The U.S. Open: The 10 Best Players From Each Decade
By Bill Felber
The U.S. Open: 1946-1957
Ben Hogan’s performance in the U.S. Open in the decade following the conclusion of World War II represents the most-dominant era of any player in Open history.
That fact is made even more exceptional by the reality that it was also the decade of Hogan’s brush with death.
In February of 1949, of course, Hogan sustained serious leg injuries in a car-bus crash. Many believed Hogan would not walk again, much less play golf.
Already a champion in 1948, he returned …to win the 1950, 1951, and 1953 U.S. Opens. He was third in 1952, and he followed his 1953 championship with second-place finishes in 1955 and 1956, one of those in a playoff.
For a decade-long stretch, no player can surpass it, not Jones, not Nicklaus, not Woods. The average gap between Hogan and the field during those seasons amounted to about two-thirds of a standard deviation, a statement only Woods – between 2000 and 2009 – can better.
Hogan did it on weakened legs against a credible field that included Sam Snead, Jimmy Demaret, and Cary Middlecoff.
Top 10 players of the 1946 to 1957 Era
1. Ben Hogan, -1.97
2. Julius Boros, -1.31
3. Sam Snead, -1.15
4. Lloyd Mangrum, -1.10
5. Cary Middlecoff, -0.96
6. Jimmy Demaret, -0.84
7. Ed Furgol, -0.56
8. Lew Worsham, -0.54
9. Dutch Harrison, -0.34
10. Ed Oliver, -0.29
Snead, who famously never won the Open but had three runner-ups, a third, a fifth, an eighth, and two 10ths in this 12-year window, still trails Boros, the 1952 champion.
Boros held his own in the Open against that period’s greats, finishing second in 1956, fourth in 1951 and 1957, fifth in 1955, and ninth in 1950.
In stark contrast with the 1930s, six of the top eight players on this list — Snead and Demaret being the exceptions – accounted for 10 of the dozen Open trophies awarded during the period.
Beyond Hogan’s four, Mangrum won in 1946, Worsham in 1947, Middlecoff in 1949 and again in 1956, Boros in 1952, and Furgol in 1954. (The final two went to a pair of longshots, Jack Fleck in a playoff with Hogan in 1955 and Dick Mayer in a playoff with Middlecoff in 1957.)