Many golf fans, especially those from the British Isles, will think of one thing when they think about major golf in 2025: Rory McIlroy completing the career Grand Slam. The likeable Northern Irish superstar ended over a decade of waiting to complete his set and get his hands on a certain green piece of clothing.
However, the year was not just about Rory, and we saw one player further cement his place as the world’s best golfer right now, with another joining the illustrious ranks of being a major champion. As ever, it was a great year for golf, especially with Europe’s Ryder Cup victory, but this is what happened in the majors:
| Date | Major | Winner | Course | Purse |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10-13 Apr 2025 | US Masters | Rory McIlroy | Augusta | $21m |
| 15-18 May 2025 | US PGA Championship | Scottie Scheffler | Quail Hollow | $19m |
| 12-15 Jun 2025 | US Open | JJ Spaun | Oakmont | $21.5m |
| 17-20 Jul 2025 | Open Championship | Scottie Scheffler | Royal Portrush | $17m |
Masters, Rory McIlroy
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Par Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rory McIlroy | 72 | 66 | 66 | 73 | -11 (277) |
| 2 | Justin Rose | 65 | 71 | 75 | 66 | -11 (277) |
| 3 | Patrick Reed | 71 | 70 | 69 | 69 | -9 (279) |
| 4 | Scottie Scheffler | 68 | 71 | 72 | 69 | -8 (280) |
| =5 | Sungjae Im | 71 | 70 | 71 | 69 | -7 (281) |
| =5 | Bryson DeChambeau | 69 | 68 | 69 | 75 | -7 (281) |
At last! Rory won his first major in 2011, and by 2014 he had four in total, including wins at the Open, the US Open and the US PGA (twice). Back then, many wondered whether he might surpass Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus in terms of the number of majors he’d win. By August of 2015, he had spent 93 weeks as world number one, including an unbroken stint of more than a year to that point. Nobody would have predicted that major number five would not come until 2025.
He repeatedly went close, both to ending his major drought and to winning the one he most coveted, the one missing from the collection: the US Masters. In between winning the final two majors of 2014 and his 2025 Augusta triumph, the Ryder Cup legend had 21 top-10 finishes at major championships.
That included all four majors in 2022 and three out of four 12 months later. Overall, in that time, he was runner-up on four occasions. His first attempt at completing the Slam saw him finish fourth at the Masters, and including that he had six top-10s at Augusta before finally getting over the line, his best performance having been a second-place finish in 2022.
In 2025, however, he would not be denied. He could scarcely have wished for a better build-up to the event. He won the AT&T at Pebble Beach in February before claiming his second Players Championship in March, via a playoff. He was confident, his game was in a great place, and he was playing with more freedom. What could go wrong?
Well, with Rory and the Masters, history told us that even when it looked like nothing could or would go wrong, the golfing gods somehow found a fresh way to inflict cruelty upon the Northern Irishman. In 2025, he started slowly, shooting a 72 to sit seven shots back of friend Justin Rose.
A brilliant 66 on Friday moved him into contention, now two back from Rose, and when he fired another 66 on moving day, he had earned a two-shot lead. Finally, surely, this was going to be his year?
On Sunday, he opened with a double bogey and fans had to fear the worst. However, birdies on three and four, plus nine and 10, moved him to 14 under and appeared to give him an unassailable lead. But this is Augusta. He bogeyed 11 and 14, making a double in between on the par-five 13th.
At one stage, he was involved in a three-way tie for the lead with Rose and Ludvig Aaberg. In the end, it was Rory versus Rose, the latter a model of consistency, shooting a closing 66. McIlroy veered from ridiculous to sublime, and a brilliant birdie on 17 seemed to give him the edge. However, he bogeyed the last after a perfect drive and ended level with Rose on 11 under.
A playoff ensued, and Rory must have been battling incredible pressure with the Slam won, lost, won and then possibly lost again all in the space of a few hours. However, showing incredible nerve, not to mention brilliance, McIlroy made a three on 18 after hitting his approach to four feet. It was enough to win the Masters, earn him a Green Jacket at last, and make him just the sixth golfer to complete a career Grand Slam.
