Hogan,Majors and Hard Courses......

[Bob_Huntley]

In the Carpe Diem thread I tried to get an answer to the number of Majors that Hogan played prior to winning his first in 1946. Can anyone help?

That said, would it be true to say that he won three of these on probably the toughest set ups during his reign. Namely, Oakland Hills, Oakmont, and Carnoustie. I am not sure what scores won at Merion and Riviera, but it was my understanding that the USGA was aghast at how low he went at the latter.

[Gary_Smith]

Bob,

This doesn't precisely answer your questions, but I'm thinking Hogan played in a bunch of majors before his first success in the PGA.

Hogan won with 276 at Riviera, which set an Open scoring record. I'm thinking over-par won at Merion (287?), and slightly under par (283?) won at Oakmont. He conquered Oakland Hills in the final round with 67, but was over par for the 72 holes. (287?)

From what I have read, Olympic in '55 was a real beast comparable to the Oakland Hills setup. You are right that Hogan won at some real tough setups.

[Mike_M]

Hi Bob !

Ben Hogan played in 6 Masters and 7 US Opens before he won his first major.  I can't find his PGA results prior to his win in '46, but I'd make a semi-educated guess of 7 PGA's before he won - bringing the total to 20.

[Bob_Huntley]

Michael.

Thank you for the information. There is hope for Phil yet.

[A_Clay_Man]

During the commercial free Master's they had a list of how many majors before their breakthrough and I believe Phil just played in his 43rd major which means that if he wins the next one, he will tie Ben Crenshaw on the list.
I'm sorry I don't remember more of the other names and numbers on the list but these two guys were about half way.

[tonyt]

Even the luckless (both self-imposed and other) Greg Norman played the majors for 12 years before his second Open victory, and for 18 years before his brave and almost successful attempt against JMO only a few years ago. And not only did Crenshaw go forever, he waited over a decade for another.

Tom Kite went nearly 20 years from becoming a regular winner to US Open Champion. Phil is young, and has 10-12 years and 40 majors at least. I predict he'll win a couple!

Sorry this has crept from it's relevant thread. I'll shush now