Going for the Career Grand Slam

When Rory McIlroy won the career grand slam in 2025, his caddie Harry Diamond gave him a present: An Augusta National scorecard signed by the five men to complete the feat prior to him. Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods. When asked if he was going to add his signature to the scorecard, McIlroy said he wanted to keep it as it is, but then offered a playful caveat.

"I just hope I don't have to get Scottie to sign it next year," McIlroy said. 

This week’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills represents Scottie Scheffler’s first opportunity to win the career grand slam since he won his third leg (the Open Championship) at Royal Portrush in 2025. There is a decent chance that McIlroy's joke will end up seeming prophetic. 

Scheffler has an excellent track record in the U.S. Open, having finished in the top 10 four times in six attempts as a professional. (He also finished 27th as an amateur in 2017.) But the fact that it took McIlroy 11 years to complete the journey is a friendly reminder that there are no guarantees in golf. Scheffler looked like a machine in 2025, hitting his irons as well as anyone since Woods. But in 2026, he has been unable to sustain that immortal standard and has been relying more on his putter to contend in tournaments. 

There are plenty of great players who seemed destined to win all four majors, but getting that fourth and final leg started to feel like a burden with each missed opportunity. Of the six players who completed the grand slam, only McIlroy went more than three attempts before winning the final major.

Why did some players never finish the slam? The answer to that question differs, as you’ll see below. But before you pencil in Scheffler’s name, consider that history has shown us it’s not always a sure thing, even for the great ones. 

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The first thing you need to understand about the career grand slam is that it’s complicated to compare eras. The Masters didn’t exist until 1934, and by then Walter Hagen was 41 years old. So his failure to win the career slam hardly feels like a failure at all. And for a long time, American golfers simply didn’t make the trip across the ocean to play in the Open Championship every year. Byron Nelson got three legs of the career slam, but he only played in the Open Championship twice, in 1938 and 1955. Ben Hogan competed in the Open just once, in 1953, but won it that year in Carnoustie. 

Gene Sarazen became the first man to complete the career grand slam when he won the Masters in 1935, but it would be another decade before the Masters solidified its place as one of the four majors. He faced essentially none of the pressure McIlroy faced in his 11 attempts to win the Masters once he’d secured the other three majors.

If we’re being fair, there are seven golfers who didn’t get it done that faced something similar to what Scheffler is facing this week. Let’s take a look at where they fell short, attempting to rank them from the least amount of pressure faced to the most. 

7. Raymond Floyd

Majors Won: PGA Championship (1969, 1982); Masters (1976); U.S. Open (1986)
Missing: Open Championship (T-2, 1978)

Floyd’s quest for the grand slam comes in at seventh on our list because by the time he had completed the third leg by winning the U.S. Open in 1986, he was already 43 years old. He did have an excellent track record in the Open throughout his career, finishing fourth in 1976 and T-2 in 1978, but the pressure to win it didn’t really ramp up until after Shinnecock. 

“Winning the U.S. Open has always been one of my major goals, and now I have a chance to become only the fifth man to win all four,” Floyd said. “I just lack the British Open, and I’m going after that. I’m going to have a lot of zest and zeal when I get over there.” 

Floyd actually finished T-16 in the Open at Turnberry that summer, but he never truly contended after a first round 78. 

In 1992, a 49-year-old Floyd got off to a great start at the Open Championship, sharing the first round lead with Steve Pate after shooting a stunning 64 at Muirfield. It was the first time he’d ever had a share of the lead in the championship. 

“If I didn’t think I could win, I wouldn’t be here,” Floyd said. “Age to me is a number. I’m playing better than I’ve ever played in my career.” 

Unfortunately, Floyd shot 71-73 on the weekend and finished eight shots behind Nick Faldo.  

6. Jordan Spieth

Majors won: Masters (2015); U.S. Open (2015); Open Championship (2017)
Missing: PGA Championship (second, 2015)

Jordan Spieth comes in at sixth on the list because, as harsh as this is to admit, there isn’t a lot of expectation at this point that he’ll complete the feat. His best chances may have already come and gone. Even Spieth admits the storyline doesn’t come up much anymore.

"There's been a number of years I've come to the PGA and no one's really asked me about it," Spieth said in 2025. "There's been some years where it was a storyline, I guess. It's funny, I think if Rory didn't [complete his career slam at the Masters], then it wouldn't have been a storyline for me here necessarily."

Besides Scheffler, Spieth is the youngest player on this list, so he still has another decade of opportunities. But he also hasn’t truly contended in a major since the 2021 Open Championship, when he trailed by just three shots going into the final round at Royal St. George’s, but ultimately finished second to Collin Morikawa. 

"It's always circled on the calendar," Spieth said. "For me, if I could only win one tournament for the rest of my life, I'd pick this one for that reason.” 

Since getting the third leg in 2017, he’s played in 10 PGA Championships. His best finish is T-3 in 2019, when he trailed Brooks Koepka by nine shots entering the final round.

5. Lee Trevino

Majors won: U.S. Open (1968, 1971); Open Championship (1971, 1972); PGA Championship (1974, 1984)
Missing: Masters (T-10, 1975 and 1985)

Lee Trevino’s quest for the career grand slam is arguably the most interesting on our list because, for many years, he had little interest in even completing it. People assumed his game didn’t suit the course, but in truth, it went deeper than that. He disliked the stuffy, aristocratic air of the Masters so much — and the thinly-veiled racism of co-founder Clifford Roberts — that he skipped the tournament entirely in 1970, 1971, 1974. 

"Cliff Roberts and I locked horns the first time I was there,” Trevino said. “I took a disliking to the man and he took a disliking to me. I stayed away from there because I didn't want to have anything to do with him."

