I’m watching the U.S. Open from home this week, which means I’m missing plenty of nuance about the sights and sounds of Shinnecock, arguably the greatest American golf course and an epic major championship host.
But if there’s an advantage to monitoring from my living room, it’s that it’s easier to focus on some of the big-picture stuff. While on-site pre-tournament conversation has included the typical glorious minutiae of the sport — syringing greens, rolling back the golf ball rollback, modifying two “tracks” of a Tour schedule — I’d like to direct our attention to a different major topic: Who’s got the most of ’em?
The absence of both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson from this year’s major championships has clarified this conversation. In professional golf, the concept of an “active” player is less clear-cut than in other sports — 50-year-old Tim Duncan wasn’t going to suddenly join the Spurs in last week’s NBA Finals, though 50-year-old Woods could well play next year’s Masters — but if we look to the post-Tiger-and-Phil generation, an interesting picture emerges. Check this out:
MOST CAREER MAJORS (players under 50 years old)
6 – Rory McIlroy 5 – Brooks Koepka 4 – Scottie Scheffler 3 – Jordan Spieth 2 – A bunch of other interesting guys
(Before we go further, I would like to issue a formal apology here to Padraig Harrington, who is a three-time major champion and is in this week’s U.S. Open field but, at 54 years old, is very much in the Tiger-and-Phil generation.)
This gives us two things:
— An updated appreciation for just how tough it is to win three-plus of these things
and
— A remarkably clean (if oversimplified) power ranking of this generation’s golfers
McIlroy’s latest Masters win edged him ahead of Koepka, which feels appropriate given how good he’s been for this long. Scheffler’s four titles have all come in the last four years, suggesting he has plenty more on the way. And Spieth’s three titles put him a cut above the legion of two-time major champs — at least for now.
All four arrive at Shinnecock at notably different points in their respective careers. Let’s run through them:
No. 4: Jordan Spieth (three majors)
Spieth is still Spieth, one of golf’s most fascinating watches, capable of heroics and calamity and often both. The good news is that even though his hole-to-hole play isn’t exactly consistent, he’s on a remarkable run of tournament consistency, logging top-20s in seven of his last 12 starts. The bad news is he hasn’t seriously challenged for a tournament win yet this season; none of those top-20s are top-10s.
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No. 3: Scottie Scheffler (four majors)
Scheffler won his four majors in the last four-and-a-half years, including three of the last 10 played. If he’s not technically at the peak of his powers right now, that’s because last year’s peak was so damn high. But he’s still the clear-cut World No. 1 and enters the U.S. Open at the top of the odds board; the U.S. Open would also complete his career Grand Slam.
His assessment of his season thus far:
“I feel like I’ve been close most of the year. I feel like I just haven’t been as sharp as I needed to be. I think the margins in this game are so small. For me to be winning a lot of tournaments, you’ve got to just be really, really sharp.”
No. 2: Brooks Koepka (five majors)
While Koepka’s major record has always made him an overachiever when stacked up against his non-major accomplishments (five major wins, four non-major PGA Tour wins), his pattern of rising to the occasion became undeniable; at his peak Koepka was a major specialist.
But where does Koepka stand now? He hasn’t had a top-10 finish at a major since the 2023 PGA Championship, his fifth and most recent win. He’s been pretty good in this year’s return to the PGA Tour, stacking up six top-20 finishes in his last nine starts. But like Spieth, he hasn’t quite contended for the win; his highest finish is T9. And he enters off an ulnar nerve injury that forced him to WD just last weekend. Time to see if a return to Shinnecock brings back the good vibes of his 2018 victory. How does he feel now compared to then?
“I feel just as good,” he said, projecting nothing but confidence. “I think my ball striking is even better than what it’s been. Putting, I had a great week putting last week. I’m excited for the challenge.”
No. 1: Rory McIlroy (six majors)
McIlroy’s second consecutive Masters victory put him, appropriately, on top of this list. He’s been an incredibly good and incredibly consistent pro for nearly half his life. It feels right that he has more majors than anyone else in that span.
There’s plenty of reason to keep pushing, though. McIlroy has talked about wanting to win the U.S. Open at an epic venue like this one. Another win would also break a tie with Mickelson, get him into the top 10 all time (tied with Jones, Sarazen, Snead, Palmer) and put valuable space between himself and the hard-charging Scheffler. There’s no reason he can’t win another this year; he’s the clear-cut No. 2 in the world behind Scheffler.
So what does he make of Shinnecock?
“I think it’s the best championship test in the country. I think it tests all aspects of the game: driving, iron play, you need to have your wits about you on the greens. It’s a lot of strategy, thoughtfulness,” he said. “It’s a wonderful golf course, and I’m looking forward to the test that it’s going to provide this week.”
Honorable Mentions: The group at 2
The list of golfers under 50 with two majors is remarkable; there may be flukey one-off champs, but it’s damn hard to be a flukey two-time champ.
Active golfers with two majors:
Xander Schauffele Jon Rahm Bryson DeChambeau Collin Morikawa Justin Thomas Dustin Johnson Bubba Watson Martin Kaymer
It’s tough to pick who’d be most deserving of a third because, well, check out that list. It’s easier to pick who’d be most deserving of a second; Justin Rose and Adam Scott would be appropriate additions to the multi-major list.
What’s the point? The point is that only four of these are given out every year. All of ’em matter. And every rung on the major ladder is tough to climb — but gets you meaningfully closer to the top.
