World Golf Hall of Fame Profile: Ben Hogan

It was said Ben Hogan had the secret. He may or may not have-it was not the nature of the man to say. But if one player deserved to have it-by dint of total dedication and immersion in the game's mystery-it would be Ben Hogan.

Hogan had a code: work, study, endure-that he never betrayed. The way he unwaveringly applied his code to achieving total control of the golf ball engendered a respect that surpasses that of any other player. When he won, it was completely deserved. When he lost, it was poignant because no man ever gave so much. "I always outworked everybody," he said. "Work never bothered me like it bothers some people."

Hogan's record just happened to be something of a byproduct of this higher calling. He won 64 tournaments, his first in 1938 at the Hershey Four Ball (with Vic Ghezzi) and the last the 1959 Colonial. He won nine majors and is one of the only five men to win the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA at least once. In 1953, he won all three majors he played in, missing the PGA because the dates conflicted with his only journey to the British Open.

Because he was the master of control, the U.S. Open was the canvas upon which Hogan did his best work. He won it four times: 1948, 1950, 1951 and 1953. From 1940 to 1960, excluding the championships of 1949 and 1957, both of which he missed due to injury, Hogan never finished out of the top 10 at any U.S. Open.

Hogan was born Aug. 13, 1912, in Dublin, Texas. His father was a blacksmith who died when Ben was nine. After moving to Fort Worth, Hogan began his life in golf as a caddy, along with Byron Nelson, at the Glen Garden C.C. Hogan joined the professional circuit in 1932, and had very little early success. Small but strong at 5-7, 140 pounds, Hogan was a long hitter who was often undone by a hook. He went broke twice, and when he was on the verge a third time on the eve of 1938 Oakland Open, he thought seriously about giving up. Instead, he shot a final-round 69 to finish second and win $380 to keep going. "I played harder that day than I ever played before or ever will again," he said.

Hogan didn't bloom until he found "a secret"-believed by some to be a weakening of his left hand along with the pronounced clockwise rotation of his left arm on the backswing-that allowed him to play a power fade. After several close calls in major championships, he won his first major at the 1946 PGA. When he won the 1948 PGA Championship in May and the U.S. Open at Riviera three weeks later, Hogan felt he was at his peak.

But on Feb. 2, 1949, a Greyhound bus crossed a center divider and crashed into the car carrying Hogan and his wife, Valerie. Hogan nearly died and suffered permanent leg injuries. Miraculously, Hogan won the 1950 U.S. Open at Merion in an 18-hole playoff with George Fazio and Lloyd Mangrum. "Merion meant the most," he would say later.

Even though Hogan played only a few tournaments a year thereafter, his best golf was ahead. In 1951, he won his first Masters and the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills. In 1953, he had his greatest year, winning his second Masters, his fourth U.S. Open and his only British Open.

He played his last official event in 1971.