"Sir" Walter
Hagen
Walter Hagen visited
Ireland on two occasions in 1928 when he was scheduled to play
in the Irish Open Championship and agreed to play an exhibition
match in Clontarf Golf Club and in 1937 as part of his world
tour with Joe Kirkwood, the famous Australian golfer and trick
shot artist.
Clontarf
Golf Club
On
Saturday 26th May, 1928 Hagen played an exhibition match <click
here for Pathe newsreel> over Clontarf's new eighteen
hole course. Hagen partnered Jack Quinn against Willie Holley
and Willie Nolan and was probably facilitated by Hagen's decision
to play in the Irish Open at Royal County Down the following
week.
Hagen
was probably the world's most famous golfer at the time with
the exception of Bobby (Robert Tyre) Jones, it was originally
meant to be a singles competition but because of the small turnout
and the weather, Hagen (who was playing for gate receipts) cancelled
the first match, between himself and Holley, and played in the
afternoon fourball citing his unwillingness to get drenched
twice in the one day.
The
Irish Times covered the match reporting that Hagen's very serious
facade deserted him when:
"...he
made a poor stroke..a cynical smile was visible, and occasionally,
when Nolan hit one with the wood well outside him, he would
watch the ball soar and drop and, looking down on the tee box,
would utter the one word 'S-h-o-t', taking longer over it than
others would over 'Oh! A grand shot.' " The better
ball figures were as follows:
Hagen, a born exhibitionist,
was surely disappointed with the turn out which, the Clontarf
Golf Club: A History (1912-1987) quotes someone as saying it
was "no more than a few stragglers"
Walter Hagen played
with Joe
Kirkwood in the North South Championship in the early twenties
at Pinehurst and after the tournament Joe was asked to give
an exhibition for the spectators but many of the professionals
watched on, including the "Haig". While there was
no payment for the exhibition the Mayor of New York suggested
a whiparound for Joe which earned him a "staggering $770"
which he recalled later in his autobiography: Links of Life.
Nobody was more impressed with this easy money than the Haig
and he suggested a partnerhship to travel the country doing
exhibitions. The "show" consisted of thirty-six holes
with leading professionals or amateurs in the area followed
by an hour long show following the matches.
In January 1937 Kirkwood
and Hagen set out on a world tour which with take in all the
continents in- season and last a year and a half. The seed was
set by Kirkwood when according to Hagen in his autobiography,
The Walter Hagen Story, Joe told him, "We'll pick up
some real dough, Walter, if you'll get your mind on golf and
do a little work.". They had toured Australia before
but this was altogether a far more ambitious undertaking. The
format was similar to the early days of the partnership but
was now reduced to a single round of golf on any given day.
Greenore
Golf Club
On
Sunday, 5 September 1937 at 2pm
Hagen and Kirkwood played an exhibition match against Joe
McCartney and John McKenna.
John McKenna was a professional at Bundoran at the time. The
scoring was in favour of the visitors with approximate scorings
of Kirkwood (67), Hagen (68), McCartney (70) and McKenna (72).
The match came down to the individuals short games as there
was nothing between them tee to green.
Limerick
Golf Club
Thursday, 9th September
1937
John Burke and Stanley
Martyn played the duo and came out victorious beating them by
63 strokes to 65. Austin Reid in his book, A History of Limerick
Golf Club recalls:
"It was a great
occasion requiring a marquee for catering, stewards, four forecaddies
and two off-duty gardai who were paid 10/- each to ensure no
one gained admission free."
Kirkwood invited Burke
to play a shot with a rubber driver which was part of his trickshot
routine but to the surprise of both visitors he was able to
hit a perfect shot. Hagen asked John Burke for a lesson on playing
the run-up shot with a four iron. This appears to have been
the on
Baltray
Golf Club
Friday,
10 September 1937 4 pm - Trick Shots and Lectures by Joe Kirkwood
: spectators 3/-
Over
two hundred turned out to watch Hagen play Kirkwood over eighteen
holes of the Baltray links with Hagen coming out on top by one
hole.
County
Sligo Golf Club
Sunday, 12th September
2.45 pm
Over one thousand
people came out to watch the Hagen/Kirkwood partnership take
on Cecil Ewing and John McCourt, the local professional. After
the match was a trickshot display and "illustrative lecture"
on how to improve your game. The entry fee was five shillings
for the men and half that for the women. Ewing gave a good account
of himself winning the first two holes but the vistors had squared
the the fifth but two more birdies by Ewing on the seventh and
ninth restored the home teams lead by the turn. However the
visitors had a one hole lead by the thirteenth after some brilliant
long putting from Kirkwood and Hagen then stepped in with a
birdie at fourteen and a chip-in at sixteen to close out the
match 3 and 2.
Derry
Golf Club
Tuesday,
14 September 1937
The
Haig and Kirkwood took on W.G. Robertson, the local professional
and North West's best amateur at the time James McKenna. Over
four hundred spectators show up for the exhibition in bad weather
conditions for the "princely sum of half a crown",
according to the City of Derry's 75th Anniversary booklet. The
match result was 2 and 1 in favour of Hagen/Kirkwood with the
three professionals shooting between 75 and 77 with Kirkwood
likely the better of the three while James McKenna shot forty
for the front nine and picked up on three occassions on the
back nine.
