This is Part Four of a series in which I am comparing the great golfers of the past to Jack Nicklaus, who is generally acknowledged as the best golfer in history. It is my contention that Jack's place as the best golfer of all time is disputable.
In Parts One through Three, I reviewed the careers of Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones. Today's subject is Ben Hogan. I will conclude the series with a ranking of the greatest golfers of all time.
Hogan's Stats
Hogan first turned professional in 1930 at the age of 18 and his prime playing years lasted until 1960. Hogan won 9 majors in total. Before Tiger Wood passed him up in 2005, he owned the second most major titles after Nicklaus's 18.
This is one reason he is often regarded as the second best player of all time after Nicklaus. (Bobby Jones is most often listed with 7 major wins, because his 6 other major victories were not modern majors and don't show up on most lists).
Rather than simply judge Hogan by his 9 major victories, we are going to look deeper into his numbers and legacy. Hogan played in more majors than Vardon, Hagen or Jones. He competed in 47 in the prime of his career, compared to 118 for Nicklaus, 43 for Hagen, 27 for Jones and 24 for Vardon.
Hogan is also the first golfer we've discussed whose career spanned all of golf's modern majors. Nonetheless, he was unable to compete in 4 majors per year like top modern golfers for a variety of reasons:
1) The Masters didn't start until 1934, four years after Hogan turned professional.
2) The British Open was most often played the same week as the PGA Championship. It was rare for players to compete in both in the same year until the 1960's. This may have prevented Hogan from winning the Grand Slam in 1953.
3) Because of ocean travel, the British Open was difficult to get to and was a financial burden for Hogan, who was basically poor.
4) Hogan missed 3 years of majors due to World War 2.
5) After his car accident in 1949, he played a very limited schedule. The only majors he played in during the '50's were the Masters and U.S. Open, except in 1953, when he played in his one and only British Open at Carnoustie. He won by 4 strokes.
As readers of my previous posts know, I consider it more instructive to compare these golfers by their career winning percentage in majors, rather than their total number of major victories.
Hogan won 19% of the majors he entered during his prime years, which is better than Jack's winning percentage of 16%. If he had competed in 118 majors as Nicklaus did and maintained his 19% winning percentage, he would have won 22 or 23 majors, not 9.
Early Career
What most sets Hogan apart from the previous golfers we've discussed is that he didn't win his first major until the age of 34. Hagen, Nicklaus and Jones all won the U.S. Open at the ages of 21 and 22. Vardon won his first British Open at age 26.
His first ten years on tour Hogan fought a tendency to snap hook his drives when under pressure. As a result, he didn't even win a regular tournament until 1940 at the age of 28. At that point, though, he caught fire, winning more than 30 regular tour events between 1940 and 1946. However, despite 5 top five's in majors, but could never win the big one.
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