1946 PGA Championship at Portland GC Contestant Badge - Ben Hogan's 1st Major Win

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This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/31/2016

1946 PGA Championship at Portland GC Contestant Badge - Ben Hogan 1st Major Win

This badge belonged to Ralph Hutchison. A year after loosing to Claude Harmon in the quarterfinals, Ralph was certain to make another great run. Unfortunately for Hutchison it was Ben Hogan who was making his run to his first Major title. A necessity for any collection is this, a 1946 PGA Championship players badge from Ben Hogan's 1st Major Victory. His next major victory wouldn't come until 2 years later at that year's PGA Championship. After the infamous near fatal accident in early 1949, 'Bantam Ben' would not participate in another PGA Championship until 1960! The grueling schedule of 36 holes a day over the course of 5 days was too much for his body to handle. For such a high valued piece of golf history to be in the condition that it's in is unfortunate, but it still presents ok and may be able to undergo some cleaning restoration to present even higher

In 1946, Ralph Hutchison, by then a nationally known teaching club pro, qualified for the Masters for the first time with a quarterfinal finish at the 1945 PGA Championship. At the 1946 Masters tournament Bobby Jones had asked him what improvements could be done at Augusta National. Having a rule knowing PGA Member at both the 9th and 18th greens to make the player's more comfortable was what Ralph had in mind, and Jones agreed. Starting the following Masters in 1947, Ralph held his position on the 18th green until 1972 when he had to step down due to health issues. This wasn't Ralph's first time at Augusta though as he had been an Augusta National assistant pro under Ed Dudley for the first three winters of the club (1932-35) before becoming the head pro at Saucon Valley Country Club in 1935.

Pin is still intact and functional. Measures 1 1/4" x 1 1/4"

Please note: This auction will end at 7:00pm EST on Sunday, January 31st with EXTENDED BIDDING to follow. All items in the auction will remain open until no items have received a bid within a 15 minute time period. All lots are free to be bid on until extended bidding has ended