This offering combines the talents of two individuals that were at the top of their professions as the "Roaring 1920s" came to a close. Walter Hagen was far and away the top professional golfer winning four British Opens in 1922,24,28,29 and his five PGAs, in 1921,24,25,26 and 27. In that stretch he became the first athlete to earn $1 million playing a sport. "The Haig" was a showman both on and off the course and had risen to be part of the in-crowd. It is here that he met Hal Phyfe, who was the top society and theatrical photographer of the late 1920's and 30's in New York. Beyond this Phyfe's work had appeared in "the American Golfer". Phyfe's career would continue to shine in Manhattan High Society possibly capped by his portrait in 1947 of a young Miss Jaqueline Lee Bouvier (the future Mrs. Kennedy). As to whom the woman in this photo is it is not known for sure if it is Hagen's wife, the former Edna Strauss or another woman that Sir Walter admired. What is known is that Hagen has autographed the ima in bold steel-tip fountain pen an original Phyfe photo (the photographers tradition was to sign his original prints with red crayon in distinctive squared letters, see lower left corner of photo) with an inscription that reads: "DEAR HAL - THIS IS THE BEST PICTURE YOU HAVE EVERY MADE HOPE YOU BELEIVE ME GOLFINGLY WALTER HAGEN. The back of this photo reads "Camera Portrait by/Hal Phyfe/50 W 56/508 Circle".This lot combines two areas of collectiabilty. First any signature of Hagen starts at $600 not counting vintage sigs like this one with detailed inscriptions. The second area is the collectiabilty of the renowned photographer/artist Hal Phyfe's works. This lot comes with a full letter of authenticity (certB56277) from James Spence Authentication on the Hagen signature.

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