PGA TOUR: Ranking the five greatest individual seasons of all time
By Bill Felber
Why it’s the best season in history: Although he was 41 years old, and still limited by the after-effects of his near-fatal 1949 auto-bus crash, Hogan was nearly unbeatable. In deference to his need for more time to recuperate, he played in only six events that season, yet he won five of them, tying for third in the only one he lost.
In short, if Hogan showed up, the rest of the field basically had no chance. The average standard deviation of a Ben Hogan tournament in 1953 was -2.42. Translated, Hogan at his average was better than 99 percent of the players he ever faced.
That’s not just a mathematical calculation; it’s literally true. In his six events Hogan faced 236 competitors who completed four rounds alongside him. Three turned in better scores.
At the Masters, Hogan beat runner-up Porky Oliver by five strokes, Mangrum by eight and Snead by 18.
At the U.S. Open he was six strokes better than Snead and nine better than Mangrum. In the only British Open appearance of his life, at Carnoustie, he finished four strokes ahead of Antonio Cerda.
Looking purely at performance in the majors, the average standard deviation of Hogan’s performance was -2.58. By that measure, in the entire history of golf majors, only Woods’ 2000 major season was better.
What can be said against it: The argument against ranking Hogan’s 1953 season among the greatest begins and ends with its depth. Sure, he was great when he showed up…but he rarely showed up. Of the seasons under scrutiny, the thinnest aside from Hogan’s was Nicklaus’ 1972…and Nicklaus made 19 tournament starts, three times as many as Hogan.