Ben Hogan would have been 100 years old today.
The Hawk was born on Aug. 13, 1912, just outside of Ft. Worth, Texas, in a suburb Stephenville. He won nine major championships, including a record six after the age of 36.
Hogan won a pair of PGA Championships, in 1946 and '48, the last coming 10 years before the year's final major went to a stroke-play format.
Five years after his last Wanamaker and four years after a car accident that nearly claimed his life, Hogan won three of the four majors at age 40 in 1953. The only reason he didn't take the PGA Championship that year was it conflicted with the Open Championship.
Hogan is a fascinating character - perhaps the game's most enigmatic. Along with Sam Snead and Byron Nelson, both born in 1912, Hogan was a part of a trio of players to define the professional game in this country.
There are countless books about Ben Hogan - many of them excellent - but the best read on his life is "Ben Hogan: An American Life" by James Dodson.
Dodson also penned a book about Hogan, Snead and Nelson called "American Triumvirate." Golf Channel turned the book into a movie, which premieres Aug. 13.
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