Golf Majors Winners: History, Records and the 2026 Champions

By the Rescro Arcade team · Published 29 October 2026 · Updated 5 November 2026

Golf majors winners come from four events: the Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open and The Open. Jack Nicklaus still holds the record with 18 majors, Tiger Woods has 15, and only six men have won all four. The 2026 majors went to Rory McIlroy, Aaron Rai, Wyndham Clark and Ryan Fox. Below you will find every recent winner, the all-time leaders, the nation counts, the records and the latest news, as of 5 November 2026.

What are the four golf majors?

The men's majors are the four biggest events in professional golf. In calendar order they are the Masters in April, the PGA Championship in May, the U.S. Open in June and The Open in July. One major can define a career, and only six men have won all four.

The list did not start as four. In the early 20th century the U.S. Amateur and the British Amateur counted, which is why Bobby Jones's 1930 sweep of the U.S. Open, The Open and both amateur titles is still called a Grand Slam. The modern set of four settled in after the Masters arrived in 1934 and the professional game took over.

The Open (first played 1860)

The oldest of the four, often called the British Open outside the UK. Eight professionals played three rounds of Prestwick's 12-hole course in October 1860, and Willie Park Sr won. The R&A runs it on a rota of links courses in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland. The 2026 edition at Royal Birkdale was the 154th. Harry Vardon of Jersey holds the record with six Open wins.

U.S. Open (first played 1895)

Run by the USGA and known for narrow fairways, thick rough and over-par winning scores. Horace Rawlins, an English club professional, won the first one at Newport, Rhode Island. Four men share the record of four wins: Willie Anderson, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus. Shinnecock Hills hosted the 126th edition in 2026.

PGA Championship (first played 1916)

Run by the PGA of America, it began as a match-play event and switched to stroke play in 1958. Its first champion was Jim Barnes, an Englishman from Cornwall. Walter Hagen and Jack Nicklaus share the record of five wins. Since 2019 it has been played in May rather than August. The 2026 edition was the 108th.

The Masters (first played 1934)

The youngest major and the only one played at the same course every year, Augusta National in Georgia. Horton Smith won the first one. Nicklaus has the most green jackets with six, and Tiger Woods has five. The tournament was not held from 1943 to 1945, so 2026 was the 90th Masters.

Golf majors winners: the last 11 years

Here is every men's major champion since 2016. A few patterns jump out. Brooks Koepka won four majors in three seasons from 2017 to 2019. Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele each won two majors in a single year (2025 and 2024). And McIlroy, who went almost 11 years without a major after 2014, has now won back-to-back Masters.

The 2020 season was reshuffled by the pandemic. The Open was cancelled for the first time since 1945, the PGA moved to August, the U.S. Open to September and the Masters to November.

Most majors won: the all-time list

Twenty-one men have won five or more men's majors. The table shows everyone on six or more, plus Brooks Koepka, the only active player on five. Nicklaus's 18 has stood since the 1986 Masters, which he won at 46. Woods got to 15 with his 2019 Masters, 11 years after his previous major. Of active players, McIlroy leads with six and Koepka has five. Scheffler is on four.

Some of these totals look lopsided, and there is a reason. Vardon and the early Open greats rarely crossed the Atlantic, and the Masters did not exist until 1934. Hogan only played The Open once, in 1953, and won it. Walter Hagen's 11 include five PGA titles won at match play.

Majors by nation, with Great Britain and Ireland in detail

The United States dominates, with 291 of the 478 men's majors. Here is how the home nations got their totals. Scotland's 55 majors are mostly Opens, 41 in all, and most of those came in the early decades when Scottish professionals were the best players in the world. England's 37 include 22 Opens, six Faldo majors and, from 2026, Aaron Rai's PGA Championship.

Add the home nations and Ireland together and you get 106 majors. Northern Ireland has nine from a population of under two million: Fred Daly's 1947 Open, Graeme McDowell's 2010 U.S. Open, Darren Clarke's 2011 Open and McIlroy's six. The Republic of Ireland has four, three from Padraig Harrington (the 2007 and 2008 Opens and the 2008 PGA) and Shane Lowry's 2019 Open at Royal Portrush. Wales has one, Ian Woosnam's 1991 Masters. Sandy Lyle's 1988 Masters is still Scotland's only green jacket.

