Rory McIlroy has become in the early hours of this Monday, 14th April, the sixth man in history to achieve the Grand Slam of golf. In other words, to win at least once in each of the four Majors: Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, US Open, and The Open Championship.
McIlroy thus joins a prestigious club, the greatest in this sport, where Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Tiger Woods were already members. In fact, Tiger was the last to achieve the Grand Slam 25 years ago. He did it by winning The Open Championship at St Andrews, surely the best possible venue alongside Augusta National.
McIlroy won his first major in 2011. It was the US Open at Congressional. He claimed it just two months after suffering a severe defeat precisely at the Masters. He entered the final nine holes with a four-shot lead and ended up succumbing. In a twist of history, Rory almost experienced the same fate. He also entered the final nine this Sunday with a four-shot lead and it cost him blood, sweat, and tears to win.
After the 2011 US Open, he consecutively won The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool and the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, both in 2014. Since then, he has had the opportunity to win the Grand Slam every time he has played the Masters. That is, he needed a total of eleven attempts, all the editions he played between 2015 and 2025. During this time, he finished six times in the top 10 and four times in the top 5. He never tired of knocking on the door and finally broke it down. Nearly 25 years have passed, a total of 9,030 days between Tiger Woods’ Grand Slam and Rory McIlroy’s.
These are the six golfers who have achieved the Grand Slam and when they did it:
1.- Gene Sarazen
Masters Tournament: 1935
US Open: 1922, 1932
The Open: 1932
PGA Championship: 1922, 1923, 1933
Grand Slam completed: 1935 with the victory at the Masters.
2.- Ben Hogan
Masters Tournament: 1951, 1953
US Open: 1948, 1950, 1951, 1953
The Open: 1953
PGA Championship: 1946, 1948
Grand Slam completed: 1953 with the victory at The Open.
3.- Gary Player
Masters Tournament: 1961, 1974, 1978
US Open: 1965
The Open: 1959, 1968, 1974
PGA Championship: 1962, 1972
Grand Slam completed: 1965 with the victory at the US Open.
4.- Jack Nicklaus
Masters Tournament: 1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975, 1986
US Open: 1962, 1967, 1972, 1980
The Open: 1966, 1970, 1978
PGA Championship: 1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980
Grand Slam completed: 1966 with the victory at The Open.
5.- Tiger Woods
Masters Tournament: 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2019
US Open: 2000, 2002, 2008
The Open: 2000, 2005, 2006
PGA Championship: 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007
Grand Slam completed: 2000 with the victory at The Open.
6.- Rory McIlroy
Masters Tournament: 2025
US Open: 2011
PGA Championship: 2014
Open Championship: 2014.
Grand Slam completed: 2025 with the victory at the Masters.
Rory McIlroy is the player who needed the most attempts to win the Grand Slam, no less than eleven times, while Sarazen achieved it on his first try in 1935, Hogan also on his first try at The Open in 1953 (the first and only time he played it), Nicklaus on his fourth attempt, Player on his third, and Tiger also on his first. McIlroy, moreover, achieved it with his fifth major victory, while Tiger did it with his fourth, Player also with his fourth, Nicklaus with his seventh, Hogan with his eighth, and Sarazen with his seventh.
Between Sarazen and Hogan, 18 years passed, between Hogan and Player, twelve years elapsed, barely two between Player and Nicklaus, and no less than 33 years between Nicklaus and Tiger. Now, Rory has done it again 25 years after Tiger, the second longest gap in history. Will we have to wait so long for the next one?
It is worth noting that Tiger Woods achieved the so-called “Tiger Slam” by winning the four majors consecutively between 2000 and 2001, although not in the same calendar year. Therefore, the last Grand Slam is Tiger Woods’ in the year 2000. Rory McIlroy can achieve it today 25 years later.
There are two golfers one Major away from completing the Grand Slam:
Jordan Spieth: Won the Masters and the US Open in 2015 and The Open in 2017. He is missing the PGA Championship.
Phil Mickelson: Has won the Masters (2004, 2006, 2010), the PGA Championship (2005, 2021), and The Open (2013). The US Open is the only major that eludes him.
In this context, the Grand Slam represents the pinnacle of success in professional golf. The exclusivity of this achievement reflects the difficulty of dominating the four most prestigious tournaments in the sport. With each season, new talents seek to inscribe their name on this select list, keeping the excitement and history of golf alive.
