– The victory of Rory McIlroy in the Masters de 2025 went down in history above all because, with it, the Northern Irishman completed the Grand Slam Career, thus becoming the sixth player in history to record a win at least once in each of the four majors, following Gene Sarazen (who completed it with his triumph at the Masters in 1935), Ben Hogan (The Open 1953), Gary Player (US Open 1965), Jack Nicklaus (The Open 1966) and Tiger Woods (The Open 2000).
– It is by no means easy, as you can see, to tick off those four boxes, the ones that mark a victory in every major. But the Grand Slam Career has some ‘little brothers’ that are also very attractive and which, according to Tengolf, are equally slippery and hard to catch. Off the top of your head, how many players would you say, dear reader, have throughout history managed to record at least one top ten in each of the four majors? How many have achieved at least one top 5 in every major? And going further: how many players have recorded at least one top 3 in each of the majors?
– Let’s answer each question in detail. A total of 121 players have throughout history recorded at least one top ten in each of the majors. Depending on how you look at it, that really isn’t many. It remains an exclusive club. As many as five Spanish players have achieved it: Severiano Ballesteros, José María Olazábal, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Sergio García and Jon Rahm.
– Among these 121 there is a truly peculiar case, that of Stuart Appleby, who closed his career with only four top tens in majors, but had the knack of posting them in each of the majors. He was tenth in the 1998 US Open, fourth in the 2000 PGA Championship, second in the 2002 The Open and seventh in the 2007 Masters. And that was that. Appleby is the only one of the 121 in such a singular situation.
– At the other extreme we find, of course, Jack Nicklaus, the player with the most top tens in the history of the majors. He accumulated a total of 73, quite something (22 at the Masters, 18 at the US Open, 18 at The Open and ‘only’ 15 at the PGA Championship).
– But in this list of 121, make no mistake, we find some very striking absences, not to say absolutely surprising. For example, Bernhard Langer recorded a total of 19 top tens in the majors, but never managed one at the PGA Championship, despite having played it twenty times. Another German, Martin Kaymer, is also not in the club because he never recorded a top ten at the Masters. And what about Johnny Miller? He never made a top ten at the PGA, despite having played it 16 times. Ángel Cabrera is also missing the PGA and Bob Charles the Masters. Mark Calcavecchia never managed it at the US Open. A distinguished European like Sandy Lyle never recorded a top ten at either the US Open or the PGA, and Thomas Bjørn missed out on the Masters and the US Open… Let’s finish this section by citing Justin Thomas, who for the moment lacks a top ten at The Open to add to that list of 121.
– If we have 121 players in history who have recorded at least one top ten in each of the majors and, on the other hand, we have 234 different major winners, it might be simple and easy to conclude that it is more difficult to put together those four top tens than a victory… But we are not going to do that. Among other things, because the four majors were not played together each year until 1934, so there are too many players who really never had the opportunity to complete the set of top tens.
– By the way, at the Masters starting next Thursday Harris English and Robert MacIntyre could add to that list of 121 if they finish inside the final top ten, the only one missing from their four-majors record.
– Let’s move on to the list of players who have recorded at least one top 5 in each of the four majors. The cut is considerably more severe. So much so that the list is halved. Only 60 players have recorded at least one top 5 in each of the four majors throughout history.
– This demanding filter leaves out, for example, Miguel Ángel Jiménez (he never managed a top 5 at the PGA) and José María Olazábal (he never managed a top 5 at the US Open). Seve, Sergio and Rahm do pass the cut.
– There are many other illustrious names who left (or have left so far) some top 5s in the inkwell. Be very aware of the names, because they are irrefutable proof of how difficult it is. Besides Olazábal or Jiménez, Lee Trevino — a six-time major winner — always crashed at Augusta and never did it. Neither did Roberto de Vicenzo, David Duval, Retief Goosen, Colin Montgomerie or Darren Clarke. Nor have names of calibre such as Luke Donald, Paul Casey, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton, Patrick Reed or Bryson DeChambeau achieved it to date.
– Well then, only 32 players throughout history have managed to amass at least one top 3 in each of the four majors. Here, as you can see, the matter has already become very thorny. Here is the list of the 32 members of this very exclusive club, ordered according to the total number of top 3s they achieved and specifying the exact figure in each of the four majors. Needless to say, Jack Nicklaus dominates…
1. Jack Nicklaus, 46. He recorded 12 top 3s at the Masters (MA), 9 at the US Open (USO), 13 at The Open (BO) and 12 at the PGA Championship (PGA).
