1983 Interview with Ben Hogan

[krupa]

I'm sure it's been seen many times but pgatour.com has a nice interview with Ben Hogan from 1983. https://www.pgatour.com/long-form/2018/05/22/ben-hogan-legacy-colonial-country-club.html

Maybe it was his advanced age, that he was talking to an old friend, or just not competing anymore,  but he comes across as much more affable than the stories about him when he was on Tour.

[iacas]

Thanks for sharing that. I'd seen the interview before a few times, but it is nice to revisit periodically.

[sofingaw]

Yes, very cool! Thanks. First seen for me.

[dbuck]

Thanks for sharing.

[fishgolf]

Yah, that's a cool interview, thanks.

[brocks]

On 5/25/2018 at 10:01 AM, iacas said:

Thanks for sharing that. I'd seen the interview before a few times, but it is nice to revisit periodically.

Same here.

One thing that was curious to me: when talking about playing the 1953 Open, he spoke as if playing the Open was what kept him from playing the PGA Championship --- perpetuating the myth that a scheduling conflict prevented him from possibly winning a calendar Grand Slam.  Maybe that's why the myth persists.

But the fact is that he would not have played the PGA that year no matter when it was scheduled, just as he didn't play it ANY year after his accident, as long as it remained in the match play format.  That format required the winner to play 10 rounds --- an 18-hole qualifier, an 18-hole first elimination round, a 36-hole second elimination round, and then 36-hole quarter finals, semi finals, and final matches.  Or maybe more.  The runner-up in 1953, Felice Torza, had some close matches, and had to go 38 holes in the second elimination round, and 39 holes in the semifinal.

Hogan's legs simply weren't capable of playing that much golf in a single week, so he skipped the PGA every year after his accident, until after it reverted to a 72-hole stroke play format.  A shame, because if he had been able to play, he had a great chance of winning.  He was clearly the best player in the world at that time.

And since I can't help myself, I'll add that the fact that the PGA didn't bother to avoid scheduling its championship for a different week than the Open, shows how little US golf respected that "major."  The Open had been played on or around the first week in July since 1933.  The PGA Championship was played the week of June 18 in 1952, and the week of July 21 in 1954, so there was no reason they had to play it the first week of July in 1953.  They just didn't care that it conflicted with the Open, because the Open wasn't very important to Americans, and certainly not one of the four most important tournaments of the year.  And the fact that Americans like Snead and Hogan could win it seemingly at will, as a one-off lark, indicates how weak the fields were with only a few Americans --- which was the case until the early 70's.