So, I was kicking back the other day, watching some golf reruns, and a thought hit me. You know how everyone talks about the greats, but who actually stacked up the most wins in the really big tournaments? I mean the majors – The Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open, and that British one, The Open Championship. Seemed like a simple question, but I realized I didn’t actually know the definitive list off the top of my head.
I figured, okay, let’s settle this for myself. It started pretty casually. I just opened up my browser and started searching. But you know how it goes online, right? First, you get lists of total PGA Tour wins, which is impressive, sure, but not quite what I was after. Some guys won loads of tournaments, but how many were majors?
It got a bit messy trying to sort through different stats and eras. Guys from way back when played in fewer events, or the majors weren’t all considered ‘majors’ yet in the same way. So I decided to get a bit more methodical about it.
My Own Little Tally Sheet
I pulled up the official winners lists for each of the four majors. Took a bit of time, scrolling through the years. I basically started my own little spreadsheet, nothing fancy, just names and counts. I focused on the players everyone mentions and some older names that kept popping up.
Here’s the interesting part:
As I started counting, the same names obviously kept appearing at the top. It wasn’t rocket science, but actually doing the counting myself, seeing the numbers pile up next to each name, really drove it home.
- First name that just dominated my list was Jack Nicklaus. Counted them up one by one – ended up with 18. Seeing that number, 18 majors, written down felt kinda wild.
- Then, obviously, Tiger Woods. His name filled up the list pretty fast too. Got him down for 15. Still incredible.
- Walter Hagen was a surprise, honestly. Knew the name, but didn’t realize he snagged 11 majors back in the day. That’s serious stuff.
- Then I had a tie: Ben Hogan and Gary Player, both sitting on 9. Different eras, different styles, but both got it done nine times on the biggest stage.
- Tom Watson came next with 8. Always felt like he was winning when I was younger.
- After that, you get a bunch of legends hovering around 7, like Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen, even Bobby Jones, though his amateur status makes his count a bit different depending on who you ask. Still, 7 majors is huge.
Putting this little list together for myself, just based on digging through the winners of those four specific events, was pretty eye-opening. It wasn’t some complex analysis, just simple counting based on the records. But it gave me a clearer picture than just hearing names thrown around.
It clarified things in my own head, you know? Like, okay, this is the benchmark for major dominance. These are the guys who consistently conquered the toughest tests in golf. Anyway, that was my little project for the afternoon. Just thought I’d share the process and what I ended up jotting down. Makes watching the history specials a bit more interesting now.