Has A Golfer Ever Won All The Majors In The Year?

In men’s professional golf, four major tournaments take place each year. They are the Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open, and the British Open. Meanwhile, in women’s professional golf, there are five majors. These are the Chevron Championship, the U.S. Women’s Open, the Women’s PGA Championship, the Evian Championship, and the Women’s British Open. Both men’s and women’s professionals compete at these special tournaments each year, but nobody has ever managed to win all four or five Majors in the same year.

Men’s Golfers

Ben Hogan: 3 of 4 Major wins in 1953

Only two men in the modern history of professional golf have ever won three of the four major tournaments. The first to do so was Ben Hogan in 1953 when he won the Masters, the U.S. Open, and the British Open. There are two extraordinary things about Hogan’s famous “Triple Crown.” Firstly, he was still recovering from a horrific car accident from a few years prior, and as a result, he only played in six of the tour's tournaments the entire year.

Outside of the three majors he competed in, Hogan won two of the other three tournaments, taking five out of six for the year. The second incredible thing is that he might well have been able to pull off the “Grand Slam” if not for some odd scheduling. The PGA Championship overlapped with the British Open by two days, and therefore he was unable to even attempt the “Grand Slam.” Considering how well he played that year, it is a shame he did not get the chance to try and set this record.

Tiger Woods: 3 of 4 Major Wins in 2000

The second man to accomplish the feat of winning three majors in a year was Tiger Woods. He managed it in 2000 when he was playing some of the best golf ever seen. Tiger won the U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA Championship in the Summer of 2000 by setting records for strokes under par and margin of victory at all three courses.

He first won the U.S. Open by 15 strokes before winning the British Open, finishing 19 under, and then he won the PGA Championship with a record 18 under total. While he finished 5th in the Masters in the Spring of 2000, he did win 2001’s first major tournament earning the Green Jacket and becoming the first player to ever hold four professional major championship titles simultaneously. This is now referred to as a “Tiger Slam.” 

Women’s Golfers

Four women have won three of the five majors in the same year. The first woman to win three majors was Babe Didrikson Zaharias in 1950, followed by Mickey Wright in 1961, Pat Bradley in 1986, and finally, Inbee Park in 2013. In the decade since, a fifth woman has failed to win more than two of the four majors.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias technically won the Grand Slam in the eyes of the LPGA because they only played three majors in their first year of existence (1950), and she won them all. The LPGA used the Titleholders Championship, LPGA Championship, and U.S. Women’s Open as the first three majors played until 1961, when the Western Women’s Open was added.

That year, Mickey Wright only failed to win the Western Women’s Open. In 1986, Pat Bradley won the LPGA Championship, the du Maurier Classic, and the Nabisco Dinah Shore. By 2013, the LPGA counted five tournaments as majors, and Inbee Park won three of them, the ANA Inspiration, U.S. Women's Open, and Women's PGA Championship, but failed to pick up a fourth major that year.

FAQ