'Secrets' and success: Tiger's 64th win catches Hogan
By Dave Shedloski, PGATOUR.COM Senior Correspondent
Possessing a firm grasp of golf's historical record, Eldrick Tiger Woods was surprisingly succinct in his assessment of one of golf's most iconic figures: William Ben Hogan.
"He could hit it pretty decently," a grinning Woods said of the man he caught Sunday with the 64th win of his career, third all-time, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.
That's it?
"Yeah," Woods said, still smiling. "What more is there? I mean, isn't that what you think of first with Hogan?"
He's right. It is.
But without a doubt there is so much more to the Hogan mystique: the struggles early in his career that twice sent him back home to Texas, the near-fatal automobile accident that prevented him from competing regularly after 1950, his legendary devotion to and affection for practice, which abetted his intensely private inclinations.
Above all, though, Hogan -- sinewy strong though only 5-foor-9, which earned him the nickname, "Bantam Ben" -- really could hit the ball. He was the steward of the so-called "secret," which he dug out of the dirt with manic commitment. His reward for countless hours of toil was 64 PGA TOUR titles and nine major championships.
He won four U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships, two Masters, and the British Open in his only appearance, making him one of five men to capture the career Grand Slam. In 1953, he won all three majors in which he competed -- the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open -- as part of a spartan schedule in which he won five of six times.
Of course, only Woods has equaled Hogan by winning three majors in one calendar year. And the only other player of the modern era to hold three major trophies at the same time is Jack Nicklaus, who won the 1971 PGA and '72 Masters and U.S. Open, and happens to own the next rung on the victory ladder at 73.
Hogan was born Aug. 13, 1912 in Dublin, Texas, the son of the village blacksmith. Ben was 9 years old when his father, Chester, committed suicide, and Ben sold newspapers to help with the family finances until he started caddying at age 12, for which he earned 65 cents per round. Byron Nelson also caddied at the same Forth Worth club. When he began playing, Hogan used his natural left-handed stance before switching to right-handed.
A taciturn individual who didn't suffer fools and had few close friends, Hogan turned pro in 1929, at age 17, to play pro events in Texas, and he didn't join the circuit that would become the PGA TOUR until 1932. Much of his early career, Hogan battled a hook, and he twice ran out of money and had to leave the TOUR. Eventually, through intensive hard work and trial and error, he was able to alter that hook into a controlled fade, and from there he began to control tournaments. He won his first title at the 1938 Hershey Four-Ball and his first individual title at the 1940 North & South Open.
It was only the beginning. After World War II he was the game's dominant force, winning 37 times from 1945-49, including 13 titles in the 1946 season. Among them was his first major, the PGA Championship. In '48 he won six times in a row, then the second-longest streak behind Nelson's 11. He was twice the TOUR's leading money winner and four times he won PGA Player of the Year.
Hogan's life and his career arc changed forever on Feb. 2, 1949 when his heroism saved his wife, Valerie, from serious injury -- and probably saved his life, as well. Driving about 150 miles east of El Paso, Hogan reacted instinctively when a Greyhound bus swung out into the path of his car. Hogan dove to his right to protect his wife as the truck smashed into the auto. The impact drove the engine into the driver's seat, the steering wheel into the back seat. While Valerie received only minor injuries, Hogan suffered a broken collarbone, a smashed rib, a double fracture of the pelvis and a broken ankle.
A more serious complication set in at the hospital in El Paso when he developed a blood clot. Doctors performed an abdominal operation and tied off the principal veins in his legs, preventing the clot from reaching his heart. Many thought Hogan would never play golf again. Undoubtedly, playing was difficult and he cut back his schedule drastically, never playing more than seven tournaments in a season because poor circulation caused Hogan to have to endure constant pain in his legs.
Still, he wouldn't give up the game, and eventually he would return to his determined practice routine. His remarkable story took a turn toward the inspirational when he won the 1950 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa. It was part of a remarkable run in which he won nine of 15 majors from 1946-53. He won 13 times after the accident, and he finished his career with 241 top-10 finishes in 292 starts.
The late Dave Marr, a former PGA champion, once said of Hogan: "He plays one game and the rest of us play another."
As Woods, who also seems to be playing a different game than his peers, joined Hogan for third place on the TOUR's victory list at Bay Hill on Sunday, it is instructive to note that the two men have precious little in common save for an affection for hitting golf balls and an abiding devotion to perfecting as many shots as possible.
Hogan once said that, "there are not enough hours in the day to practice all the shots that you need."
Woods, 32, expressed similar sentiment recently when asked about working on this game and being satisfied with it to the point of not having to work on it much.
"You're never there, no," he said. "I'm working on every part, every facet. You can't neglect any part of this game. If you do, then obviously that's going to become a weak spot."
Even later in life, when he could no longer play, Hogan still gained pleasure from just hitting balls on the range at Shady Oak Country Club. When Woods retreats to Isleworth, he is similarly engaged.
"You know, I don't like playing that much," he said. "When I'm at home, I love practicing, I love doing that and playing a few holes and testing my game that way."
Along with his record, Hogan left behind one other lasting contribution to golf. With famed writer Herbert Warren Wind, Hogan co-authored perhaps one of the most referenced golf instruction books of all time, "Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf."
Woods is authoring is own version of golf's modern fundamentals while emulating Hogan. Woods seems to have struck upon his own secrets. He has been digging them out of the dirt with a singular determination and steely competitiveness no one of this era can emulate.
Hogan wouldn't have said much, but he certainly would have approved.
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