| Born: 13th August 1912, Dublin, Texas |
| US Tour wins: 63 |
| Ryder Cup appearances: 2 (1947, 1951) |
| Ben
Hogan's career did not get off to a fast start.
He had to wait seven years for his first win
after turning professional in 1931, and he had to
wait until after the Second World War to win his
first major, the 1946 US PGA Championship. Hogan
won the PGA again in 1948, and won his first US
Open that summer. Eight months later, he was
lucky to be alive. Hogan was fortunate to survive
an appalling car crash in February 1949. He might
never walk again, said the doctors, much less
play golf. They reckoned without their patient's
indomitable spirit; the iron strength that in
better times branded him as cold and aloof. By
January 1950, he was able to take Sam Snead to a
playoff in the Los Angeles Open. By that June,
sentimentally, improbably, he was US Open
champion again. Most remarkable of all was the
fact that he was a more dominant figure after the
crash than before it. Hogan retained his US Open
title in 1951, after winning his first Masters.
In 1953, he won five of the six tournaments he
entered: the Masters for a second time, the US
Open for a record-equalling fourth time, and the
Open at Carnoustie in his only bid for golf's
oldest title. While the early 1950s belonged to Hogan, 1953 was effectively his swansong, though he came agonizingly close to more championships, notably the US Open in 1955 when he was only denied a record fifth crown after a playoff with the almost unknown Jack Fleck. Ben Hogan's name, however, will be known for as long as golf is played. Into his 80s, he is still recognized as epitomizing the closest man has got to attaining perfection in golf. "If I miss one day's practice I know it; if I miss two days the spectators know it and if I miss three days the world knows it." - Ben Hogan |
 Ben Hogan - The indomitable spirit of the 1950s |