Major Championship
A major championship is one of the small group of tournaments regarded as the most important and prestigious events in professional golf. Men’s professional golf has four majors; women’s and senior professional golf each have five.
What is a major championship?
A handful of tournaments each year carry far more weight than the rest of the schedule, and those are the majors. Winning one can change how a player is remembered for the rest of their life.
The men’s game has four: the Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open, and The Open Championship. Each is run by a different organization, and none of them is operated by the PGA Tour, the circuit where most of the world’s leading men play week to week (Wikipedia, “Men’s major golf championships”). They share no single owner. What they share is status. The majors draw the strongest fields in the sport, and they award the most Official World Golf Ranking points of any events on the calendar.
That status is why a golfer’s place in history rests so heavily on major wins. Jack Nicklaus holds the record with 18 professional major titles, and Tiger Woods sits second with 15 (Wikipedia). A player can win dozens of ordinary tour events and still be measured, first and foremost, by how they fared on these four weeks. Women’s and senior golf have their own majors, covered further down.
The four men’s major championships
The four are played across four months of the year, from April to July. Each has its own governing body and its own trophy, and each plays differently from the rest.
| Championship | First played | Run by | Usual month | Where it is played |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masters | 1934 | Augusta National Golf Club | April | Augusta National, Georgia (same course every year) |
| PGA Championship | 1916 | PGA of America | May | Rotating courses across the United States |
| U.S. Open | 1895 | United States Golf Association (USGA) | June | Rotating courses across the United States |
| The Open Championship | 1860 | The R&A | July | Rotating links courses in the United Kingdom |
The Masters is the only major held at the same venue year after year, and it invites the smallest field of the four, generally fewer than 100 players (Wikipedia). Its winner receives the famous green jacket. The PGA Championship, run by the PGA of America, moves between parkland courses in the United States and reserves a portion of its field for club professionals rather than full-time tour players.
The U.S. Open has a reputation for the hardest setups in the game: narrow fairways, thick rough, and greens that punish anything less than a precise approach. It is rarely won at a score far under par. The Open Championship, often called the British Open outside the U.K., is the oldest of the four and the one played on links courses, the firm, treeless coastal ground where golf began in Scotland. Wind and weather, more than any trick of the setup, tend to be the field’s main test. Its champion lifts the Claret Jug, a trophy first presented in the 1870s.
Major championships vs. the Grand Slam
These two terms get mixed up often, so it helps to separate them. A major is a single tournament. The Grand Slam is what people call the achievement of winning all four in a defined stretch of time, and it comes in a few forms.
| Term | What it means | Achieved by |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar-year Grand Slam | Winning all four majors within one calendar year | No man has done it in the professional era |
| Career Grand Slam | Winning each of the four at least once over a career | Six men (see below) |
| Tiger Slam | Holding all four titles at the same time, across two seasons | Tiger Woods, 2000–2001 |
Only six men have completed the career Grand Slam: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Rory McIlroy. McIlroy finished the set at the 2025 Masters, the first player to get there since Woods in 2000 (Golflink). The calendar-year version, all four in twelve months, has never been done in the professional era. The closest anyone has come is the Tiger Slam, when Woods held all four trophies at once after the 2000 U.S. Open, Open Championship, and PGA Championship, and the 2001 Masters (Topend Sports).
Bobby Jones did win all four of golf’s biggest events in a single year, back in 1930, but the majors then were the U.S. and British Opens, together with the U.S. and British Amateur championships (Wikipedia). The amateur titles later dropped out of the definition as professional golf grew.
Women’s and senior major championships
Women’s professional golf and the senior game each maintain their own sets of majors.
Women’s majors
The LPGA Tour recognizes five women’s majors. The list has changed several times over the decades, with the Evian Championship the most recent addition, elevated to major status in 2013 (Golf Compendium). The current five are the Chevron Championship, the U.S. Women’s Open, the Women’s PGA Championship, the Evian Championship, and the AIG Women’s Open, also known as the Women’s British Open.
Senior majors
Senior golf covers professionals aged 50 and over, played mainly on the PGA Tour Champions circuit, which lists five majors of its own. They are The Tradition, the Senior PGA Championship, the U.S. Senior Open, the Senior Players Championship, and The Senior Open Championship (Golf Compendium).
Why winning a major matters
The rewards go well beyond the trophy. A major winner receives the maximum 100 points available from the Official World Golf Ranking, more than any other single result can provide (Wikipedia). That ranking boost ripples through qualification for future events and invitations around the world.
There is also long-term security. Winning a major brings a multi-year exemption on the main professional tours, so the champion no longer has to grind to keep a tour card, and past champions of the Masters and the PGA Championship hold standing invitations to return (Wikipedia). Add the sponsorship interest that follows a first major, and a single week can reshape a career. For the established stars, majors are simply the currency by which greatness gets counted.
Who decides what counts as a major?
No official body owns the label “major.” There is no trademark and no governing committee that stamps a tournament as one. The four men’s majors hold their status through history and long tradition, backed by the consensus of the players and organizations involved.
That consensus took time to settle. The current four came to be widely accepted around 1960, when Arnold Palmer’s pursuit of all four in a season helped popularize the modern idea of the Grand Slam (Wikipedia). Every so often, the debate reopens over a possible fifth major. The Players Championship, the PGA Tour’s flagship event, is sometimes called an unofficial “fifth major,” though it holds no such standing, and the weight of tradition behind the existing four has kept the number at four.
Related Golf Terms
- Bag tag — A tag identifying a golfer’s bag and club membership.
- Tap-in — A very short putt that is almost certain to be made.
- Exemption — Status granting a player entry into events without qualifying.
- Comeback putt — The return putt left after a missed first attempt.
- Missed the cut — Failing to qualify for the final rounds of a tournament.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many majors are there in golf?
Men’s professional golf has four. Women’s professional golf has five, and senior men’s golf has five as well.
What are the four golf majors in order of play?
The Masters in April, the PGA Championship in May, the U.S. Open in June, and The Open Championship in July.
Which golf major is the oldest?
The Open Championship, first contested in 1860, which makes it the oldest of the four and the oldest professional golf tournament still played.
Who has won the most major championships?
Jack Nicklaus, with 18 professional majors. Tiger Woods is next with 15.
Is The Players Championship a major?
No. It is a marquee PGA Tour event sometimes nicknamed the “fifth major,” but it carries no official major status.
Sources
- Wikipedia. “Men’s major golf championships.” Accessed July 2026.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_major_golf_championships - Golflink. “Golf’s Grand Slam: who’s done it and who’s close.” Accessed July 2026.
https://golflink.com/tour-golf/golfs-grand-slam-whos-done-it-and-whos-close - Topend Sports. “Grand Slam of Golf.” Accessed July 2026.
https://www.topendsports.com/events/golf-majors/grand-slam.htm - Golf Compendium. “Which golf tournaments are the major championships?” Accessed July 2026.
https://www.golfcompendium.com/2022/10/what-are-major-championships-in-golf.html - The R&A. “The Open Championship.” Accessed July 2026.
https://www.theopen.com - United States Golf Association (USGA). “U.S. Open.” Accessed July 2026.
https://www.usga.org - PGA of America. “PGA Championship.” Accessed July 2026.
https://www.pga.com - Masters Tournament / Augusta National Golf Club. Accessed July 2026.
https://www.masters.com - LPGA. “Women’s Major Championships.” Accessed July 2026.
https://www.lpga.com - PGA Tour Champions. “Senior Majors.” Accessed July 2026.
https://www.pgatour.com/champions - Official World Golf Ranking. “How the system works.” Accessed July 2026.
https://www.owgr.com
