Ryder Cup BeginningsJohnny Watterson on three men who played leading roles in the development of the Ryder Cup
The prosperous, slick- haired, Al Capone look-alike in the left of the photograph is the legendary Walter "I never wanted to be a millionaire. I just wanted to live like one" Hagen. Hagen's overblown character was as big as his golf game and throughout the 1920s he stalked the courses of America armed with one-liners, an unparalleled sense of the theatrical and unwavering self-belief.
Of the three lugubrious-looking characters, Hagen was the most famous in his day. The doleful looking fellow to his left is Sam Ryder, the deeply religious, millionaire seed salesman from St Albans, whose first love was cricket but who became the person who formalised the competition with a trophy in the 1920s. The foreboding honcho, far right, who could have fallen straight from the pages of a Mario Puzo novel is the British professional George Duncan.
The picture was taken prior to the 1929 Ryder Cup in Moortown, England.
Duncan was Scottish-born and came from around Aberdeen. He was originally apprenticed as a carpenter and on his way to becoming a golf professional also turned down a chance to become a footballer at his local club, Aberdeen.
In 1920 he won the first post-World War One Open Championship, at Royal Cinque Ports, Kent, and played for Britain in three Ryder Cups. He took part in 1927, in 1929 and again, as a playing captain, in 1931.
Ryder, himself a fanatical golfer, first proposed a formal professional tournament between teams from America and Britain after watching a friendly match at Wentworth in 1926. He had no association with those first, informal meetings held at Gleneagles in 1921 but he was soon to build his name into history.
The inaugural Ryder Cup competition, at Worcester Country Club, Massachusetts, six years later, was, however, almost doomed before it began; the British team nearly failed to make it to the US because of lack of funds. Not for the first time Ryder, who lived until 1936 - when he was buried with his favourite five iron - dug his hands into his deep pockets to help the cause.
The team consisted of Ted Ray, Duncan, CA Whitcombe, Fred Robson, George Gadd, Aubrey Boomer, Archie Compston, Arthur Havers and Herbert Jolly.
Hagen captained and helped select the US team, which fielded Johnny Farrell, Leo Diegel, Bill Mehlhorn, Johnny Golden, Gene Sarazen, Al Waltrous, Joe Turnesa and alternates Mike Brady and Al Espinosa.
Hagen is probably best known to a broader, modern audience because of the portrayal of him in the Holywood movie The Legend of Bagger Vance. The plot revolves around a local-golf-course owner in Savannah, who puts up $10,000 for a tournament between legends Bobby Jones and Hagen. The town luminaries demand to have a local man in the tournament, so they recruit former professional golfer Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon), who quit the game when he went to war and spends all his time playing cards and getting drunk.
Hagen, whose mother was from county Antrim, died aged 81 in 1969. He was one of the first players to engage in psychological games with his opponents in matchplay events and used occasionally drive a Rolls-Royce right up to the first tee.
He was also known for having an incredible short game. If he missed the green with his approach shot and found himself in the sand, he would often instruct his caddy to remove the flag.
Early in his career, it was not uncommon for golf clubs to refuse entry to their clubhouses to pro golfers, and Hagen fought to raise standards. Once at a tournament in England, he rented a Rolls-Royce, parked it in front of the clubhouse and used it as a changing room after the club refused him entry to its locker room.
But his presence at tournaments generated great interest, and he commanded huge appearance fees for exhibition matches. He was among the first golfers to capitalise on product endorsements, and as an 11-time Major winner, he was believed to be the first athlete to earn $1 million in a career.
