This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/9/2023
Arnold Palmer's 1958 Masters Winning Wilson Golf Ball-Gifted to Ralph Hutchison
The high end collector, no matter how capitalized they are will very seldom in there lifetime have the opportunity to add a historical piece of this significance to their collection. This is the type of item which no amount of money can usually be used to pry it out of a champions collection in the 21st century. THIS IS ARNIE's FIRST MAJOR WIN! Taking this excitement up another level is video footage of Arnie physically handing this Masters Championship winning golf ball to Ralph Hutchison! Arnie would be the one to take the ball directly from the bottom of the cup on the 18th green and hand it directly to Ralph mere seconds later.
Arnold Palmer Gives 1958 Masters Winning Ball to Ralph Hutchison on 18th Green
Who is Ralph Hutchison? How did he acquire this historically significant golf ball? Ralph Hutchison, whose great-Uncle was golf Hall of Famer Jock Hutchison grew up in the Oklahoma City area with Jack Grout (the primary instructor of Jack Nicklaus), although Nicklaus would call Hutchison "my second favorite teacher". Hutchison in 1931 became a golf professional and worked under Tommy Armour and Ed Dudley. When Dudley was named the first head professional at the Augusta National Golf Club, he took along Hutchison as his first assistant."Hutch" held this position from 1932-35 a time period which saw him meet Bobby Jones with the two becoming close friends. So close, that Jones recommended Hutchinson in '35 for the Head Pro's job at Saucon Valley in Bethlehem, PA. He held the position for over 39 years while still competing during his early career with appearances in PGA tournaments primarily in the Winter Tour.
During this time period he reunited to travel by car to the various tournament stops with Jack Grout and a third young aspiring pro by the name of Ben Hogan (confirmed by Hogan in one of his few later life TV interviews with CBS in 1983). In 1945, Hutchinson reached the quarter finals of the PGA Championship falling to Claude Harmon. This performance however earned him an invite to play in the 1946 Masters. In 1947, the Augusta National was taking the first steps to better keep fans in the know of play on the course as they installed the first field scoreboards. A conversation from the year before, at the Masters, between Hutchinson and his old friend Bobby Jones led to "Hutch" being positioned at the 18th green as an announcer. As the players approached the 18th Hutchinson would greet them, following up after they putted out with an announcement of what they shot for that day and for the tournament. He carried this position at the Masters through 1971 along with his additional tournament duties on the rules and pairings committees.
In addition to the Masters as both player and announcer, Hutchison also combined for this same unique combo at the U.S. Open playing in six events while serving the U.S.G.A. as it's 18th hole announcer at 15 other Open Championships. With all of this major golf experience, and personal relationships with the top players of the game Ralph Hutchison developed a sense for preserving the history of the game. This is bore out in the words of Jack Nicklaus from his 1997 autobiography page 105. Nicklaus describes his 1963 first Masters win, "As I'd walked onto the eighteenth green, the announcer there, Ralph Hutchison, had asked me to save the ball if I won and give it to Bob Jones. When the winning putt dropped, I just had to throw something, so I whipped off my cap and slung it to the crowd. At the ceremony a little later, Mr. Jones and I made an exchange. After he and the previous year's champion Arnold Palmer, had presented me with my green jacket, I gave Bob the ball. It was a small thing, but the look in his eyes remains one of the most emotional memories of my life." So Bobby Jones got the winning ball in 1963 from Jack Nicklaus not Ralph Hutchison, but "Hutch" got plenty of others for his collection in the same manor. It is a great honor for The Golf Auction to present to the collecting world historical Championship balls from Ralph Hutchison's days as the 18th hole announcer at both the Masters and United States Open. These include Ben Hogan's from his 1951 U.S. Open win, Ed Furgol's from his 1954 U.S. Open win, Cary Middlecoff's from his 1955 Masters win and Arnold Palmer's from his first major triumph at the 1958 Masters.(Please see photos attached to this lot which show Ralph Hutchison with Arnie/Winnie, Ben Hogan and Bobby Jones).
The relationship between Arnold Palmer and Ralph Hutchinson carries outside the realm of just Masters contestant and announcer on the 18th green at the Masters. It centers around Arnie's first wife, Winnie, who was from the village of Coopersburg just a short drive from Bethlehem, PA and Saucon Valley where she met the head pro Hutchinson as a youth. In fact Hutchinson was even a minor party to bringing Arnie and Winnie together in 1954 shortly after Palmer claimed the U.S.Amateur title that year. From that victory and the desire to marry Winnie, Palmer would shortly turn professional to support his new family. One of his first moves in turning pro was to sign a standard contract amounting to $5,000 per year as a base, plus $2,000 signing bonus with Wilson Sporting Goods to play their equipment which included his golf ball. It is this contract which led to Arnie using the Wilson Staff #5 ball (which displays consistent patterns of on course use) during his 1958 Masters triumph. This relationship with Wilson also led to Palmer in reviewing the '58 Masters on page 140 of his autobiography "A Golfers Life" to write, "A group of us, including several people from Wilson Sporting Goods, drove downtown for an important victory dinner".
The Championship ball used by Arnie in the 1958 Masters bears the penning of "Palmer","58", "Masters" along with a stain from years of display mounting.
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