2. Tiger Woods, 26. (8 MA, 6 USO, 5 BO, 7 PGA).
3. Phil Mickelson, 25. (10 MA, 6 USO, 4 BO, 5 PGA).
4. Sam Snead, 22. (8 MA, 5 USO, 1 BO, 8 PGA).
5. Gene Sarazen, 20. (2 MA, 7 USO, 4 BO, 7 PGA).
6. Arnold Palmer, 19. (7 MA, 6 USO, 3 BO, 3 PGA).
7. Gary Player, 18. (6 MA, 3 USO, 4 BO, 5 PGA).
7. Tom Watson, 18. (6 MA, 4 USO, 7 BO, 1 PGA).
9. Ben Hogan, 17. (6 MA, 8 USO, 1 BO, 2 PGA).
10. Ernie Els, 15. (2 MA, 4 USO, 7 BO, 2 PGA).
11. Greg Norman, 14. (6 MA, 2 USO, 4 BO, 2 PGA).
12. Rory McIlroy, 13. (2 MA, 3 USO, 4 BO, 4 PGA).
13. Nick Faldo, 12. (3 MA, 2 USO, 5 BO, 2 PGA).
14. Ben Crenshaw, 11. (6 MA, 1 USO, 3 BO, 1 PGA).
15. Raymond Floyd, 10. (4 MA, 1 USO, 2 BO, 3 PGA).
15. Jordan Spieth, 10. (5 MA, 1 USO, 2 BO, 2 PGA).
17. Craig Wood, 9. (3 MA, 3 USO, 1 BO, 2 PGA).
17. Tom Weiskopf, 9. (4 MA, 3 USO, 1 BO, 1 PGA).
17. Lee Westwood, 9. (3 MA, 2 USO, 3 BO, 1 PGA).
17. Louis Oosthuizen, 9. (1 MA, 3 USO, 3 BO, 2 PGA).
21. Fred Couples, 8. (3 MA, 1 USO, 2 BO, 2 PGA).
21. Justin Rose, 8. (3 MA, 2 USO, 2 BO, 1 PGA).
21. Dustin Johnson, 8. (2 MA, 3 USO, 1 BO, 2 PGA).
24. Sergio García, 7. (1 MA, 1 USO, 2 BO, 3 PGA).
24. Jason Day, 7. (2 MA, 2 USO, 1 BO, 2 PGA).
24. Scottie Scheffler, 7. (2 MA, 2 USO, 1 BO, 2 PGA).
27. Xander Schauffele, 6. (2 MA, 1 USO, 2 BO, 1 PGA).
28. Hubert Green, 5. (1 MA, 1 USO, 1 BO, 2 PGA).
28. Vijay Singh, 5. (1 MA, 1 USO, 1 BO, 2 PGA).
30. Fuzzy Zoeller, 4. (1 MA, 1 USO, 1 BO, 1 PGA)
30. Stewart Cink, 4. (1 MA, 1 USO, 1 BO, 1 PGA).
30. Rickie Fowler, 4. (1 MA, 1 USO, 1 BO, 1 PGA).
– Not included, as you can see, are Seve Ballesteros and Jon Rahm. The genius from Pedreña, surprisingly, never managed a top 3 at the PGA (his best result was 5th in 1984). And Jon Rahm, so far, also hasn’t managed it at the PGA (his best finish to date is 4th in 2018). Sergio García is therefore, for the moment, the only Spanish representative in this very restricted club.
– As well known as they are, Nicklaus’s records are striking. He totals 46 top 3s in 164 majors played, but it should be noted that he played 44 of those 164 after turning fifty. Up to before he turned fifty the Golden Bear had been first, second or third in almost four out of every ten majors he played. Simply savage.
– In this list of 32 only two players without a major victory have sneaked in. They are Lee Westwood and Rickie Fowler. That is some achievement.
– This list of 32 would be reduced to only 19 if we look at which players have recorded at least one top 2 in each of the four majors. The thirteen who fall out are Cink, Couples, Crenshaw, Els, Fowler, Westwood, Sergio García, Green, Rose, Singh, Weiskopf, Zoeller and Schauffele. It is worth highlighting again Nicklaus, who posted 37 top 2s in his career and managed at least four in each of the majors.
– In that final list of 19, so meritorious, we still have eight players active for the big events, unless proved otherwise, led by the current World Numbers 1 and 2, Scheffler and McIlroy. The other six: Woods, Day, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Oosthuizen and Spieth.
