23 Golf Clubs Bring $1 Million at Sotheby's

A collection of golf clubs -- 23 woods and irons said to have been owned by winners of the British Open golf tournament -- brought $1,031,101 yesterday in a sale by Sotheby's in Chester, England. The price was the highest paid at auction for sporting memorabilia, more than doubling the $451,000 paid on March 23 at Sotheby's in New York for a Honus Wagner baseball card from about 1910. The golfing memorabilia sale was held as aficionados of the sport gathered for the British Open, which begins this weekend in Southport, 50 miles north of Chester. "Even without the golf clubs, the sale brought a record total for a golfing sale for us," Jon Baddeley, a Sotheby's collectibles specialist, said by telephone from the salesroom. The sale total was $1.9 million. The new owner of the clubs, an unidentified British corporation, told Mr. Baddeley that the collection would not be split up and would be put on display. The clubs were collected by Willie Auchterlonie, the Scottish winner of the British Open in 1893, and by his son Laurie. Both were club makers at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St. Andrews, Scotland. The collectors identified each club as having been owned by a winner of the British Open between 1860 and 1930. The oldest club is said to have been used in 1860 by Willie Park Sr., a Scottish golfer. The newest club was used by Bobby Jones, an American, in 1930.