Golfers Who Won The Masters and U.S. Open in Same Year
The Masters and the U.S. Open are two of the four major championships in men's professional golf. Winning just one of them in a given year makes that a great year for any golfer. But how many times has a golfer won them both in the same year?
Only six golfers have pulled off the single-year Masters-U.S. Open double. One of them did it twice, so it has happened seven times.
The Masters was first played in 1934, making a Masters-U.S. Open double possible. It took seven years before any golfer pulled it off. The most-recent year in which a golfer won both The Masters and U.S. Open is 2015.
These are the golfers who won both The Masters and U.S. Open in the same year:
- Craig Wood, 1941: Craig Wood was one of the hardest-luck golfers on tour before 1941. He had lost in playoffs or extra holes at all four professional majors without winning one. That changed in 1941, when he won two majors, becoming the first golfer to record The Masters/U.S. Open double in the same calendar year.
- Ben Hogan, 1951 and 1953: Hogan won The Masters twice, and both years he also won the U.S. Open. In 1951, he overcame third-round deficits in both tournaments to post 2-stroke victories in both. In 1953, Hogan, in addition to winning The Masters and U.S. Open, also won the British Open — the first man to win three pro majors in one year. At the 1953 Masters Hogan won by five strokes over runner-up Ed Oliver; at the 1953 U.S. Open, he won by six over second-place Sam Snead.
- Arnold Palmer, 1960: At the 1960 Masters, Palmer overcame a rules controversy in the final round to edge Ken Venturi by one stroke. Venturi was still complaining decades later. At the 1960 U.S. Open, Palmer was seven strokes off the lead at the start of the final round. Then he drove the opening green and kept blasting away, eventually shooting 65 and winning by two strokes over a young amateur named Jack Nicklaus.
- Jack Nicklaus, 1972: And speaking of Nicklaus, here he is. In 1972, Nicklaus won The Masters for the fourth time (tying Palmer's tournament record) and the U.S. Open for the third time. He won both tournaments by three strokes; Bruce Crampton was one of three runners-up at the 1972 Masters, and was solo runner-up in the U.S. Open. The 1972 U.S. Open victory is remembered for Nicklaus' 1-iron, in strong winds, to the par-3 17th hole in the final round that hit the flagstick and nearly went in.
- Tiger Woods, 2002: Woods won the 2002 Masters by three strokes over runner-up Retief Goosen; and won the 2002 U.S. Open by three strokes over second-place Phil Mickelson. These were Woods' seventh and eighth wins in major championships, respectively — his third win in The Masters and second in the U.S. Open.
- Jordan Spieth, 2015: Spieth tied the then-tournament scoring record (270) in his 2015 Masters victory, his breakthrough in major championships. He won by four strokes over Mickelson and Justin Rose. At the 2015 U.S. Open, Spieth took a one-stroke win over Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen.
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