Winning a Major is a dream for any golfer, but only very few have won all four in the men's game, The Masters, PGA Championship, US Open and The Open.
There are actually two types of Grand Slam. The "easiest" to attain is the career Grand Slam. That's defined as winning all four Majors at least once during a player's career. Even rarer is the Grand Slam, which is when a player claims all four Majors in the calendar year.
Not surprisingly, these moments don't come along very often... at all, with only one player winning a Grand Slam and just six completing a career Grand Slam. Here are the details of those who have done it, and some who still might.
Bobby Jones
Before The Masters began in 1934, the US and British Amateur Championships were two of the game's Majors. That meant to win a Grand Slam, a player would need to have consecutive victories in the US Amateur, British Amateur, US Open and The Open.
The one player to manage it, Bobby Jones, did so across those pre-Masters tournaments, and he achieved it in 1930
Before Jones' brilliant year, the thought of winning all four Majors in a calendar year seemed so outlandish that the term "Grand Slam" didn't even exist.
In total, Jones won 13 Majors in a seven-year period between 1923 and 1930, but it's his Grand Slam year for which he will be forever remembered, with wins over Roger Wethered at The Amateur, Leo Diegel and Macdonald Smith at The Open, Smith again at the US Open and Eugene V Homans at the US Amateur bringing him an achievement that no one else has matched.
Gene Sarazen
Sarazen amassed seven Majors in his career, and along the way, he became the first player to win the modern-era career Grand Slam just a year after The Masters began, in 1935.
The American was certainly made to wait to complete his collection of all four Majors. His first Major title came in 1922 with the US Open, and a month later he was halfway to a career Grand Slam when he won the PGA Championship. More victories in the two followed before he won The Open in 1932, leaving just one Major to conquer - The Masters.
Three years after his Open win, Sarazen, helped by an iconic albatross dubbed "the shot heard round the world," he won at Augusta National, beating Craig Wood to complete his collection. To mark the 20th anniversary of his wonder shot at the 15th, the Sarazen Bridge was built there in 1955.
Ben Hogan
In 1953, Ben Hogan won The Masters, US Open and The Open, but it was impossible for him to win all four as the latter tournament's dates overlapped with the PGA Championship, scuppering his chances of matched Bobby Jones' Grand Slam.
Instead, he had to settle for the career Grand Slam, which was confirmed after his Open win thanks to winning the PGA Championship in 1946. Hogan remains the only player to have won The Masters, the US Open and The Open in the same calendar year.
Gary Player
Gary Player won nine Majors in a trophy-laden career, with his first coming at the 1959 Open. Two years later, he had the first of his three Masters wins, which was followed by his maiden PGA Championship title in 1962. He completed his career Grand Slam with his 1965 win in the US Open.
As well as The Masters, Player also won The Open three times, with two PGA Championship victories. However, despite coming close to a second US Open win (he finished tied for second in 1979), another eluded him, leaving him with only one career Grand Slam.
Jack Nicklaus
Even Jack Nicklaus, with the all-time record haul of 18 Majors, only ever won two of golf's most prestigious tournaments in a calendar year (albeit on five occasions). However, the Golden Bear won a career Grand Slam three times, and he achieved the first of those with his win in the 1966 Open having first won the US Open in 1963 and The Masters and PGA Championship the year after.
By the time he retired, Nicklaus fell just one more Open win short of a fourth career Grand Slam, with his final Claret Jug win coming in 1978, eight years before his last Major title in the 1986 Masters.
Tiger Woods
To say it has proved difficult for anyone to join Jones since his Grand Slam would be an understatement. However, one player in the modern era has come close, Tiger Woods.
In 2000, Woods finished fifth at The Masters, but then won the year's remaining three Majors. He then won the 2001 Masters, which completed an achievement unique to him: victories at all four Majors within 365 days. That is now known as the Tiger Slam, and is regarded as the modern-era equivalent of Jones' achievement.
By the time Woods had the Tiger Slam, he had already completed his career Grand Slam, with his win in the 2000 Open adding to his 1997 Masters demolition of the field, his 1999 PGA Championship win, and 2000 US Open victory. In total, Woods has won enough of all four Majors for three career Grand Slams.
Rory McIlroy
Like Sarazen, Rory McIlroy had to be patient to fulfill his destiny as a career Grand Slam winner. He got the ball rolling in 2011 by winning the US Open, but that really ought to have been his second Major title after he lost a four-shot lead at The Masters two months earlier, eventually finishing T15.
Regardless, after McIlroy won the PGA Championship at Valhalla in 2012, he was halfway to golfing immortality just five years after turning pro. By the end of the 2014 Open, he had three of the four Major titles after winning by two at Royal Liverpool. A month later, McIlroy cemented his early reputation as a man for the big occasion with a second PGA Championship title. Surely a Masters title would be along shortly?
It didn't work out that way. Instead, McIlroy endured 11 long years not just trying to win at Augusta National, but trying to win any more Major titles as his capitulation in 2011 haunted him.
Finally, in the most dramatic circumstances imaginable, he got the win he craved in 2025 after beating Justin Rose in the first hole of a playoff to take his place alongside the game's legends at the age of just 35.
Missing Majors
A number of golfers have failed to achieve the career Grand Slam, despite coming close.
Sam Snead was one. He claimed every Major title at least once, except the US Open, where he finished runner-up four times. Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson also each won three Majors, but failed to win a PGA Championship, while Lee Trevino missed out on The Masters title for his career Grand Slam. Byron Nelson and Raymond Floyd also missed out by one after failing to win The Open.
It's not too late for Phil Mickelson to achieve his career Grand Slam, but he'll have to overcome his US Open hoodoo to do it. Mickelson has said he will retire if he ever achieves it. If he ever does get over the line at the Major, he'll deserve whatever he chooses to do next after finishing second at it a record six times. However, now well into his 50s, time is not on his side.
Next Career Grand Slam Member?
With Rory McIlroy finally in the career Grand Slam club, Jordan Spieth is the only player, along with Mickelson, who needs just one of the Majors to achieve the feat: Jordan Spieth.
Unlike McIlroy, he had few issues getting over the line at Augusta National, winning The Masters in just his second appearance. Two months later, he added the US Open to his collection, before winning The Open in 2017.
At that point, Spieth also had a runner-up in the PGA Championship to his name, which he achieved in 2015. However, despite 12 attempts, by the end of the 2024 event at Valhalla, he was still yet to claim victory at the Major.
