Golfers Who Finished in Top 10 at All Four Men's Majors in the Same Year

Performance in major championships has outsized influence over how golf fans (and history) judge professional golfers. And winning majors is the goal, but playing great in majors — posting high finishes, Top 10 finishes — is also expected of great golfers. So if a golfer finishes inside the Top 10 at each of the four majors (Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, PGA Championship) in the same year, well, that's a sign of a golfer having a good year and showing great consistency in the biggest events.

How often does a golfer post Top 10 finishes in all four majors in the same year in men's professional golf? It's not exactly common. In fact, it happened only once prior to 1960. Multiple golfers haved pulled off the feat since then.

Here is the list of golfers who've finished in the Top 10 at all four majors in the same year:

Ed Dudley

• 1937: Ed Dudley placed third in The Masters, fifth in the U.S. Open, sixth in the British Open and reached the Round of 16 in the PGA Championship.

The PGA Championship was a match-play tournament at the time, and losing in the Round of 16 meant tying (with seven other golfers) for ninth place. So Dudley just squeaks into being the first golfer ever to finish in the Top 10 at all four majors in one year.

Why was achieving this feat so rare prior to 1960? Because prior to 1960, when the next guy on this list provided an example, it was rare for any golfer to even play all four majors. Travel costs were so great in earlier days that American golfers rarely played the British Open and British golfers rarely played the U.S. Open.

Arnold Palmer

Twenty-three years after Dudley was the first golfer to do it, Arnie was the second. And then six years after that, Arnie was the first to pull off this accomplishment twice.

• 1960: Palmer won The Masters, won the U.S. Open, finished second in the British Open and tied for seventh place in the PGA Championship.
• 1966: Tied for fourth in The Masters, was second in the U.S. Open, tied for eighth in the British Open, and tied for sixth in the PGA Championship.

Gary Player

• 1963: Tied for fifth in The Masters, tied for eighth in the U.S. Open, tied for seventh in the British Open, tied for eighth in the PGA Championship.
• 1974: Won The Masters, tied for eighth in the U.S. Open, won the British Open, tied for seventh in the PGA Championship.

Doug Sanders

• 1966: Tied for fourth in The Masters, tied for eighth in the U.S. Open, tied for second in the British Open, tied for sixth in the PGA Championship.

Miller Barber

• 1969: Seventh in The Masters, tied for sixth in the U.S. Open, 10th in the British Open, tied for fifth in the PGA Championship.

Barber must be considered the unlikeliest name on this list of golfers who finished in the Top 10 at all four majors in one year. Why? Because outside of 1969, he had only two other Top 10 finishes in majors in his career.

Jack Nicklaus

The Golden Bear didn't pull of this feat in the 1960s but in the 1970s he really got rolling and had five years in which he was in the Top 10 at all four majors. No other golfer has achieved this distinction more than three times. Nicklaus, in 1971, also became the first golfer to finish in the Top 5 at all four majors in the same year, something he did again in 1973.

In fact, from 1971 through 1977, Nicklaus finished outside the Top 10 in a major only two times.

• 1971: Tied for second in The Masters, second in the U.S. Open, tied for fifth in the British Open, won the PGA Championship.
• 1973: Tied for third in The Masters, tied for fourth in the U.S. Open, fourth in the British Open, won the PGA Championship.
• 1974: Tied for fourth in The Masters, tied 10th in the U.S. Open, third in the British Open, second in the PGA Championship.
• 1975: Won The Masters, tied for seventh in the U.S. Open, tied for third in the British Open, won the PGA Championship.
• 1977: Second in The Masters, tied for 10th in the U.S. Open, second in the British Open, third in the PGA Championship.

Hale Irwin

• 1975: Tied fourth at The Masters, tied for third in the U.S. Open, ninth in the British Open, tied fifth in the PGA Championship.

Tom Watson

In addition to Nicklaus, Watson is the only other golfer to have three different years in which he placed in the Top 10 at all four majors. He did it first in 1975, which was also the first year in which Watson played in more than two of the majors.

• 1975: Tied for eighth in The Masters, tied ninth in the U.S. Open, won the British Open, ninth in the PGA Championship.
• 1977: Won The Masters, tied for seventh in the U.S. Open, won the British Open, tied for sixth in the PGA Championship.
• 1982: Tied for fifth in The Masters, won the U.S. Open, won the British Open, tied for ninth at the PGA Championship.

Ben Crenshaw

• 1987: Tied for fourth in The Masters, tied for fourth in the U.S. Open, tied for fourth in the British Open, tied for seventh in the PGA Championship.

Tiger Woods

Woods, it might surprise some, has only pulled off this accomplishment twice. But both times, Tiger finished in the Top 5 (not just the Top 10) at all four majors. Nicklaus and Woods are the only golfers who have achieved the Top 5 quadrilateral twice.

• 2000: Fifth in The Masters, won the U.S. Open, won the British Open, won the PGA Championship.
• 2005: Won The Masters, second in the U.S. Open, won the British Open, tied for fourth in the PGA Championship.

Sergio Garcia

• 2002: Eighth in The Masters, fourth in the U.S. Open, tied for eighth in the British Open, tied for 10th in the PGA Championship.

Ernie Els

• 2004: Second in The Masters, tied for ninth in the U.S. Open, second in the British Open, tied fourth in the PGA Championship.

Phil Mickelson

• 2004: Won The Masters, second in the U.S. Open, third in the British Open, tied for sixth in the PGA Championship.

Vijay Singh

• 2005: Tied for fifth in The Masters, tied sixth in the U.S. Open, tied fifth in the British Open, tied for 10th in the PGA Championship.

Rickie Fowler

• 2014: Tied fifth in The Masters, tied second in the U.S. Open, tied second in the British Open, tied third in the PGA Championship.

Jordan Spieth

• 2015: Won The Masters, won the U.S. Open, tied for fourth in the British Open, second in the PGA Championship.

Brooks Koepka

• 2019: Tied for second in The Masters, won the PGA Championship, second in the U.S. Open, tied for fourth in the British Open.

Jon Rahm

• 2021: Tied for fifth in The Masters, tied for eighth in the PGA Championship, won the U.S. Open, tied for third in the British Open.

Rory McIlroy

• 2022: Second in The Masters, eighth in the PGA Championship, tied for fifth in the U.S. Open, third in the British Open.