As we look forward to the 2023 U.S. Open that will be held at the Los Angeles Country Club, June 15-18, we want to look back at 1953, one of the greatest seasons in major championship history. It was 70 years ago that Ben Hogan won three of golf’s four major championships. That year, Hogan captured the Masters, U.S. Open, at Oakmont, and the Open Championship, at Carnoustie. It’s unfortunate that Hogan did not have an opportunity to win the fourth major that year, the PGA Championship, due to an overlap in the scheduling taht did not allow him sufficient time to return from Scotland for the PGA. It was the only time Hogan ventured across the pond to compete in the OPEN. No other golfer won three majors in one calendar year until Tiger Woods in 2000. While the vast majority of people who have read about Hogan or even saw him play never actually Did Ben Hogan Really Win Five U.S. Opens? By Mike May had the chance to meet the legend. Chuck Ludwig, a Royal Palm Beach, Florida resident, currently the sales & service representative in southeast Florida for Nexbelt, did meet Hogan on several occasions at the annual Hogan Company sales conference, for which Ludwig was then a sales representative. When asked if Hogan would ever talk fondly of his competitive days on the PGA Tour, he, unfortunately, did not say too much. “His role during our national sales meetings for the Ben Hogan Company was to introduce the new equipment line and pump us up to go out and sell to the PGA golf professional customers,” said Ludwig. When asked if Hogan ever said much about his peers such as Sam Snead, Byron Nelson and Jimmy Demaret, he would say very little, but he was quick to identify South African Bobby Locke
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