INSCRIBED BY WALTER HAGEN

HAGEN, Walter. The Walter Hagen Story. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956. Octavo, original half blue cloth, original dust jacket. $2200.

First edition of this golfing legend’s autobiography, with 24 pages of photographs, inscribed, “To my friend Gerald E. Rosenberger. Golfingly, Walter Hagen.”

“During an age when golf professionals worked strictly at a course for financial survival, Hagen made the precedent-breaking decision to play exhibitions and tournaments full time. Thus Hagen paved the way for young men to make their living not as golf professionals but as professional golfers” (ANB). The first golfer to win over $1 million in prize money, Hagen won five PGA titles (four in a row) and four British Opens. At a banquet in Hagen’s honor, Arnold Palmer observed that “tonight [this celebration] would have been downstairs in the pro shop and not in the grand ballroom, if it hadn’t been for Walter Hagen.” Donovan & Murdoch 19900. Gerald Rosenberger, the recipient of this copy, was president of the New York based Coro Corporation, leading manufacturers and distributors of costume jewelry and watches.

Book fine, shallow chipping to dust jacket spine ends. An excellent copy in near-fine condition.