For years, he refused to use the locker room in protest, even long after Roberts had died, changing his shoes in the parking lot as a matter of principle. When he missed the cut in 1988, he begged the Masters not to invite him back. 

”I hope to God they don't send me an invitation,” Trevino said. ”I'm going to go home and pray all year they don't. If they send me one, I'm going to have to come. The press will eat my lunch if I don't. I did it twice and you guys ate me up.”

But the Masters did invite Trevino back, and in 1989, he was the first round leader at age 49 after shooting 67. 

“Not bad for an old cripple,” Trevino said. 

Trevino was actually tied for the lead after 36 holes, but a miserable 81 in the third round (which had to be played over two days because of heavy rain) sent him tumbling down the leaderboard. 

He played in just two more Masters, finishing 49th in his final appearance in 1991. 

4. Phil Mickelson

Majors won: Masters (2004, 2006, 2010); PGA Championship (2005, 2021); Open Championship (2013)
Missing: U.S. Open (second; 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2013) 

Phil Mickelson would rank higher on this list if his best chances to win the U.S. Open hadn’t come prior to getting the third leg of the career grand slam in 2013. But he was still optimistic after he won the Open Championship. 

“I think that if I’m able to win the U.S. Open and complete the career grand slam, I think that’s the sign of the complete, great player,” Mickelson said. “I’m a leg away. And it’s been a tough leg for me.”

Unfortunately, he never really got into contention after 2013. Yet in some ways, failing to capture the U.S. Open came to define Mickelson’s career more than any of his victories. 

As much as he loved it, it caused him all kinds of pain. He lost in just about every way possible. He watched Payne Stewart snatch one away from him in 1999 when he played well down the stretch. He watched Retief Goosen one-putt 11 greens on Sunday in 2004, and made a double bogey on the 17th to lose by a stroke. He got outplayed by Tiger Woods and Lucas Glover at Bethpage. He needed just a par on the 18th at Winged Foot and made a double bogey. He gave up a final round lead to Justin Rose at Merion in 2013. 

Technically, Mickelson’s quest isn’t over. He could still qualify his way into the U.S. Open, or earn another special exemption from the USGA. But at age 55, both seem unlikely. 

3. Tom Watson

Majors won: Open Championship (1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983); Masters (1977, 1981); U.S. Open (1982)
Missing: PGA Championship (T-2, 1978)

Tom Watson always insisted that it didn’t bug him that he didn’t win all four majors, but it is one of the things that kept him from being viewed in the same class as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Gary Player, even though he won more majors than Palmer. 

Watson was only 32 when he won the U.S. Open in 1982, giving him three legs of the grand slam. Already the press was eager to anoint him a new king. One of the first questions he was asked in the winner’s press conference was: “Why have you never won a PGA Championship?” 

Watson tried to crack a joke but it turned out to be prophetic. 

“Arnie Palmer, here I come!” he said, referencing the fact that Palmer never won the PGA. 

By the following year, it was clear he had surpassed Nicklaus as the best player in the world. He won back-to-back Open Championships. But the closest he ever came to winning the PGA in 24 tries with the grand slam on the line is when he was just a shot out of the lead after three rounds at Inverness in 1993. Watson bogeyed three of the first five holes on Sunday and never got into serious contention, eventually finishing four shots behind Paul Azinger. 

If there is any opportunity Watson might quietly lament, it’s the 1978 PGA Championship at Oakmont. He led by five going into the final day, and stretched his lead to seven at one point, but he ended up in a playoff with John Mahaffey and Jerry Pate. Mahaffey won his only major championship with a birdie on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff.  

2. Arnold Palmer

Majors: Masters (1958, 1960, 1962, 1964); U.S. Open (1960); Open Championship (1961, 1962)
Missing: PGA Championship (T-2; 1964, 1968, 1970)

It seems borderline unfair that Arnold Palmer never won the PGA Championship considering he’s essentially the man who invented the idea of the grand slam. He played in the PGA Championship 34 times with the career grand slam at stake, more than anyone on the list. And he certainly came close to completing the quest, finishing T-2 in 1964, 1968, and 1970. 

“No question, not winning the grand slam, not winning the PGA Championship, keeps Arnold slightly down among the all-time greats,” golf journalist Jaime Diaz said in 2014. “I mean, it’s just unfortunately the reality of, you know, compiling a record and it’s a hole on his record. It was always so sad when he didn’t win the PGA because he came very, very close.”

His best chance probably came in 1964 when he trailed Bobby Nichols by just one shot at Columbus Country Club in the final round. He shot 69 on the final day, but Nichols shot 67 and cruised to his only major championship victory. 

1. Sam Snead

Majors won: PGA Championship (1942, 1949, 1951); Open Championship (1946); Masters (1949, 1952, 1954)
Missing: U.S. Open (second; 1937, 1947, 1949, 1953)

Long before the U.S. Open appeared to take pleasure in tormenting Phil Mickelson, it had plenty of fun tormenting Sam Snead. Like Hogan and Sarazen, Snead took advantage of limited appearances in the Open Championship. He won in his debut attempt in 1946, the first time the Open was held after World War II, and he only played three other times. But similar to Mickelson, his failure to capture the U.S. Open helped define his career as much as his victories. It felt like an anvil around his neck at times, and he grew resentful of how often the press brought it up. 

"Sure, it bugs me that they make such a big deal of it because I never won the U.S. Open," Snead said. "But I must have been playing pretty good and sinking putts when I won those three Masters, three PGAs, and the British Open."

In 1947, Snead missed a 30-inch putt on the 18th hole during a Monday playoff against Lew Worsham, who then stepped up and made a 29-inch putt to win by a stroke. Afterward, Snead was combing his thinning hair in the bathroom, staring at his reflection in the mirror, when Ben Hogan supposedly heard him say: 

“It’s not for me, I guess.”