Ben Hogan

Ben Hogan, still representing the Hershey (Pa.) Country Club, rose to more great heights at the Oakland Hills Country Club. The revamped course was perhaps as difficult as any on which the Open had been played. Hogan already had won in both of his last two tries. Despite Willie Anderson's record in the early days, the law of averages seemed against him. His first two rounds left him five strokes off the pace.

Yet Hogan tamed course, fellow-competitors and the law of averages with 76-73-71-67-287, seven over par, to lead Clayton Heafner by two strokes. The 67 he considered his greatest single round to that time, and he made it by playing the last nine in 32. The only other sub-par round of the Championship was Heafner's closing 69. From the standpoint of attendance, this was the most successful in the series, and the entry, too, rose to a new high of 1,511.