After Tiger Woods' wreck, Ben Hogan's own crash remembered

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Sportscaster Jim Gray reacts to Tiger Woods' hospitalization after serious car crash

'Never underestimate the heart of a champion' says Gray of hopes for Wood's recovery.

Tiger Woods’ crash on Tuesday, which left him with serious leg injuries, spurred reminders of when another golf legend survived his own automobile wreck.

Ben Hogan, who won nine major championships, nearly had his life and career cut short after a crash in February 1949.

Hogan was 36 years old when he suffered fractures to his pelvis, collarbone and ankle, along with a chipped rib and blood clots after being in a head-on collision with a bus in Texas.

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Golf champion Ben Hogan is lifted from a train which brought him to his home town to recuperate from a near fatal auto accident. He was hospitalized in early February 1949. (Getty Images)

According to the Eugene Register-Guard, Hogan threw himself across his wife in the passenger seat to protect her and might have been killed instantly if he didn’t do that. Hogan was told he may never walk again but was back on the course for the 1950 Los Angeles Open.

Hogan won the U.S. Open in 1950 and would win five more majors after that. He finished with 69 PGA Tour wins and died at the age of 84 in Texas.

Hogan and Woods are two of five golfers to have won all four majors. The others include Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Gene Sarazen.

Woods’ horrifying wreck had some comparing the two legends but Woods’ crash comes at a completely different time in his career.

Ben Hogan recuperates from an auto accident. (Getty Images)

At the time of the crash, Woods at 45 is nine years older than Hogan. Woods hasn’t played a match since December when he teamed up with his son for the PNC Challenge.

He spoke to CBS on Sunday, saying he was hoping to play in the upcoming Masters coming off a fifth back surgery.

"I'm feeling fine," he said. "I'm a little bit stiff. I have one more MRI scheduled so that we'll see if the annulus (fibrosus) is scarred over finally and see if I can start doing more activities. But still in the gym, still doing the mundane stuff that you have to do for rehab, the little things before I can start gravitating towards something a little more."

TIGER WOODS WAS UNAWARE OF 'HOW GRAVELY HE WAS INJURED' IMMEDIATELY AFTER WRECK, DEPUTY SAYS

Everything completely changed Tuesday. While Woods is alive, the injuries he suffered would put him on a long road to recovery if he wanted to play competitively again.

An update on Woods was posted to his Twitter account late Tuesday.

The post includes a quote by Dr. Anish Mahajan, chief medical officer and interim CEO of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, saying Woods is recovering from a long surgical procedure to repair "significant orthopedic injuries to his right lower extremity."

"Comminuted open fractures affecting both the upper and lower portions of the tibia and fibula bones were stabilized by inserting a rod into the tibia," said Mahajan. "Additional injuries to the bones of the foot and ankle were stabilized with a combination of screws and pins."

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"Trauma to the muscle and soft-tissue of the leg required surgical release of the covering of the muscles to relieve pressure due to swelling," he continued. 

Fox News’ David Aaron and the AP contributed to this report.