{"id":229952,"date":"2021-03-01T11:32:51","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T11:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/nearly-driven-to-disaster-tiger-woods-ben-hogan\/"},"modified":"2024-06-05T17:39:15","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T17:39:15","slug":"nearly-driven-to-disaster-tiger-woods-ben-hogan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/nearly-driven-to-disaster-tiger-woods-ben-hogan\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly driven to disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"607\" src=\"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/memorial-tournament-day4_woods.jpg\" alt=\"Nearly driven to disaster - Tiger Woods &amp; Ben Hogan\" class=\"wp-image-191223\" \/><figcaption>(AP Photo\/Jay LaPrete)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><br>First he drove into a fire hydrant (2009). Then he was arrested after being found asleep in his car with an almighty cocktail of painkillers in his system (2017). Last week he nearly killed himself in a crash. One wonders if Tiger Woods has ever contemplated hiring a chauffeur?<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><br>The main thing is that he didn\u2019t kill himself, or anyone else, last week in that terrifying incident on the roads of Los Angeles. Both of those things could have very easily happened. The police were plain it was close to miraculous that he was able to be removed from his vehicle alive. Rory McIlroy was plain that thinking about golf in the context of Tiger was \u201cnot on the map\u201d right now; the most important matter was that his two children had not lost their father. Very true. But this a column about golf, so here we go.<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div align=\"center\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"da\">For Tiger &#x2764;&#xfe0f; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9sMqbOIUoS\">pic.twitter.com\/9sMqbOIUoS<\/a><\/p>\u2014 PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PGATOUR\/status\/1366194510628347904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 1, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote>  <\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Of course, in the immediate aftermath of the crash, the newspapers and assorted media were not only going on about Woods and golf. They had the chance to resurrect all the lurid stories that had spilled out about his extra-marital \u2018relationships\u2019 after he had driven into that infamous fire hydrant near his Florida home over a decade ago. They grabbed that opportunity with all the alacrity of a golfer being offered a gimme In the Ryder Cup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was also,\ninevitably, reference to Ben Hogan. Tiger\u2019s crash occurred in the last week of\nFebruary 2021. In the first week of February 1949, Ben Hogan was almost killed\nwhen his Cadillac (also the make of the car in question when Tiger totalled the\nhydrant) was hit by a bus which was in the process of trying to overtake a\ntruck near El Paso, Texas. Hogan\u2019s life was likely saved because he threw his\nbody across that of his wife in an effort to protect her from the impending\nimpact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>As will be the case with\nWoods, the first concern of the doctors was to ensure Hogan would be able to\nwalk properly in due course. However, the <em>New\nYork Times<\/em> reported the next day: \u201cThe physicians expressed confidence that\nHogan would be able to play golf again, but would not venture a guess as to\nwhen.\u201d George Schneiter, the PGA tournament chairman, said: \u201cWe are praying\nthat his injuries will not be permanent. The loss of Hogan in the tournament\nworld could leave a gap that would be extremely difficult to fill.\u201d That could\nbe said about Woods today, even though everyone knows he cannot go on forever.\nHe is 45 after all, car crash or no car crash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hogan was 36 at the time of his accident. In June 1950, he won the US Open, the first of six major championships he would claim after his fortunate escape. I think we can rule out a similar renaissance from Tiger<a href=\"\/a-tighter-rein-golf-distance-insight-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\". (opens in a new tab)\">.<\/a> There is, though, one overlap between them. At the time of his crash, Hogan was the US Open champion. He had won it the previous summer at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles\u2026 the very course where Tiger had spent the weekend before his accident being tournament host at the Genesis Invitational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><br><strong><em>You can follow Robert Green on Twitter @robrtgreen and enjoy his other blog&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/f-factors.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">f-factors.com<\/a> plus you can read more by him on golf at robertgreengolf.com<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Crash inevitably brings to mind Ben Hogan&#8217;s in 1949<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":191223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9324],"tags":[1297,6525,116,88,174,5888,89,244,117,3050,95],"class_list":["post-229952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-ben-hogan","tag-car-crash","tag-golf-blog","tag-golf-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-march-2021","tag-news","tag-riviera-country-club","tag-robert-green","tag-texas","tag-tiger-woods"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.8 (Yoast SEO v23.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Nearly driven to disaster - Tiger Woods &amp; Ben Hogan - Golf Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nearly driven to disaster - Last week he nearly killed himself in a crash. 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