He would, after all, like to film both professionals hitting iron shots down the first fairway. Not wishing to be unhelpful, Hagen and Kirkwood each grabbed a five-iron and began to fire away. Suddenly a group of Chinese soldiers appeared from the opposite direction running toward them with bayonets fixed! Hagen and Kirkwood prepared to bolt but were quickly assured this was merely simple playacting by Japanese troops. This was confirmed moments later as the so-called Chinese troops suddenly threw down their rifles and fled in mock terror under a modest barrage of golf balls hit by a bemused Hagen.
The purpose of the movie short was not lost on Kirkwood who guessed this was simply a propaganda tool to show the cowardice of Chinese troops. How could they face guns if they ran away at the sight of golf balls hit by a decadent golf professional, he later conjectured?
A few months later in June 1938 the Philadelphia Chewing Gum Company published a series of trading cards for an American audience entitled “The Horrors of War.” Showing the bayoneting of a Chinese peasant by a Japanese soldier at Hungjao Golf Course, a green with a flag in it could be seen plainly in the background.
Newly returned to the United States, Hagen never mentioned the match at Hungjao again and omitted it completely from his own autobiography. Kirkwood also had little to say stating only that: “We couldn’t become embroiled in the politics and economics of the various countries we visited to entertain. Our goals were to bring laughter, sport, and comradeship to people, and these objectives seemed to be universally appreciated ...”
The Greatest Show in Golf did for the most part bring “laughter, sport and comradeship” to tens of thousands of fans worldwide. That said, Hagen's reply surprised nobody when he was asked by an American reporter if he would ever take part in such a trip again.
"Hell no!” he said.
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