US PGA Championship, Scottie Scheffler
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Par Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scottie Scheffler | 69 | 68 | 65 | 71 | -11 (273) |
| =2 | Harris English | 72 | 70 | 71 | 65 | -6 (278) |
| =2 | Bryson DeChambeau | 71 | 68 | 69 | 70 | -6 (278) |
| =2 | Davis Riley | 71 | 68 | 67 | 72 | -6 (278) |
| =5 | Taylor Pendrith | 69 | 70 | 72 | 68 | -5 (279) |
| =5 | Jhonattan Vegas | 64 | 70 | 73 | 72 | -5 (279) |
| =5 | J.T. Poston | 68 | 70 | 68 | 73 | -5 (279) |
Rory may have won three big tournaments in 2025, including the first major of the year, but there was no doubt who the best golfer in the world was. Scottie Scheffler moved to the top of the world rankings in May 2023 and stayed there for the rest of the year. And all of 2024. And his win at the US PGA Championship was part of the reason he would stay at the top of the rankings for all of 2025 as well.
The New Jersey native claimed his third major and first US PGA Championship in commanding style to take home a cheque for almost three and a half million dollars. An opening 69 was steady but left him well off the red-hot pace set by Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas. His first-round 64 gave him a two-shot lead after 18 holes, with Scheffler down in a tie for 20th.
A 68 on Friday moved him into contention, though, now three shots behind the lead, which was still held by Vegas. However, Scheffler made his move on Saturday, shooting the round of the day, a brilliant 65. That saw him take a three-shot lead into the final round, with Swede Alex Noren second after a 66. The world number one was briefly challenged by Jon Rahm on Sunday, but in the end his closing 71 was enough for the win by five strokes, the Spaniard’s hopes having been destroyed by playing the final three holes in +5.
US Open, JJ Spaun
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Par Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | J.J. Spaun | 66 | 72 | 69 | 72 | -1 (279) |
| 2 | Robert MacIntyre | 70 | 74 | 69 | 68 | +1 (281) |
| 3 | Viktor Hovland | 71 | 68 | 70 | 73 | +2 (282) |
| =4 | Cameron Young | 70 | 74 | 69 | 70 | +3 (283) |
| =4 | Tyrrell Hatton | 73 | 70 | 68 | 72 | +3 (283) |
| =4 | Carlos Ortiz | 71 | 72 | 67 | 73 | +3 (283) |
After two rather expected wins by two of the greatest players in the world, we saw JJ Spaun claim his first major and really announce himself on the global stage. He had lost a playoff to McIlroy at the Players and won the Texas Open back in 2022, but this was a whole different level for the unheralded Californian.
Aged 34 when he won at Oakmont, the payday of $4.3m was easily the biggest of his career. The win was Spaun’s only top-20 finish at a major but was thoroughly deserved. He was the only player to end under par over a challenging four days, rounds of 66-72-69-72, leaving him one under, two clear of Bob MacIntyre.
Open Championship, Scottie Scheffler
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Par Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scottie Scheffler | 68 | 64 | 67 | 68 | -17 (267) |
| 2 | Harris English | 67 | 70 | 68 | 66 | -13 (271) |
| 3 | Chris Gotterup | 72 | 65 | 68 | 67 | -12 (272) |
| =4 | Wyndham Clark | 76 | 66 | 66 | 65 | -11 (273) |
| =4 | Matt Fitzpatrick | 67 | 66 | 71 | 69 | -11 (273) |
| =4 | Haotong Li | 67 | 67 | 69 | 70 | -11 (273) |
The final major of the year saw Scheffler move within one US Open of a career Grand Slam and saw him extend his lead atop the world rankings. Scheffler’s ball-striking and ability to control distance and trajectory are well suited to links golf, even if the Open is unlikely to ever be his strongest major.
Often a slow starter in tournaments, he carded a first-round 68th to sit just one shot back. That was ominous for the rest of the field, and an incredible 64 on Friday moved him to the top of the leaderboard. Conditions were harder on Saturday, and so an exceptional round of 67 saw him move four clear of Li Hautong in second.
On Sunday, he shot a 68 to move to 17 under, four better than the chasing pack. It was his 10th successive win after a 54-hole lead, Tiger-esque frontrunning. It earned him his fourth major, 1,197 days after his first. Incredibly, that is the same gap that a certain Tiger Woods had, and with Scheffler landing two majors in 2025 and dominating the sport in general, many were drawing comparisons between the current top dog and the man who was world number one for so long before him.