On this day in Hogan History: On January 5, 1948 Ben shot a final round 67 to win the 22nd Los Angeles Open Golf tournament, earning $2,000.00 at the Riviera Country Club, with a score of 275, breaking the tournament record he set in 1947 by five strokes. Ben’s winning score was four strokes better than Lloyd Mangrum and nine strokes ahead of fourth place Sam Snead. In the first round Ben shot a three-under par 68 to finish one stroke back of Jack Harden a 33-year-old Ex-GI from El Paso Texas. Bell Spiller also shot a 68 to tie with Hogan. In the second round over 10,000 came out to see Ben take a two stroke lead over Roberto de Vincenzo, Vic Ghezzi and Stan Leonard after 36 holes by shooting a one under par 71. In the third round Ben stretched his lead to three strokes by shooting a one-under-par 70. Bobby Locke of South Africa and Ellsworth Vines of Los Angeles were tied for second. Hogan shot an outward nine of 31, but finished with an inward nine of 39. The low round of the tournament was shot by Ray Mangrum who shot a 66. Ben held a three shot lead going into the final round and pretty much sealed the victory with four birdies in the first six holes. His only bogey in the final round came on the twelfth hole; the rest of the round was a demonstration of precision. His second shot on the first hole finished 18 inches from the pin for his first birdie of the round. He sunk a 12-foot putt on the second hole and a 15-footer on the third. On the eleventh hole he hit his 150 foot approach shot to within four feet of the cup. Hogan’s tee shot on the par three fourteenth hole landed a yard from the pin and he nonchalantly putted for a birdie two. Fog and twilight completely blanketed Riviera as the final threesome of Hogan, Lloyd Mangrum and Ed Furgol came up the seventeenth. Before each of their shots they walked up to the green to feel their way. Then they returned to their balls and played the hole blindly. Only the cheer of the huge gallery of 10,000 which included hundreds of movie celebrities and dignitaries, gave the threesome any inkling where their shots landed. Mangrum tried to catch Hogan by shooting a 67 in the final round, which included seven birdies and nine pars. He bogied the par-four eighth hole when his tee shot hit a tree and bounced off into a woman spectator’s lap. With this victory Ben accomplished four significant feats in the game of golf: 1. He won the $10,000 Los Angeles Open for the third time. 2. He established a new tournament record with a score of 275. 3. He turned back the initial threat of 1948 of South African Bobby Locke and the rest of the foreign contingency. 4. He featured an array of professionals and amateurs who attracted more than 40,000 during the four day of the tournament. Also on this day, Joe DiMaggio renewed his contract with the New York Yankees for the reported amount of $70,000, an increase of $27,000 from his last year’s contract. The one-year contract placed him in competition with Cleveland’s Bob Feller and Boston’s Ted Williams as the highest paid players in the game. Williams also received $70,000 while Feller, the highest paid player drew $80,000. DiMaggio was voted the AL’s MVP during the 1939, 1941, and 1947 seasons and batted .315 the previous season and was an important factor in the Yankee’s Pennant and World Series victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers. Pictured from left to right, Ed Furgol who finished in fifth, Ben Hogan and Lloyd Mangrum comparing their scores after finishing the final round together at the Los Angeles Open played at the Riviera Country Club on January 5, 1948
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 13:37:24 +0000
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