1953 Open Championship

1953 Open Championship

Tournament information
Location	Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland
Course(s)	Carnoustie Golf Links
Statistics
Par	72
Field	91, 49 after cut
Cut	154 (+10)
Champion
Ben Hogan
282 (-6)

The 1953 Open Championship was a golf tournament played at Carnoustie Golf Links in Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland. In his only Open Championship appearance, Ben Hogan prevailed by four-strokes to win his third major championship of the year.

Ben Hogan, already with The Masters and U.S. Open titles under his belt, made the trip across the Atlantic for the Open Championship for the very first time. He arrived at Carnoustie two weeks early to practice with the smaller British golf ball. A strong international field stood ready to challenge him, including fellow Americans Lloyd Mangrum and Frank Stranahan, Australian Peter Thomson, Argentinians Antonio Cerda and Roberto De Vicenzo, and South Africa's Bobby Locke, the defending champion. Stranahan set the early pace with a round of 70, with Eric Brown in 2nd with a 71. Locke shot 72 and joined Dai Rees, Thomson, and De Vicenzo in 3rd. Dealing with putting problems, Hogan had to settle for an opening round of 73. Hogan continued having problems on the green in the second round, but managed to better his score with a 71. Rees finished the round birdie-eagle to card a 70, giving him a share of the lead with Brown. De Vicenzo was in 3rd, with Hogan, Stranahan, and Thomson a shot further back.

In the third round, Cerda set a new course record with a round of 69. Thomson shot 71 to join Cerda and Rees in 3rd. Hogan was having an excellent round until he found trouble on the 17th, but he managed to get up-and-down from a bunker and salvage a 6. He birdied the 18th to card a 70 for a share of the lead with De Vicenzo. In the final round, Stranahan was out first and posted a 69 and 286 total, including an eagle at the last. De Vicenzo was unable to recover after hitting his ball out of bounds at the 9th and finished on 287. Hogan chipped-in for birdie at the 5th, then followed with another birdie at 6. He opened up a two-shot lead at the 13th, saved par at the 17th, then made another birdie at 18. He finished with a round of 68, bettering the record that Cerda had set that morning. His total of 282 was four-shots clear of the field.^[1]

Hogan's Open Championship title was his third major championship of the year, but he was unable to go for the Grand Slam as the PGA Championship conflicted with the Open. He never played in the Open Championship again, although he did make a lasting impression on Carnoustie. The par-5 6th hole features a split fairway, with the right side being safer but the left offering a better angle to the green. Hogan found the narrow left side in each of the four rounds, and that hole is now known as "Hogan's Alley."

External links

#	Player	Country	Score	To Par
1	Ben Hogan	United States	73-71-70-68=282	-6
T2	Antonio Cerda	Argentina	75-71-69-71=286	-2
	Dai Rees	Wales	72-70-73-71=286
	Frank Stranahan (a)	United States	70-74-73-69=286
	Peter Thomson	Australia	72-72-71-71=286
6	Roberto De Vicenzo	Argentina	72-71-71-73=287	-1
7	Sam King	United Kingdom	74-73-72-71=290	+2
8	Bobby Locke	South Africa	72-73-74-72=291	+3
T9	Peter Alliss	United Kingdom	75-72-74-71=292	+4
	Eric Brown	United Kingdom	71-71-75-75=292

"(a) denotes amateur"

References

External links

• 1953 Open Championship
• The Open Championship

This article about The Open Championship is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e