Walter Hagen

📍Brighton, NY 14618, USA

“I was born in December 1892, the only son among the five children of William Hagen, a blacksmith and millwright in the railway-car shops of Rochester, New York, and his wife, Louisa. We lived in Corbett's Glen, in the town of Brighton, on the edge of Rochester, a working-class neighbourhood near the creek and the woods, and money was always short. From about the age of seven I caddied at the Country Club of Rochester, just across the fields, earning ten cents a round and the occasional five-cent tip, which helped my family. Caddies could only play at quiet times, but I played every chance I got, and the club's head professional, Alfred Ricketts, took me under his wing. The story goes that at twelve, seeing golfers carrying their own bags past my classroom, I climbed out of the window and ran to the clubhouse, and that was the end of my schooling. By my mid-teens I was giving lessons and working in the pro shop. I was also a fine baseball pitcher, good enough to be offered a tryout with the Philadelphia Phillies. In 1914 I chose golf over the Phillies and won the US Open. I went on to win eleven majors, including five PGA Championships and four Open Championships, and I helped make the golf professional a respected figure, insisting that we be allowed into clubhouses. People called me the Haig, and I lived well and dressed sharply. Rochester remembers me as its greatest sporting son.”

Sources: whec.com nysga.org Wikipedia: Walter Hagen