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Cotton wrote in his book This Game of Golf that George “was a really
extraordinary putter at that time.” His own scores of 80 and 81
failed to qualify and he went on: “—I, childlike, worked out
afterwards that if I had putted as he (George) did and not taken any
three-putt greens, I would have even beaten his score.” Hagen was by
now in fine form and led the qualifiers at St Anne’s Old Links, in
what was then the Midland region, with rounds of 72,71 for 143. He
had played brilliant golf at Moor Park where he partnered Jones in a
4&2 victory over the pairing of Abe Mitchell and Cyril Tolley, a
giant of the amateur game, who was twice a winner of the French Open
in the twenties - the only amateur to win the title.
I think George’s injuries must have finally got the better of him
when the Open commenced at Lytham for he took 80 in the first round
and, despite rallying with a second round 71, lower than any of the
winner’s rounds, he declined into a share of 24th place with Joe
Kirkwood. If George and Charles had not had to fight injuries as
well as the course who knows what they might have achieved.
 Al
Watrous carried the form he had shown at Formby into the Open. In
round three he had a fine 69 and was level with Bobby Jones on the
17th in the final round. Jones’ drive finished in ‘sand waste’ from
where he played one of the most famous shots in golf, now
commemorated by a plaque marking the spot (placed there at the
suggestion of Henry Cotton). Jones found the green and got his four,
going on to take the title for the first time. Having suffered from
Jones’ miracle shot the unfortunate Watrous took three putts on 17
and finished second by one. Between the two rounds on the final day
Jones and Watrous left the course together to get a sandwich at
their hotel across the road. Jones had forgotten his player’s badge
and was refused re-admission to the course. Without fuss he went
over to the public gate and paid his half-crown, probably the only
time a champion has paid to get in. Hagen had opened with a 68, and
was to finish in a tie for third with the American Amateur champion
George Von Elm, who had beaten Jones in the final at Baltusrol, NJ.
The ‘Haig’ departed in an open-topped Rolls, tossing golf balls to
the crowd. It was the only British Open in which both he and Jones
competed. That year Hagen completed a hat trick of US PGA
championships when he defeated Leo Diegel 5&3 at Salisbury, NY. He
was to win the PGA title again the following year, for the fifth and
last time.
Eighty years later his total of eleven major championships was still
second on the professional title list and Bobby Jones did not
institute the Masters until after Hagen’s time. [It was finally
overtaken by Tiger Woods in the 2006 season]
The leading British players at Lytham shared fifth place - Abe
Mitchell and little Tommy Barber, then at the Derbyshire club,
Cavendish. With the Americans occupying the first four places, a
remark by Hagen’s caddie, Macfarlane, was much quoted in the press.
He said that the British “played like world beaters” in the
international matches but in their championship “they could not hit
a balloon!”
A long period of US dominance was now well under way and, four years
after Hagen had become the first Open Champion born in the USA,
native-born Americans were to win all four of the ‘majors’ of those
days for the first time that year. Fifteen days after his victory at
Lytham Bobby Jones won the US Open at Scioto, Ohio. In the second
round his ball had rolled over as he addressed a putt and he called
a penalty on himself. He considered the admiration he received for
his action to be misplaced, saying: “To praise me for that is to
congratulate someone for not robbing a bank”. Jess Sweetster was the
first native-born American to be Amateur champion, when he beat the
Scottish Walker Cup player A. F. Simpson 6&5 in the final at
Muirfield. At St Andrews all three of the major winners: Jones,
Sweetster and US Amateur Champion - Von Elm, were in the US Walker
Cup team that defeated GB&I, with Jones beating Cyril Tolley 12&11
in their 36-hole match.
The return professional match with the Americans was to be played in
the USA the following year and, as plans were made for that first
official Ryder Cup at Worcester, Massachusetts, (designed by the
famous architect Donald Ross of Dornoch), the players had assumed
that Samuel Ryder would sponsor the venture, but they were to be
disappointed. Having already pumped a great deal of money into the
professional game he felt that it was expecting too much of him. It
was beyond the resources of the PGA so Golf Illustrated launched an
appeal for the £3000 required to fund the trip to America. The
largest donation was 200 guineas from the Stock Exchange Golfing
Society; the PGA chipped in with 20 guineas and there were
contributions from enthusiasts as far afield as Canada, Australia,
Nigeria and even the USA.
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