Golfers With the Most Wins in Men's Major Championships

The List of Golf's Most Successful Major Winners (Plus First and Last Wins)

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson photographed at the Ryder Cup in 2012. Woods has 14 major wins and Mickelson 5.
Phil Mickelson (left) and Tiger Woods have 19 major wins between them - or one more than the No. 1 guy on the list. Jamie Squire/Getty Images

The record for most men's major championship wins is held by Jack Nicklaus, who won 18 of them. Tiger Woods is second with 15 major wins. The four tournaments that make up the men's majors are The Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship.

In addition to the chart below, which lists major winners in descending order of number of victories, you can view the list of every major winner in one of two ways:

(The all-time leader in women's majors is Petty Berg with 15. The list of golfers with the most wins in LPGA majors appears separately.)

Most Wins in Men's Professional Majors

This chart includes every golfer with at least three wins in men's majors, their total number of major championship victories, plus their first and last (or most recent, in the case of active golfers) wins.

Golfer Major Wins First Last
Jack Nicklaus 18 1962 US Open 1986 Masters
Tiger Woods 15 1997 Masters 2019 Masters
Walter Hagen 11 1914 US Open 1929 British Open
Ben Hogan 9 1946 PGA Championship 1953 British Open
Gary Player 9 1959 British Open 1978 Masters
Tom Watson 8 1975 British Open 1983 British Open
Bobby Jones 7 1923 US Open 1930 US Open
Arnold Palmer 7 1958 Masters 1964 Masters
Gene Sarazen 7 1922 US Open 1935 Masters
Sam Snead 7 1942 PGA Championship 1954 Masters
Harry Vardon 7 1896 British Open 1914 British Open
Nick Faldo 6 1987 British Open 1996 Masters
Lee Trevino 6 1968 US Open 1984 PGA Championship
Seve Ballesteros 5 1979 British Open 1988 British Open
James Braid 5 1901 British Open 1910 British Open
Phil Mickelson 5 2004 Masters 2013 British Open
Byron Nelson 5 1937 Masters 1945 PGA Championship
J.H. Taylor 5 1894 British Open 1913 British Open
Peter Thomson 5 1954 British Open 1965 British Open
Willie Anderson 4 1901 US Open 1905 US Open
Jim Barnes 4 1916 PGA Championship 1925 British Open
Ernie Els 4 1994 US Open 2012 British Open
Raymond Floyd 4 1969 PGA Championship 1986 US Open
Brooks Koepka 4 2017 US Open 2019 PGA Championship
Bobby Locke 4 1949 British Open 1957 British Open
Rory McIlroy 4 2011 US Open 2014 PGA Championship
Old Tom Morris 4 1861 British Open 1867 British Open
Young Tom Morris 4 1868 British Open 1872 British Open
Willie Park Sr. 4 1860 British Open 1875 British Open
Jamie Anderson 3 1877 British Open 1879 British Open
Tommy Armour 3 1927 US Open 1931 British Open
Julius Boros 3 1952 US Open 1968 PGA Championship
Billy Casper 3 1959 US Open 1970 Masters
Henry Cotton 3 1934 British Open 1948 British Open
Jimmy Demaret 3 1940 Masters 1950 Masters
Bob Ferguson 3 1880 British Open 1882 British Open
Ralph Guldahl 3 1937 US Open 1939 Masters
Padraig Harrington 3 2007 British Open 2008 PGA Championship
Hale Irwin 3 1974 US Open 1990 US Open
Cary Middlecoff 3 1949 US Open 1956 US Open
Larry Nelson 3 1981 PGA Championship 1987 PGA Championship
Nick Price 3 1992 PGA Championship 1994 PGA Championship
Denny Shute 3 1933 British Open 1937 PGA Championship
Vijay Singh 3 1998 PGA Championship 2004 PGA Championship
Jordan Spieth 3 2015 Masters 2017 British Open
Payne Stewart 3 1989 PGA Championship 1999 US Open

Most Wins in Majors—Amateur & Professional Combined

It was once common to include wins in the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur championships when ranking golfers by their wins in majors. This was standard at least through the early 1960s; becoming less common until fading out probably during the 1980s. Today it is rare to do so, but occasionally a golf writer or historian will still quote a combined number.

So, here are the top golfers when professional and amateur major wins are combined:

  • Jack Nicklaus, 20 combined wins in pro and amateur majors
  • Tiger Woods, 17
  • Bobby Jones, 13
  • Walter Hagen, 11
  • John Ball, 9
  • Ben Hogan, 9
  • Gary Player, 9
  • Arnold Palmer, 8
  • Tom Watson, 8

Most Major Wins Per Tournament

Here are the golfers with the most wins in each of the four majors:

  • The Masters: Jack Nicklaus, 6 wins
  • U.S. Open: (tie) Willie Anderson, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Nicklaus, 4 wins each
  • British Open: Harry Vardon, 6
  • PGA Championship: (tie) Walter Hagen and Nicklaus, 5 wins each