Koepka Joins Seve, Byron Nelson On Five Majors - But Where Does That Put Him All-Time?

Only 14 players in the history of golf have won more men's Majors than Brooks Koepka, who joins Seve Ballesteros as a five-time champion on the all-time list

Brooks Koepka with the trophy after winning the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Brooks Koepka has catapulted himself into golfing greatness by winning his fifth Major at the 2023 PGA Championship – putting him level with golfing icons such as Seve Ballesteros.

Koepka won four Majors in eight starts from 2017-19 as the dominant force in golf, and after four years he added a third PGA Championship to his two US Opens when he triumphed by two shots at Oak Hill.

The 33-year-old is just the 20th player in the long history of the sport to have won five men's Majors, so he’s already in elite company with still plenty of life left in his career.

He’s never been a prolific winner on the PGA Tour with just four victories in regular events - meaning he’s actually won more Majors – and he’s not been afraid to admit he finds it much easier to get up for the four biggest tests in golf than the everyday events.

Now playing in LIV Golf, that could be ideal for Koepka to save himself for the Majors, and maybe match or even surpass some of the huge names that he’s now mixing it with on the list of all-time Major winners.

With five, Koepka has drawn level with the great Seve, and also Peter Thomson, Byron Nelson, James Braid and John Henry Taylor.

There’s only 14 players who have won more men's Majors than Koepka, so he even now has to be considered among the greats, with some big names next up on the list.

An iconic trio of Sir Nick Faldo, Phil Mickelson and Lee Trevino all sit on six Major titles, before he’d then be looking up at the group of seven-time champions who are all legends of the game.

Harry Vardon, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Bobby Jones and of course Arnold Palmer all had seven Majors in their careers – and now Koepka is just two away from those.

The way he’s been playing he has every chance of chasing them down.

The all-time list of major winners

18 - Jack Nicklaus

15 - Tiger Woods

11 - Walter Hagen

9 - Ben Hogan, Garry Player

8 - Tom Watson

7 - Harry Vardon, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer

6 - Sir Nick Faldo, Phil Mickelson, Lee Trevino

5 - Seve Ballesteros, Peter Thomson, James Braid, John Henry Taylor, Byron Nelson, Brooks Koepka

Paul Higham
Contributor

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush.