Beating Ben Hogan to win a major championship is an achievement in golf that only few can say they’ve managed.
Hogan is one of the all-time greats and with nine major championships to his name, is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of the game.
However, like all the greats, there were times when Hogan was beaten and while his nine majors are impressive, he missed chances to get into double figures on more than one occasion.
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One such occasion came back at the US Open in 1955.
And this time, it was down a relatively unknown contender, Jack Fleck, doing the damage.
How Jack Fleck defeated Ben Hogan to win the US Open
Going into the ’55 US Open in San Francisco, crowd favourite and superstar of the time Hogan was looking for a fifth US Open title.
He went into the event as a big favourite and going down the last few holes and then into the clubhouse, held what seemed like an unassailable lead.
Furthermore, with big names out of contention, it looked like the title was Hogan’s, with the on-air announcers – including Gene Sarazen – declaring Hogan the winner and even congratulating him.
However, Jack Fleck had other ideas.
He made a birdie on the 15th hole to move to within one shot of Hogan and then going down the 18th, needed another birdie to tie the tournament.
Fleck duly obliged, rolling in a fine putt for birdie and sending the match to a playoff the next day.
On the playoff hole, Hogan suffered the ultimate nightmare as he slipped hitting his tee shot, found the rough, then needed three shots to simply get back into the fairway.
By the time Hogan got to the green, Fleck had plotted his way down 18 and made the simplest of pars to win his one and only major.
Jack Fleck’s PGA Tour career
This major win for Jack Fleck proved to be the highlight of his career.
He never played in The Open, and it took him another seven years to record his other two best major finishes as he finished T7 at the PGA and T11 at The Masters, both in 1962.
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Still, Fleck had a decent enough career. He won twice more on the PGA Tour after his US Open win, while he won twice on the senior tour and also had wins around America in other events as well.
Of course, that win over Hogan was the absolute highlight and ultimately, Hogan was never able to make it ten wins in majors.
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