Rai's win also ended a long wait. He became the first Englishman to win the PGA Championship since Jim Barnes in 1919, and the second player of Indian heritage to win a men's major after Vijay Singh. He closed with a 65.

Golf major records

Scoring has dropped a long way since the gutta-percha era, but some of the oldest records still stand. Young Tom Morris won The Open at 17 in 1868, and nobody has come close since. Old Tom Morris's 13-shot win in 1862 was the biggest margin for 138 years, until Woods won the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach by 15.

The 62 is now the number to beat. Branden Grace shot the first one at Royal Birkdale in 2017. Rickie Fowler and Schauffele both shot 62 on the same day at the 2023 U.S. Open, then Schauffele and Shane Lowry matched it at the 2024 PGA. When The Open returned to Birkdale in 2026, Ryan Fox, Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns all shot 62. No man has broken it in a major.

Mickelson won the 2021 PGA at Kiawah Island at 50 years, 11 months and 7 days, beating Julius Boros's 1968 mark by more than two years. At the other end, Woods was 21 when he won the 1997 Masters by 12, and nobody younger has won a green jacket.

The career Grand Slam club

Winning all four majors at any point in a career is the career Grand Slam. Only six men have done it, and only two, Nicklaus and Woods, have done it more than once. Nicklaus won each major at least three times. Woods got the closest anyone has come to a single-season slam: he held all four titles at once after the 2001 Masters, a run fans call the Tiger Slam.

McIlroy's wait was the longest. He won the U.S. Open in 2011, the PGA in 2012 and 2014, and The Open in 2014, then needed until April 2025 to win the Masters, in a play-off with Justin Rose. Several players are one major short. Phil Mickelson never won the U.S. Open, where he finished runner-up six times, and Jordan Spieth still needs the PGA. Scheffler, with two Masters, one PGA and one Open, missed his chance at Shinnecock in 2026.

The 2026 golf majors results

The 2026 season gave four different champions from four nations. McIlroy and Clark were already major winners, while Rai and Fox won their first.

• Masters: McIlroy won wire-to-wire and became the fourth man to win back-to-back Masters, after Nicklaus, Faldo and Woods. His 36-hole lead of six shots was the biggest in Masters history. He still had to hold off Scheffler, who played the weekend without a bogey.
• PGA Championship: Rai's first major. He holed a 40-foot eagle putt at the 9th and a 68-foot birdie putt at the 17th, and lowered his score in every round, which only eight players have done in a major. Kurt Kitayama's bogey-free 63 tied the lowest final round in major history.
• U.S. Open: Clark led from start to finish, the first wire-to-wire U.S. Open winner since Martin Kaymer in 2014, and won his second U.S. Open after 2023. Sam Burns started the last day seven back and got within one.
• The Open: Fox birdied the 72nd hole to win by one. He is the third New Zealander to win a men's major, after Bob Charles and Michael Campbell, and the first to win The Open since Charles in 1963.

Latest: October to early November 2026

There were no majors in the last 30 days. The big story around them is what happens to LIV Golf, because it decides where several major winners play next season.

• 21 October 2026: 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen confirmed he is leaving LIV Golf and returning to the DP World Tour in January 2027, calling it "time to move on" (BusinessDay).
• 4 November 2026: ESPN reported that BC Partners had pulled out of a planned $300 million financing deal for LIV Golf 2.0 because not enough top players had committed for 2027. LIV has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy since 8 September, and ESPN said that without a late buyer it is likely heading towards liquidation. Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Tyrrell Hatton and Ian Poulter have said they will play the DP World Tour instead.
• Next deadline, 16 November 2026: the date golfers must apply for DP World Tour membership, according to ESPN. DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings has said the tour will refuse membership to players who sign up for LIV 2.0.
• Looking ahead: the 2027 majors are set for the PGA at PGA Frisco, Texas (20 to 23 May), the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (17 to 20 June) and the 155th Open at the Old Course, St Andrews (15 to 18 July). The Masters returns to Augusta National in April.

