2020 Virtual U.S. Open: The favorites to win at Winged Foot
By Bill Felber
Ben Hogan, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1953 (1947-1956), -2.01
Although no single personality can be said to have dominated the history of the U.S. Open, Ben Hogan’s accomplishments probably rank him as first among the favorites.
It wasn’t purely that Hogan won the championship four times, but the way he did it. After proving himself the game’s dominant player at Riviera in 1948, Hogan celebrated his return from his near-fatal 1949 car crash by winning the 1950 championship at Merion in a playoff made iconic by his 1-iron at the final hole.
One year later he defeated both the field and the notoriously challenging Oakland Hills Course to repeat. And in 1953 his six-stroke victory at Oakmont laid the foundation for what ranks among the most dominant seasons in golf history.
At his peak, between 1946 and 1956, Hogan achieved the seemingly impossible: his 10 U.S. Open appearances included those four wins, two seconds, two other top 5s, and not a single finish below sixth. For the entire decade (save for the 1949 tournament which he missed due to his injuries), Hogan failed to sweep the U.S. Open championships by a grand total of just 19 strokes.
His victories make Hogan’s U.S. Open record remarkable, but consider what might have been. On three occasions he came breathtakingly close to an unprecedented fifth, sixth or even seventh championship,
At Canterbury in 1946, Hogan three-putted the final green to finish one stroke out of a three-way playoff eventually won by Lloyd Mangrum over Vic Ghezzi and Byron Nelson, In 1955 he memorably lost a playoff to Jack Fleck at Olympic. One year later he missed a three-foot putt on the 71st hole that took him out of a potential playoff with Cary Middlecoff at Oak Hill.