The men’s major championship season is complete, with a good bit of chatter throughout being the quest for the career Grand Slam.
After 25 years of waiting, Rory McIlroy became just the sixth golfer since the inception of the Masters to complete the career milestone when he won at Augusta National in a playoff over Justin Rose.
It was his fifth major title—first in 11 years—and completed a long journey filled with ups and downs and immense attention to complete the quest.
Although the next two major championships also offered opportunities for players to complete the career Grand Slam, the idea was never much in play, as both Jordan Spieth (at the PGA Championship) and Phil Mickelson (U.S. Open) missed the cut at tournaments where they could have joined Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and McIlroy in that exclusive club.
Scottie Scheffler’s victory at the British Open last week put the possibility in play again when the U.S. Open rolls around next summer at Shinnecock.
It wasn’t lost on the assembled media at Royal Portrush as the subject came up in his post-tournament news conference.
“That’s one of those funny things that I think, since Rory accomplished that this year, it’s on the front of everybody's mind, just because it is such a historic accomplishment in the game of golf,” Scheffler said. “What a tremendous thing for Rory to be able to accomplish. To win all four major championships is pretty dang special. It’s for sure a career achievement.
“Like I said, I don’t focus too much on that stuff. When this season ends after the Ryder Cup for me, I’ll get home, and I’ll assess kind of where my game’s at and things I can improve on and then kind of go from there. I don’t think about winning tournaments. I just look at the body of work I have and just think about ways to improve.”
Perhaps he will take a peek at the list of players he joined who have won three legs of the career Grand Slam. He’s one of 12 and sure to get plenty of questions about it—just as McIlroy did—until he manages to win a U.S. Open.
Here’s the list of those who have won three of the four modern major championships based on when they first got to that milestone.
Walter Hagen
Majors: 11
Breakdown: Two U.S. Opens, five PGAs, 4 Opens
Missing: The Masters
Hagen had three of the majors by 1922 when he captured the Open at Royal St. George’s but—of course—the Masters had yet to even be played until 1934. He would compete in it just six times when he was in his 40s. The first Masters was played five years after he won his last major. Hagen did win five Western Opens, which at the time was considered on the level of a major, the last coming in 1932, two years before the first Masters. Perhaps he deserves an asterisk.
Jim Barnes
Majors: 4
Breakdown: 2 PGAs (he won the first in 1916), 1 U.S. Open, 1 Open
Missing: The Masters
Like Hagen, Barnes came along too late to be a factor at the Masters. He was 48 when it was first played and never competed in the tournament. He is the answer to a trivia question: the last player to win an Open at Prestwick, 100 years ago in 1925. Also like Hagen, he won the era’s other major tournament, the Western Open, three times.
Tommy Armour
Majors: 3
Breakdown: 1 U.S. Open, 1 Open, 1 PGA
Missing: The Masters
Like Hagen and Barnes, the Masters was more or less too late for Armour. He played in it seven times, with his best finish a tie for eighth in 1937, six years after he won the Open at Carnoustie to get three of the four. Armour is credited with 25 PGA Tour wins and also won the Western Open in 1929.
Byron Nelson
Majors: 5
Breakdown: 2 Masters, 1 U.S. Open, 2 PGAs
Missing: The Open
Nelson, who won 52 times on the PGA Tour (sixth all-time) played the Open just twice, in 1937, when he finished fifth and not again until 1955, when he was in his 40s and effectively retired from tournament golf. He won his last major at the 1945 PGA Championship.
Sam Snead
Majors: 7
Breakdown: 3 Masters, 1 Open, 3 PGAs
Missing: U.S. Open
Snead, who shares the all-time PGA Tour victory record of 82 with Tiger Woods, infamously never won the U.S. Open, posting 12 top-10 finishes, including four seconds. The 1939 U.S. Open, where he finished fifth, was the one he lamented. Thinking he needed a birdie on the final hole at Philadelphia Country Club to win—he needed a par—Snead ended up making an 8. At the time, he had not won any of his majors.
Arnold Palmer
Majors: 7
Breakdown: 4 Masters, 1 U.S. Open, 2 Opens
Missing: PGA Championship
Palmer, who many believe had a role in inventing the modern Grand Slam, had three of the four legs after capturing the 1961 Open at Royal Birkdale. A year earlier, he won the Masters and U.S. Open and finished second at St Andrews and tied for seventh at the PGA, where he finished second three times, his last in 1970.
Lee Trevino
Majors: 6
Breakdown: 2 U.S. Opens, 2 Opens, 2 PGAs
Missing: The Masters
Trevino, who won 29 times on the PGA Tour and is the only player to beat Jack Nicklaus in a major championship playoff (1971 U.S. Open), infamously struggled at Augusta National, at times declining to accept in invitation. He never really contended, and his best finish was a tie for 10th in 1985.
Tom Watson
Majors: 8
Breakdown: 2 Masters, 1 U.S. Open, 5 Opens
Missing: PGA Championship
Watson, who won 39 times on the PGA Tour and narrowly missed winning the Open at age 59, had 10 top-10 finishes at the PGA, his best chance coming in 1978 when he shot a final-round 78 and lost in a playoff to John Mahaffey.
Raymond Floyd
Majors: 4
Breakdown: 1 Masters, 1 U.S. Open, 2 PGAs
Missing: The Open
Floyd came onto the career Slam chase late, winning the 1986 U.S. Open at Shinnecock at age 43. He had four top 10s at the Open and finished runner-up to Jack Nicklaus in 1978.
