 This is Jimmy Powers ready to bring you another story from the tumult and the shouting Hello fans. This is Jimmy Powers transcribed bringing you some of the never-to-be-forgotten anecdotes and stories from Grantland Rice's autobiography the tumult and the shouting Today we go to the first tee with one of the most colorful figures in sports golden age or any age Walder Hagen the Hague Sir Walder whatever the appellation Hagen handled it with the debonair charm of a Jimmy Walker another dazzling ornament of the golden 20s Walder Hagen through his golf and his color amassed more than a million dollars and managed to blow about every cent of it Now the inference is not that Hagen is broke far from it It was simply that Hagen like Ruth Tilden Dempsey and so many other top headliners of the dazzling 20s Could burn up his earnings as fast as they flowed in So with a bow to the spirit of granny rice beloved dean of sportswriters I pick up the tumult and the shouting Turn to the chapter of Walder Hagen and in first person tell you the story of the incredible man It was in 1912 while I pouted out my column the sport light that Hagen a young caddy then was pounding the fairways of the country club of Rochester in those days golf was still pretty much restricted to the exclusive social centers around Westchester County in Long Island Blessed with a pair of strong quick hands Hagen was trying to choose between golf and baseball as a career Extraordinarily keen at shagging golf balls on the fly or on the bounce young Walder caught the eye of Andy Christie the club professional Christie promoted the youngster to the pro shop sweeping and cleaning up But before long Hagen's hands were busy wrapping straightening and mending hickory shafts and burnishing iron club heads in 1912 the national open was to be played at nearby Buffalo and Hagen then Christie's assistant asked if he might enter not a chance replied Christie I don't mind giving you three days to go up there and watch and perhaps learn something But I'm not letting any 20 year old kid make a fool of himself in the fast open crowd When Hagen returned from his short sabbatical he told Christie, they're not the players. I had expected Hagen's first open competition was in 1913 at the country club in Brookline, Massachusetts Years later we met an all-time amateur told me about Hagen's entrance There was a crowd of us including McDermott the defender in the locker room when this black haired youngster came in and blithely Announced the name is Hagen. I've come down from Rochester to help you fellows stop Varden and Ray We met did the stopping but Hagen out scrambled and out scored every American pro except McDermott whom he tied for fourth place In 1914 I suggested I cover the open at Midlothian, Chicago the desk was Unenthusiastic although some 350,000 people were playing golf in America at that time Probably less than 5,000 of them were around metropolitan, New York Hagen won that 1914 open without any assistance from me All told Hagen won 11 national and international crowns a record second only to Bobby Jones He won the United States open twice the British open four times and the PGA five times Archie Compton the raw bone, British ear humiliated Hagen in a 72 hole exhibition match a week before the 1928 British open a stint before the Hollywood cameras and the subsequent boat ride had rusted Hagen's game more than he had realized While the British press chartled over Hagen's downfall Walter retired to a secluded seaside course where he went to work in earnest a Week later. He won the open at sandwich Compton finished third three shots behind The British changed slowly if at all but Hagen by his tact Department style and overall color did for the professional golfer what Babe Ruth did for the professional ball player After winning a tournament Hagen was often invited into the clubhouse where he was the picture of debonair charm The Hagen polish and unaffected ease was as real as it was apparent But he was not the pushy type and never sought an invitation With the then Prince of Wales tagging walrus footsteps somehow he didn't have to During the Florida boom in 1926 Hagen defeated Bob Jones in a 72 hole challenge match 36 holes at Sarasota and 36 at St. Petersburg Bob's nerves were badly shaken by watching Hagen's ball disappear into the Paul Meadows Only to hear a crash and see the ball come whistling out and land stiff to the pin on One short hole Hagen was 20 feet from the cup and Jones also strong was nearly 60 feet beyond the pin Jones hold his long