Ben Hogan

Ben Hogan ... when at age of 47, he won the Colonial Invitational. Also included in his list of achievements is the award for the Professional Male Athlete of the Year, which he won in 1953, four years after his near-fatal car accident. The early part of his career displayed several indications of the dominance he would later show over the golfing world. For several seasons, he struggled both financially and on the golf course, and in fact, at one stage he contemplated giving up the game altogether. Fortunately, in what he decided would be his make-or-break tournament, the 1937 Oakland Open, during which thieves had stolen the wheels from his car, he shot a final-round 69 to clinch second place, and one of the greatest careers in the game was launched.