The Masters: Ranking the 25 most exceptional performances at Augusta
By Bill Felber
7: Ben Hogan, 1953 Masters, 274 (-14), Std. Deviation -2.60
1953 was Ben Hogan’s ‘Miracle Year,’ and arguably the best in golf history. Hogan won the Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open. We’ll never know whether he might have completed the only modern Grand Slam because the PGA Championship was scheduled that year to conclude literally one day before the British Open began, making it impossible to play in both.
Relentlessly steady plays set Hogan apart at Augusta. His worst score, a 70, came in the opening round, and was the only player in the field to record four rounds under par.
He failed to lead start-to-finish only because three players managed to record opening rounds in the 60s. On Friday, his 69 gave him a one-stroke advantage over Bob Hamilton. He widened that lead to four strokes – over Porky Oliver – on Saturday, leaving him at -11 entering the final round. In Masters history, no player had ever finished better than -9.
Sunday’s round was a coronation on the way to a breathtaking new record. Hogan birdied the second hole, then the fourth, to move to -13. He fell back to -11 by the turn, but still held a two-stroke advantage over Oliver. On the back nine, birdies on the two par 5s increased his lead to five strokes, and a final birdie at 18 put his new record at -14, 274.