putt for a two Hagen turned to the gallery. What do you think of that? He smiled? Bob gets a half after all then Hagen sank his put Hagen was the first golfer to make a million dollars in the first to blow it I was riding in a high-priced car with him in Los Angeles. He had a leverage chauffeur You see this car. He asked you see my driver. What about it? I replied just this I haven't got a dime not even a dime, but I'll still get by Had a golf club been the vogue when Hagen was at his peak. I doubt that he would have worn one He never had a callus a testimony to the basic correctness of his grip He was also old-fashioned about shoes until the advent of knickers forced him into oxfords Hagen preferred high laced shoes for the support. They gave his ankles. I Followed Walter and perhaps his bitterest match and certainly one of his greatest It was at Pelham, New York in the final round of the PGA championship in 1923 In a match play final with Gene Sarazan the defending champion Gene was then 21 years old and at the top of his game. He had just beaten Hagen in a challenge match This particular match was dog eat dog all the way in one spot Sarazan asked for a ruling from the referee Why don't you read the rules or can't you snarled Hagen? Sarazan missed the putt and lost the hole I'm glad I missed that said Gene. So when I beat your brains out today, there'll be no alibi Hagen had a 10-inch putt. He looked at Gene expecting him to concede it Holit said Gene. I'm giving you nothing but the works today Well, that's the way it went they finished the 36 holes all square They have the 37th with two birdies at the 38th Hagen hit one of his greatest tee shots a 290 yard hook that stopped whole high 20 yards from the cup with a shallow sand trap intervening Sarazan hit a wild hook and his ball crashed into a tree at the out-of-bounds mark The ball was finally located in a wheat field in bounds, but in wheat up to Gene's neck I Was standing next to Hagen when Sarazan played the almost impossible shot from the wheat the ball rocketed out and finally stopped 18 inches from the cup I looked at Walder He looked like a man who had just been bludgeoned He then popped his short approach into the trap at his feet and Sarazan won But this I'll say for Hagen he had won five PGA matches going into that final in the 1923 PGA He then proceeded to win in 1924 1925 1926 and 1927 he went to the final round in 1928 that means that Hagen won 34 of 36 matches from the greatest golfers in the world 29 of those matches in succession Hagen was the match play king and that goes for all time He had no equal when it was man to man before world war two during the open at Canterbury Cleveland I gathered such golfers as Ben Hogan Sam Snead Byron Nelson Jimmy de Merritt and others for a dinner I wanted Hagen matter of fact. He was the star attraction I asked Freddie Cochran the energetic manager of the PGA circuit swing to pick Walder up at a nearby club The anecdote is Freddy's I arrived and spotted Hagen in the bar relates Cochran Walder was wearing a handsome white shark skin suit silk shirt purple tie and the inevitable carnation in his buttonhole He was immaculate as we were leaving Hagen decided he had to have one for the road While we waited for our drink some old grad spotted Walder and commenced to make a fuss over him He had a tall rum drink with fruit in it in his enthusiasm He jostled Walder spilling the drink and the fruit salad all over him Hagen never batted an eye instead. He called to the bartender see here. This fellow needs a drink mix him another will you The same Fred Cochran also tells what is probably the most revealing anecdote about Hagen It was in 1936 Cochran's first year with the professionals as tournament manager The tournament was the Los Angeles open and Freddie was half crazy trying to iron out all the last-minute details He was walking down the first fairway when Hagen joined him Walter knew that Cochran was worried Freddie he said relax. Don't worry. Don't hurry. You're here on a short visit. Be sure to smell the flowers That's the Hagen philosophy and I'll give him credit He's lived it now for more than 60 years and when he gets around to putting down his life in words in a book He's going to give a lot of readers a bushel of philosophical chuckles Walder Hagen a great competitor a colorful golfer a great fellow and my friend and Now this is Jimmy powers transcribed and reminding you that next time from the Grantland rice story I'll tell you how granny rates his all-time pitchers until then hasta la vista