List of men's major championships winning golfers
The four majors are the most prestigious events in professional golf, and the number of wins that a player accumulates in them greatly influences his stature in the sport. The chart below ranks the 192 men who have won a professional major by their total number of wins in the four events. See the second section for a list that takes into consideration wins in The Amateur Championship (British Amateur) and the U.S. Amateur when those titles were considered majors. See the third section for a list that includes wins in The Amateur Championship and U.S. Amateur for all years. These lists are complete through the 2007 Masters Tournament. An "NA" denotes that the Masters result is not applicable because the player no longer competed after its establishment in 1934.
List of top winners of professional majors
| Name | Country | Masters | U.S. Open | British Open | PGA | Total | Winning span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Nicklaus |  United States |
6 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 1962-1986 |
| Tiger Woods | United States |
4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 1997-2006 |
| Walter Hagen | United States |
0[1] | 2 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 1914-1929 |
| Ben Hogan | United States |
2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 1946-1953 |
| Gary Player |  South Africa |
3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 1959-1978 |
| Tom Watson | United States |
2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 1975-1983 |
| Harry Vardon |  England |
NA | 1 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 1896-1914 |
| Gene Sarazen | United States |
1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 1922-1935 |
| Bobby Jones | United States |
NA | 4 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 1923-1930 |
| Sam Snead | United States |
3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 1942-1954 |
| Arnold Palmer | United States |
4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1958-1964 |
| Nick Faldo | England |
3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 1987-1996 |
| Lee Trevino | United States |
0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1968-1984 |
| Seve Ballesteros |  Spain |
2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 1979-1988 |
| James Braid |  Scotland |
NA | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1901-1910 |
| Byron Nelson | United States |
2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 1937-1945 |
| J.H. Taylor | England |
NA | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1894-1913 |
| Peter Thomson |  Australia |
0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1954-1965 |
- 4 majors - 7 golfers: Willie Anderson, Jim Barnes, Ray Floyd, Bobby Locke, Old Tom Morris, Young Tom Morris, Willie Park, Sr.
- 3 majors - 17 golfers: Jamie Anderson, Tommy Armour, Julius Boros, Billy Casper, Henry Cotton, Jimmy Demaret, Ernie Els, Bob Ferguson, Ralph Guldahl, Hale Irwin, Phil Mickelson, Cary Middlecoff, Larry Nelson, Nick Price, Denny Shute, Vijay Singh, Payne Stewart.
- 2 majors - 32 golfers: Jack Burke, Jr, Ben Crenshaw, John Daly, Leo Diegel, Olin Dutra, Doug Ford, Retief Goosen, David Graham, Hubert Green, Harold Hilton, Jock Hutchison, Tony Jacklin, Lee Janzen, Sandy Lyle, Bernhard Langer, John McDermott, Bob Martin, Johnny Miller, Greg Norman, Andy North, José María Olazábal, Mark O'Meara, Willie Park, Jr., Henry Picard, Edward Ray, Paul Runyan, Alex Smith, Horton Smith, Dave Stockton, Curtis Strange, Craig Wood, Fuzzy Zoeller.
- 1 major - 118 golfers: Tommy Aaron, George Archer, Laurie Auchterlonie, William Auchterlonie, Paul Azinger, Ian Baker-Finch, John Ball, Jerry Barber, Rich Beem, Tommy Bolt, Gay Brewer, Mark Brooks, David Brown, Billy Burke, Walter Burkemo, Jack Burns, Richard Burton, Mark Calcavecchia, Michael Campbell, Bob Charles, Charles Coody, Fred Couples, Tom Creavy, Ben Curtis, Fred Daly, Roberto DeVicenzo, George Duncan, David Duval, Steve Elkington, Chick Evans, Johnny Farrell, Max Faulkner, Willie Fernie, Jim Ferrier, Dow Finsterwald, Jack Fleck, James Foulis, Ed Furgol, Jim Furyk, Al Geiberger, Vic Ghezzi, Bob Goalby, Johnny Goodman, Wayne Grady, Lou Graham, Bob Hamilton, Todd Hamilton, Chick Harbert, Claude Harmon, Chandler Harper, Arthur Havers, Jay Hebert, Lionel Hebert, Fred Herd, Sandy Herd, Don January, Zach Johnson, Steve Jones, Herman Keiser, Tom Kidd, Hugh Kirkaldy, Tom Kite, Paul Lawrie, Tom Lehman, Tony Lema, Justin Leonard, Lawson Little, Gene Littler, Joe Lloyd, Davis Love III, Willie Macfarlane, Fred McLeod, John Mahaffey, Tony Manero, Lloyd Mangrum, Dave Marr, Arnaud Massy, Dick Mayer, Shaun Micheel, Larry Mize, Orville Moody, Kel Nagle, Bobby Nichols, Geoff Ogilvy, Francis Ouimet, Alf Padgham, Mungo Park, Sam Parks, Jr., Jerry Pate, Corey Pavin, Alf Perry, Horace Rawlins, Johnny Revolta, Bill Rogers, Bob Rosburg, Alec Ross, George Sargent, Jack Simpson, Scott Simpson, Jeff Sluman, Willie Smith, Craig Stadler, Andrew Strath, Hal Sutton, David Toms, Jerome Travers, Jim Turnesa, Bob Tway, Ken Venturi, Lanny Wadkins, Cyril Walker, Art Wall, Jr., Mike Weir, Tom Weiskopf, Reg Whitcombe, Jack White, Ian Woosnam, Lew Worsham
List of top winners of majors including amateur titles when they were considered majors
Before the establishment of The Masters and PGA Championship as majors, the British Amateur and the U.S. Amateur were regarded as majors [2][3]. This list considers these titles when they were regarded as majors. For example, Bobby Jones won five U.S. Amateur titles when those titles were considered majors [4] and four U.S. Open professional titles. Additionally, he won one British Amateur title when that title was considered a major [5], and three British Open professional titles making his total number of majors 13 [6][7][8][9][10].
