Golf Career Grand Slam Winners - Which Players Have Achieved The Feat?

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 five - so far - 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.

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?

Of the currently active players, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth are probably the most likely to join the club, with both sitting just one Major shy of a career Grand Slam.

McIlroy's quest was close to coming to an end in 2022, but his final-round Masters exploits at Augusta National weren't enough to see him finish higher than runner-up, although he'll likely still be looking back at a final-round capitulation in 2011 when he had a four-shot lead ahead of the final round before finishing tied for 15th.

As for Spieth, he just requires a PGA Championship, something he described as an elephant in the room before the 2022 tournament at Southern Hills. The closest he has come so far was runner-up in 2015.