that year, but to those few Americans who were there, Hagen can never inspire more admiration than he did as he trudged over the last round at Deal, a beaten golfer.
It is easy to take the applause of victory. It is easy to play the game when you are up in front, fighting with the leaders for the title; followed by the crowds and respected by all. It is great to be alive then and to walk with confidence from tee to green. That has often been the joyful lot of Hagen.
But it is different to be the American champion, representing American golf in Great Britain, and to be playing badly in the British Open Championship-so badly that there is no chance of winning-no chance of finishing in the money-no chance of finishing among the first twenty-five. At such a time as that the courage of a golfer is put to its severest test.
That was the way of it at Deal for Walter Hagen. Heralded as the "great" American homebred professional, the mark of columns of comment in the British press upon his arrival in England in 1920, Hagen went to Deal determined to represent American golf as he knew it should be represented.
In his qualifying round he had played well; so well that he had gained the respect of the British critics, and when he arrived at the sand dunes of Deal all were curious to see "the American." He carried the largest gallery of the day as he started away on his first round.
On the first green in two, he ran his long approach putt up within three feet of the hole.
He missed the putt and took a five against the par of four. On the second green in two, again he took three putts and missed the par. So it went; shots slipped away; Hagen could not get going.
A golfer, in order to win, or finish among the leaders, when he is opposed by the world's greatest, must be playing well within himself, hitting the ball without great effort. He must have the touch. Hagen simply did not have the touch at Deal. He had to fight the ball, and never in a single round did he fall into his real golfing stride.
He was never a factor for the championship, or for a place among the money winners. After a day which must have been a nightmare for him, Hagen finished the first two rounds with a score which left him far down the list-too far behind to have any hope of being able to catch the leaders. His third round, played on Friday morning, was no better. The big gallery which had followed him on Thursday, satisfied that the title was not in danger by the American homebred, turned their attention to the leaders, and on his third round the American had but few spectators behind him.
It was with a very heavy heart that Hagen went out for his final round Friday afternoon, British newspapers had already told of his failure and he knew that the cables had carried the news back to America. The American champion certainly had no heart for the game when he trudged out, a late starter for that last eighteen holes of the championship. The leaders were playing ahead of him, and the crowds were following them.
There was George Duncan, who was making a remarkable comeback that was to win him the title; Jim Barnes, the American, who was up among the leaders; Abe Mitchell, who had "cracked" and was no longer setting the pace; the veteran Sandy Herd, who was playing a great game and in a position to win when he bad five holes to play.
The American champion looked out over the Deal course and saw these great galleries following the leaders. He had often been in their place, for he is known as a great finisher and in more than one championship has taken out the gallery on the final round. But on that damp, cold, gray day at Deal, the American champion could be seen trudging along with none but his partner and their caddies.
There was Walter Hagen, American champion, pounding his shots into a terrific headwind on that wickedly long home nine at Deal, alone and discouraged, but game and finishing. At that moment he was a glorious sight for those who put the sport above the winning.
He realized before he set out on that unhappy and unpleasant journey that he could not finish inside the first forty players. It was the greatest disappointment of his golfing career. He was a beaten man, but to the everlasting credit of American golf and sportsmanship, the American Open Champion did not quit under the severest golfing fire ever heaped upon a player's head.
He demonstrated that he could take a beating, and see it to the bitter end, and certainly no golfer in the history of international competition ever was forced to take worse punishment than Hagen took at Deal. But he carried on to the end and played every dreadful shot until the last putt had been holed.
And after he had passed through the ordeal and knew that he had finished in something like fiftieth position in the field, behind a number of amateurs as well as a great number of unknown professionals, he walked to the official scoreboard, which was surrounded by strangers, and there he saw to it that the record of his failure to score well was set down for all the world to read.
But the wires and the cables did not record that when to have picked up his ball and quit would have been merciful relief and the easiest way out, when it was mental torture to keep going, Hagen stuck to it and continued to try-first to regain his stride, to find the touch which had carried him to the top in America, and when he could not do this, to keep trying just as hard and to play the game to the finish.
As Hagen walked away from the scoreboard he was dragging his bag of clubs, having discharged his caddie. Three American newspapermen joined him. Walter smiled and made some humorous remark; then becoming serious he said: "I couldn't get going. I didn't have the touch. I am discouraged now, but I am coming back to England. I hope some day to play well over here." Then he went to France and won the French Open from a fine field of many of the stars who had been at Deal, including George Duncan, the Deal winner. And last year
Hagen went back to England and tied for sixth in the British Open at St. Andrews.
And then he won at Sandwich.
But to those who love an athlete who is game and can take a beating as well as win a championship, Hagen never appeared to better advantage than he did holing that last miserable putt on the home green at Deal in 1920; not even when he won at Sandwich. .,
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| After finishing his final round at Sandwich, England, this year, Walter Hagen used a pair of field glasses to watch the rest of the field in their unsuccessful efforts to match his score. |