Rory McIlroy is probably tired of hearing about being one leg shy of the career grand slam. The topic comes up every year around this time, because every year all eyes are on McIlroy's pursuit for golf’s most coveted milestone.
And every year for his last 10 Masters Tournament appearances, we’ve been let down. Golf is a hard sport, and winning against the world’s best is no easy feat either. But McIlroy already has three of golf’s four major championships, can it really be that hard to get the fourth?
Well with the amount of pressure he faces each Masters Tournament he plays in, yes, it can be that hard. He’s not the only one chasing golf royalty with a career grand slam, though.
Before we dive too much into the history of the players that have or are approaching the career milestone, let's dive into what the career grand slam actually is.
What is a career grand slam in golf? The one thing golf’s top players aspire to attain
To achieve a career grand slam in golf, you have to win each of the four major tournaments in the sport – hence grand slam. You have to win the U.S. Open, The Masters, The Open Championship and the PGA Championship.
For players like McIlroy and Jordan Spieth, they're on the cusp of golf superiority with three of the four championships. McIlroy still needs The Masters and Spieth needs the PGA championship.
With that, which ones have actually accomplished the career grand slam?
Every golfer to complete the career grand slam is a small number
To your surprise, there’s just five players to ever accomplish a career grand slam. The most recent player to do so, Tiger Woods. Woods is known as one of golf’s most recognizable players.
He accomplished the feat early in his career, winning the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and The Open Championship all in 2000. He later won The Masters in 2001. The first player to accomplish a career grand slam was Gene Sarazan. The other players include Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan.
Nicklaus and Woods are the only players in the sport to win the grand slam three times in their careers. For context, most players never win a grand slam and Woods is one of two players to do it three times; true dominance.
So yes, we may put the pressure on players like Spieth, McIlroy and now Scottie Scheffler to win the majors. But it’s hard to do. When you accomplish it, though, it puts you in rare company and among the greatest golfers to play the sport.