Ben Hogan at Merion
Back from a near-fatal crash to win. Sixteen months after a head-on crash with a bus, Ben Hogan walked 36 holes in one day and won the 1950 U.S. Open in a playoff at Merion.
Ben Hogan, 1953: Unknown author, Public domain
The crash
In early 1949 Ben Hogan was the best golfer in the world. On 2 February, driving home to Fort Worth with his wife Valerie on a foggy road in west Texas, a Greyhound bus passing a truck came straight at their car. Hogan threw himself across the passenger seat to protect Valerie. That move probably saved both their lives, because the steering column was driven into the driver's seat.
He suffered a double fracture of the pelvis, a broken collarbone, a broken ankle and a broken rib, and later developed dangerous blood clots. Doctors wondered whether he would walk normally again, let alone play championship golf.
The crash came only months after Hogan had won the 1948 U.S. Open and the PGA Championship and finished as the tour's leading money winner.
Learning to walk again
Hogan worked his way back with the same stubborn discipline that had built his swing. He walked laps around his bedroom, then around the house, then around the yard. His legs remained painful and swollen for the rest of his life, and he wrapped them in bandages before every round.
Eleven months after the crash he entered the 1950 Los Angeles Open and tied Sam Snead after 72 holes, before losing the playoff. The golf world realised he was back.
Merion, 1950
At the U.S. Open at Merion that June, the final two rounds were played on the same day, 36 holes on foot. Hogan's legs were so sore that he nearly withdrew late in the day. On the 72nd hole he needed a par to make a playoff, and he hit a 1-iron into the green that became one of the most famous golf photographs ever taken. He made his par.
The next day he shot 69 in an 18-hole playoff to beat Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio and win his second U.S. Open.
Even better after
Incredibly, Hogan's best years came after the crash. In 1953 he won the Masters, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship at Carnoustie, three of the four majors in one season. A movie about his comeback, Follow the Sun, was released in 1951. His story remains golf's greatest example of grit.
He also wrote one of the most influential golf books ever, Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, published in 1957 and still studied by golfers today.
- Ben Hogan, 1953: Unknown author, Public domain
- Hogan's swing, 1950: Unknown author, Public domain
Text written by Shining Champion.
