Two legendary figures in the history of golf, Walter Hagen and Louise Suggs, occupy the third step on the podium of the greatest winners in the history of the sport.
Another of golf’s legends, his contemporary Gene Sarazen, said that all professional players should silently thank Walter Hagen for every time they have a check in their hands. “Walter was the one who made professional golf what it is,” Gene summed it up.
Not for nothing did he fight to elevate the consideration and status of professional golfers at a time, early in his career, when it was common for many clubs not to allow professionals into the clubhouse.
One of Hagen’s most celebrated anecdotes was when he rented a Rolls Royce and parked it in front of the clubhouse during a tournament in England to use as a dressing room after the club would not allow him to use theirs.
It was Hagen, who attracted large audiences to the tournaments, who began to charge significant emoluments for participating in exhibition competitions, and also the first athlete to earn a million dollars in his career. He was also a pioneer in charging commercial brands for advertising. Thus, he charged $500 a year for each club he carried in his bag during tournaments. And Hagen, who had a keen eye for business, carried 22 clubs instead of the traditionally accepted 14, so he pocketed an extra $4,000 for his cleverness.
Hagen, who was born in 1892 in Rochester, New York, and died in 1969, at the age of 76, in Michigan, was undoubtedly one of the greatest golfers of all time. His victories on the U.S. Tour totaled 44 and his Grand Slam triumphs eleven. Only Jack Nicklaus surpassed his victories in the majors. Hagen won the U.S. Open twice, the first time when he was only 21, the British Open four times and the PGA Championship five times (four of them in a row). The only one that eluded him was the Augusta Masters. He also won the Western Open five times, which at that time was also considered a major.
As was often the case at the time, Hagen left school for good at age 12 and entered the world of golf as a caddie at one of the clubs near his home, Rochester Country Club, where he would later work as a professional. The young Hagen worked in other trades until he was finally able to make a living from golf. He was, for example, a taxidermist and played baseball as a semi-professional, being invited to a tryout to join a major team, an invitation he declined in order to participate in a golf tournament. Walter won that tournament: he was 21 years old and it was nothing less than the US Open.
In addition to his sporting success, Hagen, who captained the Ryder Cup in its first six editions and ‘entered’ the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974, was also known for the glamour he brought to the world of golf. Walter was a real dandy who liked to look like a brush at tournaments. Proof of this is that he was the first athlete on the list of the Best Dressed Americans. His life was flashy on and off the field. He earned a lot of money and squandered it hand over fist. He stayed in the best hotels, hosted glitzy parties, and rented stunning limousines to travel to tournaments, even parking them near the tee on one. “I never wanted to be a millionaire – I just wanted to live like one,” he said.
Despite his excellent results, he had an inconsistent swing and his drives were not the best among the great golfers of the time. However, his magnificent short game fixed the possible mistakes of his long game.
Louise Suggs, One of the first stars
Louise Suggs was one of the first stars of women’s professional golf. Born in 1923 in Atlanta, Georgia, she showed exceptional golfing skills from an early age. Suggs won the US and British Amateur, two US Women’s Opens, an LPGA Championship and other majors. In total, she won 58 tournaments, including 11 majors. Actor Bob Hope, having seen Louise’s great drive, gave her the nickname Miss Sluggs (Miss Miss Missile), playing on the letters of her surname.
Only eclipsed by the popularity of Babe Zaharias, Suggs often won by breaking records. At the 1949 US Women’s Open, she set the one for 291 strokes in 72 holes, and won by 14 over Babe Zaharias. That record for strokes in four rounds stood for nearly half a century on the U.S. Women’s LPGA Tour until Cindy Mackey surpassed it at the 1986 International Master Card. Four years later, Suggs surpassed her own record. in winning the Tampa Open with 288 strokes in 1953. Only Tiger Woods, 15 strokes clear at the 2000 U.S. Open, has ever won a major, men’s or women’s, by a greater margin than Suggs’ 14 at the 1949 U.S. Women’s Open.
In the foreword to the book written by Suggs ‘Par Golf for Women’, Hogan wrote: “If I had to single out one woman in the world today as a model for any other woman aspiring to the ideal form of golf, it would be Miss Suggs. Her swing combines all the desirable elements of efficiency, timing and coordination. It seems effortlessly done. Despite her slight build, she is as consistent off the tee and on the fairway as any of her colleagues.”
Suggs benefited from growing up in a golf environment (his father, John, a former pitcher for the New York Yankees and Atlanta Crackers baseball team, owned and operated a golf course). Louis began playing golf at age 10, and as a teenager he won the Georgia State Amateur in 1940 and 1942, the Southern Amateur twice, the Western Amateur twice, and the Northern and Southern Amateur championships three times. He won the Titleholders, which was considered a major, as an amateur in 1946, followed by the US Amateur and British Amateur in 1947 and 1948, respectively.
With everything accomplished in the amateur field, Suggs turned pro and earned her first victory beating the record set by Zaharias in the Women’s Open. It was an especially sweet victory for Suggs, who resented Babe’s enormous fame. In a tournament won by Zaharias in 1953, Suggs refused to sign her card after Babe had been favored by a rule during the last round.
It was thanks to Zaharias, however, that sponsors became interested in women’s golf, and, with the help of golf promoter Fred Corcoran, Suggs, Zaharias, Patty Berg, Marilynn Smith and Betty Jameson helped found the Professional Women’s Golfers Association of America (LPGA) in 1950. Berg was the first president and was succeeded by Suggs in the position, which she held from 1955 to 1957.
Unfortunately, Suggs’ career came to a premature end as a matter of principle. In 1962, at age 39, she was fined $25 for not playing in a tournament in Milwaukee for which she had registered. She felt unfairly treated and never played a full season again. “She was at the peak of her career and in her prime when she decided to retire,”said Betsy Rawls, LPGA president at the time. “It’s hard for me to understand her decision. I would have paid her the fine, even though the money meant nothing to Louise. I felt very sorry for her; it was one of the saddest things in the history of the LPGA.””
Suggs’ last LPGA Tour victory came in 1962. The most successful year of her career was 1953, when she had eight victories. In 1952, 1955 and 1961 he had five wins per season. In addition, she finished two years at the top of the money rankings, and was awarded the Vare Trophy for the best season on two other occasions.
Suggs was the first player to complete the LPGA Tour’s Grand Slam with wins in all four majors at the time. Her eleven victories in the majors came over a fourteen-year span from 1946 to 1959. She won the U.S. Women’s Open in 1949 and 1952; the Women’s Western Open in 1946, 1947, 1949 and 1953; the Titleholders Championship in 1946, 1954, 1956 and 1959, and the LPGA Championship in 1957.
“They forced her to be a winner,” Ben Hogan said of Louise, “and she was.”
Suggs, who is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, has this to say about the sport that was his life: “Golf is so much more than a love affair. If you don’t take it seriously, it’s no fun, but if you do, it breaks your heart. Don’t break your heart, but flirt with the possibility.” For Louise, the The simplest yet greatest lesson to be learned in golf is that of mental discipline.
The LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year trophy is named in honor of Louise Suggs.
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