This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/22/2013
Original 5 X 7 photo in fair condition shows Charley Penna driving ball while three playing partners, all Hall of Famers (Tommy Armour, Bing Crosby and Lawson Little) watch. The match pitting Penna and Armour against Little and Crosby was held at the legendary Flossmer Country Club on the southside of Chicago(under winter rules). As documented in a newspaper clip(copy which will come with this lot), Crosby shot 80, Armour shot 72, Penna shot 71 and Little with a 66 bested the course record of 67 shot by Bobby Jones in 1928. Jones had set the record while in Chicago playing ten rounds of practice in preperation for the 1928 Walker Cup. Back to the match, all Little (regarded by many as the greatest match player ever after 32 straight match play victories on way to back-to-back 1934 &'35 Brit and U.S. Am titles)had done that day was set the course record only to lose the match 144 to 143 net score to Penna and Armour. What a foursome, what a match, what an outcome! History all around this vintage photo.
This item comes from the Penna Family Collection. This highly successful and respected professional golfing family offers golf mementoes from the careers of brothers Toney Penna and Charley Penna, and Tommy Armour whom Toney and Charley worked under for many years as pros at Boca Raton in Florida and various courses in the Chicago area. Toney was a consistent top 20 money winner on the PGA Tour in the 1930's and 40's while his brother Charley competed in 20 U.S. Open and PGA Championships. We have it all from their storied careers in golf both on and off the course, including everything from contestant’s pins, to used sets of clubs, and prototypes for Penna's famous clubs. Toney is an icon when it comes to club making in the 20th Century, first with the MacGregor Golf Company as their chief of design and then later with his own brand of Penna clubs. Many of the designs of club heads used today were first developed by the genius of Toney. We introduce you to this extraordinary collection by offering various lots from the family’s collection in this special British Open offering. This is an opportunity to acquire golf history, possibly for the last time.
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