The Masters, which was co-founded by Bobby Jones in 1934 after his retirement from the game, was not universally considered to be a major championship in its earlier years, the quartet of professional majors not being established at the time. In the first half of the twentieth century golf fans in the United States sometimes attributed major status to the Western Open and/or the North and South Open.
| Name | Country | Masters | U.S. Open | U.S. Amat. | British Open | British Amat. | PGA | Total | Winning span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Nicklaus | United States |
6 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 18 | 1962-1986 |
| Bobby Jones | United States |
NA | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 1923-1930 |
| Tiger Woods | United States |
4 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 1997-2006 |
| Walter Hagen | United States |
NA | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 1914-1929 |
| John Ball | England |
NA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 9 | 1888-1912 |
| Ben Hogan | United States |
2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 1946-1953 |
| Gary Player | South Africa |
3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 1959-1978 |
| Tom Watson | United States |
2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1975-1983 |
| Harold Hilton | England |
NA | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 1892-1913 |
| Arnold Palmer | United States |
4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1958-1964 |
| Gene Sarazen | United States |
1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1922-1935 |
| Sam Snead | United States |
3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1942-1954 |
| Harry Vardon | England |
NA | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1896-1914 |
List of top winners of majors including amateur titles for all years
In the chart immediately below, U.S. Amateur and Amateur Championship (British Amateur) titles are included of all years.
| Name | Country | Masters | U.S. Open | U.S. Amat. | British Open | British Amat. | PGA | Total | Winning span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Nicklaus | United States |
6 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 20 | 1959-1986 |
| Tiger Woods | United States |
4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 1994-2006 |
| Bobby Jones | United States |
NA | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 1923-1930 |
| Walter Hagen | United States |
NA | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 1914-1929 |
| John Ball | England |
NA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 9 | 1888-1912 |
| Ben Hogan | United States |
2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 1946-1953 |
| Gary Player | South Africa |
3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 1959-1978 |
| Arnold Palmer | United States |
4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1954-1964 |
| Tom Watson | United States |
2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1975-1983 |
| Harold Hilton | England |
NA | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 1892-1913 |
| Arnold Palmer | United States |
4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1958-1964 |
| Gene Sarazen | United States |
1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1922-1935 |
| Sam Snead | United States |
3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1942-1954 |
| Harry Vardon | England |
NA | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1896-1914 |
| Nick Faldo | England |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1987-1996 |
| Lee Trevino | United States |
0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1968-1984 |
| Seve Ballesteros | Spain |
2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1979-1988 |
| Michael Bonallack | England |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1961-1970 |
| James Braid | Scotland |
NA | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1901-1910 |
| Lawson Little | United States |
0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1934-1940 |
| Byron Nelson | United States |
2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 1937-1945 |
| J.H. Taylor | England |
NA | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1894-1913 |
| Peter Thomson | Australia |
0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1954-1965 |
| Jerome Travers | United States |
NA | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1907-1915 |
See also
- Grand Slam (golf)
- Chronological list of men's major golf champions
- Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
- Golfers with most LPGA major championship wins
Notes and references
- ^ Walter Hagen was past his peak when The Masters was established, but still managed to finish in the top-20 in his first three starts.
- ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/10/AR2005081001723.html
- ^ http://www.thegolfchannel.com/core.aspx?page=5005&select=185
- ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/10/AR2005081001723.html
- ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/10/AR2005081001723.html
- ^ http://146.145.120.3/default.asp?c=detnews&page=golf-e/news/BSN4031781.htm
- ^ http://www.golfonline.com/golfonline/tours/britishopen/article/0,17742,1217980,00.html
- ^ http://msn.foxsports.com/golf/story/5810348
- ^ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/golf/2002-07-15-british-cover.htm
- ^ http://www.thefirstteekc.org/club/scripts/section/section.asp?grp=0&NS=TW