Mini golf and crazy golf: where many golfers start

Plenty of people first hold a putter on a seaside crazy golf course rather than a links, and that game goes back further than most assume. Guinness World Records lists the Ladies' Putting Green at St Andrews, known as the Himalayas, as the first documented miniature golf course, established in 1867. It was laid out for the St Andrews Ladies' Golf Club, founded that year, at a time when women had few chances to play the full links. Old Tom Morris, who won The Open that same year, is credited with laying out the original course. It is still in use beside the Old Course.

The windmills and loop-the-loops came later, mostly from America. A course called Thistle Dhu opened in Pinehurst, North Carolina in 1916, and in 1927 Garnet Carter patented "Tom Thumb Golf" from Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. Estimates suggest around 25,000 Tom Thumb courses had been built in the US by 1930, though the figure is a period estimate rather than a count. In Britain the obstacle version is usually called crazy golf.

The putting is the same skill that decides majors. Rai's 68-footer at Aronimink and Fox's closing birdie at Birkdale were both putts. If you want to practise that feel, try our Mini Golf game, a nine-hole putting course where you drag back to aim, set your power and play each hole against par. It runs in the browser with nothing to install.

Play golf on Rescro

You will not catch Nicklaus's 18, but you can see how you get on against par in a few minutes. Start with Mini Golf, then try the rest of our free sport games, from darts to table tennis.

Frequently asked questions

Who has won the most golf majors?

Jack Nicklaus has won the most men's majors with 18: six Masters, five PGA Championships, four U.S. Opens and three Opens, between 1962 and 1986. Tiger Woods is second with 15, the last at the 2019 Masters. Walter Hagen has 11. Among players still competing, Rory McIlroy leads with six after winning the 2025 and 2026 Masters.

What are the four men's golf majors?

The four men's majors are the Masters (April, Augusta National), the PGA Championship (May), the U.S. Open (June) and The Open (July, played in the UK). The Open is the oldest, first played in 1860. The U.S. Open started in 1895, the PGA Championship in 1916 and the Masters in 1934.

Who won the golf majors in 2026?

Rory McIlroy won the 2026 Masters by one shot from Scottie Scheffler, his second in a row. Aaron Rai of England won the PGA Championship at Aronimink by three. Wyndham Clark won the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills by one, his second U.S. Open title. Ryan Fox of New Zealand won The Open at Royal Birkdale by one.

How many golfers have won the career Grand Slam?

Six men have won all four majors over their careers: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. McIlroy completed his at the 2025 Masters after an 11-year wait. Nicklaus and Woods are the only players to have won each major more than once, and nobody has won all four in one calendar year.

Which country has won the most golf majors?

The United States has won the most men's majors with 291 of the 478 played to the end of 2026. Scotland is second with 55, most of them early Open Championships, and England third with 37. South Africa has 22, Australia 18, Spain 10, Northern Ireland 9 and the Republic of Ireland 4.

Who is the youngest and oldest major winner?

Young Tom Morris is the youngest, winning the 1868 Open at 17 years and 5 months. Phil Mickelson is the oldest, winning the 2021 PGA Championship at 50 years and 11 months. In the modern game, Tiger Woods was 21 when he won the 1997 Masters, still the youngest green jacket, and Jack Nicklaus was 46 when he won it in 1986.

What is the lowest round ever in a golf major?

The lowest round in a men's major is 62. Branden Grace shot the first at the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale. It has since been matched by Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele (2023 U.S. Open), Schauffele and Shane Lowry (2024 PGA), and Ryan Fox, Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns at the 2026 Open. Nobody has shot 61.

Sources

1. Wikipedia: List of men's major championships winning golfers
2. Wikipedia: Men's major golf championships (records)
3. Wikipedia: 2026 Masters Tournament
4. Wikipedia: 2026 PGA Championship
5. Wikipedia: 2026 U.S. Open
6. Wikipedia: 2026 Open Championship
7. GOLF.com: Winners and losers from golf's 2026 major season
8. The Golf News Net: Youngest winners of golf's majors
9. Golf Compendium: Oldest men's major winners
10. ESPN: BC Partners pulls out of LIV Golf 2.0 financing (4 Nov 2026)
11. BusinessDay: Oosthuizen confirms LIV Golf exit (21 Oct 2026)
12. NBC Sports: St Andrews confirmed for 2027 Open
13. The Golf News Net: Future major dates and venues
14. Guinness World Records: First miniature golf course
15. Wikipedia: St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club
16. Wikipedia: Miniature golf