And Still Champion . . .

"The little man," said ex-Open Champion Lloyd Mangrum, "is the only one in golf I've ever feared." The little man was Texas Ben Hogan, hitting the comeback trail after a near-fatal auto accident last year (TIME, Feb. 14, 1949). After the first round of the National Open last week, Ben Hogan was trailing eight strokes behind an unknown, unemployed 26-year-old pro from Birmingham named Lee Mackey Jr., who had burned up the course with a record-breaking six-under-par 64.

As the second round began, the 165-man field was as keyed up as invasion troops on Dday. More than one old tournament hand had already come to grief along the tight, twisting fairways of the rugged Merion Golf Club course on the Main Line west of Philadelphia. A sample of the hazards ahead was the score-killing 11th hole, where a stream curls in front of the ice-slick green, curls back around the other side to swallow up any approach that overshoots the flag.

One of the first to blow was Rookie Mackey. Unnerved by his gallery of 6,000, he took a seven on the 4th, heading for a shaky 81 and a final tournament standing of 26th place. He was not the only one to go. Veteran Sam Snead had been losing stroke after stroke on the greens. "I'm puttin' as though my doggone arms wuz broke," moaned Sam. As the incoming scores went up on the huge scoreboards, other topflighters began to slip: Jimmy Demaret (149 for the first 36 holes), Al Brosch (151), Lawson Little (153). But iron-nerved Ben Hogan improved his first-round 72 with a one-under-par 69.

Hogan's real test came on the third day. Not since his accident had he played a full 36 holes in one day. With a grim smile, Ben went to work. The morning round left him two strokes back of Lloyd Mangrum's leading pace. In the afternoon, going into the final four holes, he needed par golf to win by two strokes. Tired and sagging, he could not quite make it. He missed an 18-inch putt on the dogleg 15th. On the 17th he lost another stroke by trapping his tee shot, settled for a three-way tie with Mangrum and Washington, D.C. Pro George Fazio.

But with that hurdle past, there was no stopping little Ben Hogan in the playoff. Rifling his drives squarely down the fairway, clicking off his approach shots with deadly precision, he held a one-stroke lead over Mangrum at the 16th, three strokes better than Fazio. On the 16th green, Mangrum picked up his ball to blow off a crawling insect. The penalty for violation of the rules cost him two strokes and his last chance to stay in the running. Hogan curled in a clinching 50-foot putt for a birdie on the 17th, wound up with another 69, four strokes better than Mangrum, six ahead of Fazio. With his second Open championship in the bag, little Ben Hogan was once again the man to fear.

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