1950's Eastern Open Tickets, Contestant Badges, Program, Pairing Sheets - Rod Munday Collection

Bidding

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/24/2020

1950's Eastern Open Tickets, Contestant Badges, Program, Pairing Sheets - Rod Munday Collection

Maryland was home to the Eastern Open PGA Tour tournament from 1950 until 1962. The tournament saw winners Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead, Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum during this 13 year stretch. This offering is for 10 items from the tournament from the contestant Rod Munday Collection. There are three undated contestant badges, a 1957 Eastern Open badge, 1950 Eastern Open bag tag, all of these being in good to very good condition. There are series tickets to the 1952 (fair to good condition) and 1955 tournaments (vg condition) that saw Sam Snead and Frank Stranahan win respectively. Rounding out the ten items are an official scorecard from the 1950 Eastern open in good scored condition (through hole 12) and a 1950 Eastern Open program also in good condition. The mainly Baltimore, Maryland tournament was played at Mount Pleasant Municipal Golf Club.

Rod Munday Collection
A contemporary of Ben Hogan, Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead, and Paul Runyan, Rod Munday traveled the same proving ground as many of the touring and club professionals in a career that spanned over 50 years. His friendship with those individuals and fellow teaching professionals lasted throughout his life as a pro golfer that started in Northern California and ended in Pennsylvania. Rod competed in many pro tournaments including both the 1940 and 1946 Masters Tournaments. He frequently qualified for and played in the PGA Championship from the 1930’s through the early 1960’s, and competed in the 1934, 1935, 1946, and 1947 US Open. If a putt would have fallen one way or another, Munday could have been a golfer that was mentioned in the same sentence as the legendary golfers of his day.

Munday, a World War II army vet who received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, was the preferred teaching professional for many celebrities and dignitaries, none larger than President and General Dwight D Eisenhower. Eisenhower became Rod’s #1 pupil at the Gettysburg Country Club in Pennsylvania. Munday was just as much a personal friend to these larger than life figures as a golf instructor. Many of the leading tour players such as 1941 Masters champion Craig Wood, considered Rod Munday one of the top putting minds of the 1950’s. Horton Smith, Byron Nelson, Henry Cotton, Jack Grout, and Gene Sarazen all kept in contact with Munday over the years. The allure to play exhibitions at Munday’s clubs at Highland Meadows in Toledo, Ohio and the Country Club of York in Pennsylvania was there for many, including visits and fundraisers attended by one of his closest friends, Ben Hogan.

The Golf Auction is proud to offer the Rod Munday Collection, helping to tell the story of the man himself.

AUCTION CLOSING RULES:

Place your bids now as this auction will end at 9:00pm EST Sunday, May 24th with EXTENDED BIDDING to follow. All items that have received multiple bids in the auction will remain open until no items have received a bid within a 15 minute time period (at 10pm EST, the countdown clock will be adjusted to a 5 minute interval). Place your bids now!

1. You must place your initial bids BEFORE extended bidding begins in order to bid on the item in extended bidding
2. During extended bidding, you are allowed to bid only on items you PREVIOUSLY placed a bid on.
3. All lots that are active in extended bidding will close at the same time, and those with only ONE or NO BIDS will close at 9pm EST

**If extended bidding goes pass midnight ET, The Golf Auction reserves the right to close the auction at any time. We recommend bidders place their maximum bids prior to that time. Thank you**