Why Ben Hogan Was the Greatest Golfer of All Time

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at Internationaled.org

Published: January 2, 2013

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The possibility of Ben Hogan being the greatest golfer of all time had never crossed my mind until a few years ago.  Looking back, it is easy to see how he could be overlooked by myself and many other fans of the sport.  

Jack Nicklaus has won the most major tournaments, with a total of 18.  Sam Snead has won the most PGA Tour events ever.  Byron Nelson has the most consecutive wins and wins in a season.  Tiger Woods won four consecutive majors and has 14 major titles in total.  Bobby Jones also won four consecutive majors, albeit in a much different era and two of them being amateur events.

Ben Hogan only won nine majors, so how could he possibly be considered the superior to someone like Jack Nicklaus?  Perhaps the best comparison to Hogan would be Sandy Koufax, who many consider the greatest pitcher of all time.  Koufax was relatively mediocre for seven seasons, then transformed into a dominant pitcher for five years.  His career was cut short by elbow trouble that had bothered him for two years, and frankly should have prevented him from pitching at a high level.

The story of Ben Hogan follows a similar path.  In 1930 an 18-year-old Hogan played his first professional event.  He would not win an individual stroke play event until 1940.  After finally notching that first win, he promptly went on to win three straight tournaments.  From 1940-1942 Hogan won 15 tournaments in total.  

He would not win a major until the 1946 PGA Championship, although the 1942 Hale America Open has a strong case to be counted as a major.  Regardless of any official label, the event in Hogan's mind was a major and it catapulted his game to another level.  However, World War II would prevent Hogan from playing until the tail end of 1945, and he would not play a major until 1946.



Hogan would go o...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Golf

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