Who Are the Golfers With the Most Majors?

The Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and Open Championship (also known as the British Open) make up golf’s four majors. They are the pinnacles of achievement in the game and are looked at as the defining factors for greatness amongst the best players to ever pick up a golf club. Here is a list of the golfers, past and present, with the most major titles to their names.

5 Masters (1997, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2019)

4 PGA Championship (1999, 2000, 2006, 2007)

3 U.S. Opens (2000, 2002, 2008)

3 Open Championships (2000, 2005, 2006)

Despite sitting a few major titles short of Jack Nicklaus, many golf fans and historians alike consider Tiger Woods the best golfer of all time. Tiger absolutely blitzed the Tour by winning 14 of his 15 majors in a span of just 12 years from 1997 - 2008. He became the first golfer of all time to hold all four major championships at one time, what is now referred to as the “Tiger Slam” when he won the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and Open Championship in 2000 and followed it up with a Masters win in early 2001. He won the 2008 U.S. Open on a broken leg and added perhaps the most impressive major championship victory to his resume by winning the 2019 Masters, 22 years after his maiden major win.

5 PGA Championships (1921, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927)

4 Open Championships (1922, 1924, 1928, 1929)

2 U.S. Opens (1914, 1919)

Walter Hagen won all 11 of his major championships before the fourth major, the Masters, even existed. Hagen’s final major triumph came at the 1929 Open Championship, five years before the first Masters was played. Although he competed in six Masters Tournaments in his career, his best finish was T11 and he was unable to accomplish what is today known as the career grand slam. Hagen did however win four consecutive PGA Championships from 1924-27 and rack up 11 major championships in an era when only three majors were contested each year.

4 U.S. Opens (1948, 1950, 1951, 1953)

2 PGA Championships (1946, 1948)

2 Masters (1951, 1953)

1 Open Championship (1953)

Ben Hogan had an incredible six-year run from 1948-1953, winning all nine of his majors in that span. In 1953 he won three of the year’s four majors, the U.S. Open, Masters and Open Championship, and did not enter the PGA Championship due to issues relating to his serious car crash in 1949. He completed the career grand slam with his 1953 Open Championship win, which proved to be the final major of his career.

3 Open Championship (1959, 1968, 1974)

3 Masters (1961, 1974, 1978)

2 PGA Championships (1962, 1972)

1 U.S. Open (1965)

Gary Player won majors in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, amassing nine majors in that span. After winning his first major at the 1959 Open Championship, Player completed the career grand slam in just six years, culminating in the 1965 U.S. Open, the only U.S. Open win of his career. Player’s won both the Open Championship and Masters in 1974 and won his final major in 1978, his third Masters win.