HAGEN DID NOT FIX PRICES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18451, 30 April 1928, Page 3

HAGEN DID NOT FIX PRICES.

HIGHER CHARGE WAS " AN ENGLISH IDEA, HE DECLARES. (BY WALTER lIAGEN). (American Professional Golf Champion) Money and the association of money with sport, constitute an interesting topic of conversation as well as a constant source of material for writers, and the business affairs of professional athletes are in many cases common propert}-. A great many people seem to be as much, if not more, interested in how much money I make than in how lowscores I make. I am quite sure that during the Dempsey-Gibbons fight at Shelby, Mont., the effort of the cowboy promoters to raise the purse was a better morsel for the public than the fight. The latest comment among golfers pertains to the announcement from London that the Moor Park Club will charge ten shillings, about two dollars and fifty cents, for my match tfiere with Archie Compston. The announcement adds that the gallery will be limited to 1500 for both days of play. I assume that either Bob Ilarlow, my manager, or myself, is being credited with a bit of finance, but we are innocent. Ten shillings in British gilt is four times as much as has ever been charged in Great Britain for any kind of a golf show, including the open and amateur championships. Golf Crowd) Increasing. The established fee-of the Royal and Ancient of St Andrews has been a halfcrown, or about sixty cents, and as l have already been blamed for a lot of things I never did do in Britain, 1 don’t want to take the brunt of raising the Royal and Ancient two dollars. This is the idea of the English promoters. Golf crowds show r a gradual increase at the championships in America, but they have never been very large when compared with those in other sports. This is indicated by the receipts taken by the United States Golf Association at open and amateur championships. The gross at any one event has never reached 12,000 dollars, although these events have been held in the large, t golf centres in America, with Bobby Jones and all of the leading professionals and amateurs, entered. 1 know one man who would be willing to guarantee the United States Golf Association 15,000 dollars for the gate at the open championship at the Olympia Fields Club in Chicago in June. He says this event should draw 50.000 dollars, and would do this if properly advertised. Applying Circus Methods. If this man could buy the gate, which of course cannot be done, he says he would spend 5000 dollars more in selling the idea to the public that the championship was open to all, that it was not for golfers alone, that all would be welcomed provided they purchased tickets, and that Bobby Jones, myself and other leading lights of the game would be in action and just as available a public eyeful as Tunney and Dempsey, or C. C. Pyle's stake runners passing through Arizona. My friend believes that with circus methods, the crowds could be more than tripled. Of course, if this did happen, it might interfere seriously with the play, especially if a great many people who knew r little or nothing about, the game should decide to attend. I imagine the United States Golf Association would not relish any larger crowds than have been attending, even if the association's bank account would benefit. It would be interesting to see what the results would be if a real campaign were made to get spectators from outside of the golf circles. (Copyright in all countries, 1028, by N.A.N.A.).