Hogan Shows World He’s Not Through Golfing Yet

That he was in Los Angeles at all was remarkable; that he went into a playoff for the L.A. Open golf championship was amazing.

Yet there he was, Ben Hogan, almost killed in a Texas auto accident 11 months earlier, matching Sam Snead shot-for-shot on the last day at Riviera.

Well, for 16 holes anyway. Snead, who shot a final-nine 32 for his third consecutive 66, needed birdies on the last two holes to catch Hogan at 280. The following day’s scheduled playoff was rained out and held a week later; Snead won by four strokes.

But the greater news was that Bantam Ben was back, and that was electrifying for golf fans, given the grim news reports in the days after the accident. He had multiple leg fractures, and just when it seemed he was recovering, a dangerous blood clot formed in one leg.

He survived, but doctors wondered if he’d ever be able to walk a golf course again, let alone play in a tournament. But there he was at Riviera, gripping his painful legs with both hands, grimacing as he walked.

Snead won the playoff easily with a 72 to Hogan’s 76. Hogan, for the first time ever at Riviera, didn’t have a single birdie putt.

“Unlucky day, Ben,” someone said.

“Unlucky, hell--that was just damned bad golf,” Hogan growled.

The comeback of Ben Hogan was yet to be completed. The following June, 16 months after his accident, he won the U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.