The four men's majors.

The men's majors are the Masters, played every April, and, in the 2026 calendar, the PGA Championship in May, the U.S. Open in June and The Open in July. Each is run by a different body and each builds its field in its own way. This page compares them and lists their winners from 2023 to 2026.

Who runs each major

The Open is the oldest, and The Open's own champions list shows no Championship in 2020. The Masters is played each April at Augusta National, according to NBC Sports; the other three move between venues, as the results pages show.

Winners, 2023 to 2026

Scores, venues and margins for each year are on the individual pages for the Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open and The Open.

The 2026 majors in brief

• Masters, 12 April 2026: Rory McIlroy won at 12 under, one shot ahead of Scottie Scheffler. PGA Tour says he became the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters, after Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.
• PGA Championship, 17 May 2026: Aaron Rai of England won at Aronimink, three shots clear of Jon Rahm and Alex Smalley, for his first major.
• U.S. Open, 21 June 2026: Wyndham Clark won at Shinnecock Hills, one ahead of Sam Burns, after leading from start to finish. It was his second U.S. Open.
• The Open, 19 July 2026: Ryan Fox of New Zealand won at Royal Birkdale, one ahead of Cameron Young, for his first major at 39.

The official PGA Championship report notes that, with McIlroy's Masters and Rai's win, Europeans took the first two majors of a season for the first time since the current four majors became the set. Golf Channel says McIlroy's 2026 Masters was his sixth major, which tied Nick Faldo for the most by a European in the modern era. ESPN pointed out that the U.S. Open is the major Scheffler still needed for a career Grand Slam; he finished four shots behind Clark in 2026.

Fields and cuts

Each major fills its field differently, mainly through exemption categories (past champions, recent major winners, world ranking positions) plus qualifying.

The Masters dropped its old rule letting in anyone within 10 shots of the lead in 2020, according to NBC Sports. The Open has no 10-shot rule either, according to The Golf News Net. The Open playoff format comes from The Golf News Net's 2022 article and from Wikipedia; we did not reach an official R&A page confirming it.

Records worth knowing

• Most Masters titles: Jack Nicklaus, six (NBC Sports).
• Most U.S. Open titles: Willie Anderson, Bob Jones and Ben Hogan, four each (NBC Sports list).
• Most Open titles: Harry Vardon, six (The Open champions list).

The women's game has five majors of its own; see women's majors. For how the world ranking feeds into major fields, see world rankings.