Men's Major Winners

Pod an average player, but his will to win was unreal, him and Phil rough off the tee, but around the green unreal, Spieth monster putter for his majors.

Of the 299 Majors played since 1946, there have been 152 unique winners.
100 of these men won just the one Major, 25 won two, 10 won three, and only 17 won four or more.

Johnson's win on Sunday broke a sequence of 4 consecutive majors having first time winners, and this prompted me to look at the numbers of first time winners and one time winners by decade.

Decade	FTW	OTW
1950's	20	13
1960's	20	16
1970's	16	7
1980's	16	8
1990's	22	14
2000's	19	14
2010's	25	19

As you can see, the 2010's had the highest number of first time winners, and also leads for the highest number who failed to go on to win a further major.

There are only a handful of the 19 who have realistic chances of adding to their tallies, Darren Clarke not being one of them.

From the 2010 US Open (Graeme McDowell) to the 2012 US Open (Webb Simpson), there was a run of 9 consecutive first time Major winners.
This was followed by a run of 7 between the 2015 PGA (Jason Day) and the 2017 US Open (Brooks Koepka).

If you are only going to win a single Major, it is most likely to be the US PGA with 34 one time only Major winners since 1946. The US Open (24) and The Open (23) are closely matched, whilst The Masters is the least likely with just 19.

Of the 25 first time Major winners in the 2010's, six have gone on to claim another, they are Martin Kaymer, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, and Brooks Koepka.

It is my hunch that the trend of first time winners will continue, such is the depth of global talent, combined with the variables experienced in a golf tournament.

Here's the list of winners of 4 or more Majors since 1946

Player	Masters	US Open	Open	US PGA	Total
Jack Nicklaus	6	4	3	5	18
Tiger Woods	5	3	3	4	15
Ben Hogan	2	4	1	2	9
Gary Player	3	1	3	2	9
Tom Watson	2	1	5	-	8
Arnold Palmer	4	1	2	-	7
Lee Trevino	-	2	2	2	6
Nick Faldo	3	-	3	-	6
Sam Snead	3	-	1	2	6
Peter Thomson	-	-	5	-	5
Phil Mickelson	3	-	1	1	5
Seve Ballesteros	2	-	3	-	5
Bobby Locke	-	-	4	-	4
Brooks Koepka	-	2	-	2	4
Ernie Els	-	2	2	-	4
Raymond Floyd	1	1	-	2	4
Rory McIlroy	-	1	1	2	4

Interesting to note that the top four on the list have triumphed at all four Majors.
Also interesting to note Peter Thomson with his 5 Open wins (1954,1955,1956,1958,1965).

Whilst pulling together this data, I discovered that the US PGA was a match play tournament until switching to stroke play in 1958.

It also switched its place in the calendar during the 40's and 50's, often leaving a small gap between its conclusion and the opening day of The Open.

The Top 17 winners have claimed 119 of the 299 Majors played since 1946, or 40%.

Compare this to tennis in the Open era (since 1968) where 5 women have bagged 92 of the 210 Grand Slam titles (44%), there have been 54 unique winners, 25 of them winning just one Grand Slam title.

For the men, the top 5 winners have accumulated 82 of the 210 Grand Slam titles (39%), there have been 55 unique winners, 25 of them winning just one Grand Slam title.

Quite a range of history for the Majors.
The Open was first competed for in 1860, the US Open in 1895, the US PGA in 1916, whilst the Masters is a relative youngster, first being played in 1934.

The venue for the 1907 and 1910 US Open was the Philadelphia Cricket Club, but the most amusing venue was for the 1898 US Open. It was played at the Myopia Hunt Club in South Hamilton, Massachusetts.

And no, it wasn't won by Mr Magoo, Fred Herd from St Andrews triumphed on that occasion.

Angoose 17 Nov 20 11:17 
It is my hunch that the trend of first time winners will continue, such is the depth of global talent, combined with the variables experienced in a golf tournament.

I think this is a myth. I certainly don't think the number of first time/ one time winners in the 2010s was down to depth of global talent. Just look at some of those who reached the peak of the world ranking in early 2010 decade hardly legends of the game all blown away when Tiger returned to fitness in 2013.

Currently there is a lack of a dominant player in the world - DJ could lay a case but needs to win more majors to cement his legacy. There is plenty of hype, technology helps but no player in the current era has managed to establish themselves as the complete player on a consistent basis.

Look at those who have won 7 or more majors all legends of the game.

Angoose 17 Nov 20 11:17 
It is my hunch that the trend of first time winners will continue, such is the depth of global talent, combined with the variables experienced in a golf tournament.

I think this is a myth. I certainly don't think the number of first time/ one time winners in the 2010s was down to depth of global talent. Just look at some of those who reached the peak of the world ranking in early 2010 decade hardly legends of the game all blown away when Tiger returned to fitness in 2013.

Currently there is a lack of a dominant player in the world - DJ could lay a case but needs to win more majors to cement his legacy. There is plenty of hype, technology helps but no player in the current era has managed to establish themselves as the complete player on a consistent basis.

Look at those who have won 7 or more majors all legends of the game.

Angoose 17 Nov 20 11:17 
It is my hunch that the trend of first time winners will continue, such is the depth of global talent, combined with the variables experienced in a golf tournament.

I think this is a myth. I certainly don't think the number of first time/ one time winners in the 2010s was down to depth of global talent. Just look at some of those who reached the peak of the world ranking in early 2010 decade hardly legends of the game all blown away when Tiger returned to fitness in 2013.

Currently there is a lack of a dominant player in the world - DJ could lay a case but needs to win more majors to cement his legacy. There is plenty of hype, technology helps but no player in the current era has managed to establish themselves as the complete player on a consistent basis.

Look at those who have won 7 or more majors all legends of the game.

Nostalgia aint what it used to be