During 1951, Ben Hogan, winner of the 1948 and 1950  United States open championships, became one of the few men in history to take the championship three times. At Oakland Hills, Detroit, Mich., Hogan was trailing by 5 strokes at the end of 36 holes in the 72-hole test, but he finished with a 35-32-67, which he styled the best round of his career. His score was 287
    Only one other man, Clayton Heafner, who was runner-up with 289, was able to break 70 at Oakland Hills.
    Dorothy Kirby, Atlanta, Ga., won the women's national amateur championship by defeating Claire Doran of Cleveland, O., 2 and 1, in the 36-hole final match in St. Paul, Minn. Miss Kirby had entered her first national at 13 years of age, and had twice finished as runner-up for the title.
   Sam Snead of White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., scored his third victory in national professional championship play by running away from the field in the 1951 P.G.A. at Pittsburgh's (Pa.) Oakmont club.
    Richard D. Chapman of Pinehurst, N.C., a relentless seeker after the British amateur championship for half of his 41 years, finally hit when he defeated his Walker cup compatriot, Charley Coe, in the final at Porthcawl, Wales.
    Lloyd Mangrum, Niles, Ill., and Billy Maxwell, Odessa, Tex., also scored firsts. Maxwell won the national amateur champion-ship in Bethlehem, Pa., and Mangrum, who had never attained either distinction before, led all professional money winners with $26,008, and also captured the Vardon scoring trophy with an average of 70.05 strokes per round for 104 rounds.
    Aside from the competitive phase of the game, golf prospered in every section of the country, notably in the open champion-ship at Detroit's Oakland Hills club, where a record attendance revenue of $70,000 was established. A gallery of 15,000, the largest single day audience in the 51-year history of the United States Golf association's classic, witnessed the final two rounds of the tournament.