2024 is here and although the golf season is now a wraparound one, this time of year is still a little low-key, with fans, players and pundits all just about starting to think about the majors in the year ahead. Winning one major is the highlight of many players’ careers and there have been some truly exceptional golfers who haven’t even managed to land one, Colin Montgomerie perhaps the most obvious example.
Landing multiple majors really means a player has achieved something very special but here we are looking at one of the sport’s most elite achievements. Whilst a true Grand Slam, calendar Grand Slam, or simply just a Grand Slam (take your pick what you call it), means winning all four of the major tournaments in the same year, a career Grand Slam is still a seriously impressive achievement.
This is the feat of winning all four of the game’s biggest events, the Open Championship, the US Masters, the US Open and the USPGA Championship, at some stage during a player’s whole career. Very few golfers in the long and storied history of the game have ever managed it. In fairness, though, the newest major (the Masters) was “only” inaugurated in 1934, and in fact only a limited number of players would regularly compete in all four before plane travel became widespread.
Nonetheless, the fact remains that only five golfers have ever managed to win all four majors. But who are they and who of the players currently active is in with a chance of joining this pantheon of the greats?
Fab Five to Feast on all Four
The five players that have managed to claim the three US majors, plus the Open Championship, are truly legends of the game. The very fact that they have landed the career Grand Slam essentially elevates them to that status but even had they not, the following golfers truly are among the best to have ever played, certainly over the last 90 years or so.
Players that have Won the Career Grand Slam
| Player | Open Championship Wins | Masters Wins | US Open Wins | USPGA Wins | Total Majors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Nicklaus | 1966, 1970, 1978 | 1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975, 1986 | 1962, 1967, 1972, 1980 | 1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980 | 18 |
| Tiger Woods | 2000, 2005, 2006 | 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2019 | 2000, 2002, 2008 | 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007 | 15 |
| Ben Hogan | 1953 | 1951, 1953 | 1948, 1950, 1951, 1953 | 1946, 1948 | 9 |
| Gary Player | 1959, 1968, 1974 | 1961, 1974, 1978 | 1965 | 1962, 1972 | 9 |
| Gene Sarazen | 1932 | 1935 | 1922, 1932 | 1922, 1923, 1933 | 7 |
Tiger Woods is clearly the most recent player to complete the career Grand Slam. What’s more, of the legends to have landed all four majors, he is the only one to have ever held all four at the same time. Dubbed the “Tiger Slam”, a little like the “Serena Slam” in tennis, Woods won the US Open, the Open and the USPGA all in 2000 and then added the opening major of 2001, the Masters. Woods also came rather close to a calendar Slam in 2005 when he won the Masters and the Open, came second in the US Open and tied for fourth in the USPGA Championship.
One might also argue that the most impressive feat among all of this is that Gene Sarazen was able to win all four at all. He played his first major in 1920 and only made the trip to the UK to play the Open once between then and 1928. His best years, and six of his seven majors, came before the Masters was even created, whilst the Second World War further limited his chances of adding to his majors tally.
Ultimately though, the calibre of players on this list, and the fact that it is such a short list, very much show just how hard it is to land a career Grand Slam. If we consider how many majors players have won in total, Nicklaus and Woods rank first and second respectively, whilst Hogan and Player are tied fourth. Walter Hagen, who did not complete a career Slam, was active between 1914 and 1929, so was not playing when the fourth major was added to the calendar. Indeed, only two men, Hagen and Tom Watson, have won more majors than Sarazen without completing the career Grand Slam. Watson missed out on the USPGA.
Who Will Join Elite List and Claim Career Grand Slam?
Each spring for almost the past decade, there has been talk of Rory McIlroy completing the career Grand Slam. The Northern Irish ace powered to two USPGA titles, plus the Open and the US Open between 2011 and 2014 but since then his major well has run dry. He has gone close at the Masters several times and has to be one of the favourites to get there at some point. On the other hand, after a decade without winning a major, there are those who feel he won’t add to his tally of four, let alone clinch the Masters title he so covets.
Phil Mickelson has won six majors in total but needs the US Open to complete the set. However, his wild driving and age (he’ll be 54 in June 2024) mean his chances lie somewhere between slim and none … but never say never!
A far more likely contender for the career Grand Slam is Jordan Spieth, who claimed one Masters, a US Open and an Open in a stellar run between 2015 and 2017. His game has slid and rebounded several times since then but still aged just 30 he has time on his side and there is no obvious reason why he can’t win the USPGA. He came second in 2015 and T3 in 2019 and is ranked 15th in the world, so he clearly has a good chance.
Brooks Koepka has five majors but is yet to win the Masters or the Open, whilst Collin Morikawa and Jon Rahm are others who need to win two different majors to complete the set. However, perhaps the next man to join the illustrious list above is a young Scandinavian who is yet to win a major?
There are two contenders who fit the bill: Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg. Hovland will be looking forward to 2024 after ending 2023 so well, is ranked fourth in the world, aged 26, and has finished T13, 19, T2, T7 and T4 in his last five majors. He has a mountain to climb but if he won one, it could easily see him win more in quick succession.
Aberg, only turned 24 on the 31st of October 2023 and only turned pro that June but has already claimed wins on the PGA and European Tours, and starred at a Ryder Cup. He has yet to even play in a major, let alone win one, but the young Swede may be the best talent the game has seen since Tiger. Could he be the one to watch in terms of the career Grand Slam?