Phil Mickelson
Majors: 6
Breakdown: 3 Masters, 1 Open, 2 PGAs
Missing: U.S. Open
Mickelson, who won 45 times on the PGA Tour, became the oldest player to win a major championship when he captured the 2021 PGA. And he surprised the world by winning the 2013 Open at Muirfield, rallying with a final-round 66 to put him within one U.S. Open of the career Slam. But by then, his best chances had passed. Mickelson infamously finished runner-up a record six times at the U.S. Open, including a month before his triumph in Scotland.
Jordan Spieth
Majors: 3
Breakdown: 1 Masters, 1 U.S. Open, 1 Open
Missing: PGA Championship
Spieth quickly won the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015, missed a playoff by a shot at the Open and then finished second at the PGA in an amazing year. He then won the Open at Royal Birkdale in 2017 with a wild back nine. But he has posted just two of his 13 PGA Tour victories since that triumph and he’s never been a factor down the stretch at the PGA in nine attempts since winning the Claret Jug.
Scottie Scheffler
Majors: 4
Breakdown: 2 Masters, 1 PGA, 1 Open
Missing: U.S. Open
Scheffler has played in just 23 major championships as a pro but has a whopping 15 top-10 finishes and four wins. He’s missed just two cuts, the last coming at the 2022 PGA. He’s had chances at the U.S. Open, including a tie for second in 2022 behind Matt Fitzpatrick and a third in 2023 behind Wyndham Clark among four top-10 finishes.
LIV Golf’s decision to stop paying fines
Joaquin Niemann won LIV Golf’s U.K. event Sunday, his fifth victory of the year out of 11 tournaments, giving him $20 million in prize money alone from those five tournaments. Not to mention everything else he won, plus he’s in line to collect an $18 million bonus via LIV’s season-ending individual points system.
So Niemann certainly can handle any fines levied by the DP World Tour for playing in conflicting events. So, too, could Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton and Sergio Garcia. Or anyone else who wants to try and compete on the former European Tour.
Of course, that is a point missed according to a player such as Rahm, who made clear last year he won’t be paying any fines levied by the circuit. Thus, he appealed—so he could play in the events necessary to meet tour-minimum requirements to play in the Ryder Cup.
Last week it was learned that LIV Golf has told its players that it will no longer pay fines associated with the DP World Tour policy—which more than two years ago was upheld by a U.K. arbitration panel. It meant that the tour could proceed with its enforcement of its conflicting events policy.
Although suspensions and fines differ by player and the event that they missed, the Telegraph—which first reported the news that was later confirmed by a source to Sports Illustrated—said that these fines have totaled more than $20 million dating to 2022.
And there will likely be more this year as all of the players who have DP World Tour memberships have played in conflicting events to compete in the LIV Golf League.
There are several things in play here. First, the DP World Tour conveniently pushed this down the road with the idea of an appeal process that is not expected to play out until after the Ryder Cup in September. That is pretty shrewd, because if that appeal were heard now and the players lost—imminently possible given the precedent—they’d be on the hook for the fines and might be denied access to the Ryder Cup. Good luck with that.
The second and third points are likely related. One, it is reasonable to assume that the Public Investment Fund has grown weary of this fine situation. While it can afford the fines, that doesn’t mean it wants to keep paying them. LIV Golf has attempted to streamline its operations, save money and produce more revenue. This is potentially a big savings.
Related, and potentially more interesting, is whether or not LIV Golf is trying to call the DP World Tour’s bluff.
Rahm said last year how the Spanish Open in his home country wants him to compete. Clearly, fields have gotten a boost from LIV players competing and sponsors want them there. Is the DP World Tour willing to keep its rules in place and keep some name players out? And if it caves, does that cause a problem with the membership at large?
Last year, LIV Golf offered the DP World Tour a deal that included a one-time cash payment and an assurance of working on scheduling issues to better help LIV players be available. The DP World Tour turned down the deal, and one of the reasons it cited was its “strategic alliance” with the PGA Tour—which prohibits players who compete in LIV events from playing in any of its tournaments.
The PGA Tour is underwriting purses on the DP World Tour as part of the deal and also has an ownership stake in European Tour productions. As long as that agreement remains in place, it’s difficult to see the DP World Tour entering into any kind of arrangement with LIV Golf, which has often been rumored and would undoubtedly boost both circuits.
As for the Ryder Cup, the situation won’t have any impact on this year’s match. And you’d like to think this would all be settled by the 2027 Ryder Cup.
But then again, many people thought all of this would be resolved by now and it appears no closer to resolution.
The FedEx Cup payout reality
The PGA Tour didn’t make a big deal out of the money part of the change to the FedEx Cup and Tour Championship structure. But the alterations in bonus payouts will be seen this week following the Wyndham Championship as the top 10 players in the FedEx Cup points will be rewarded with money that had previously been allotted for the end-of-season final standings.
Basically, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy will get a nice windfall this week. They are not playing in the regular-season-ending Wyndham Championship but their positions are secure.
Scheffler will get $10 million and McIlroy $4 million for finishing second in the regular season. That is in addition to the $8 million and $6 million they will receive, respectively, for the Comcast Business bonus pool that had been previously in place and was meant as a way to get more players to the Wyndham. In essence, there is the opportunity to double dip if you finish among the top 10.
That is likely why U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley is playing the Wyndham this week. He’s all but a lock to make the Tour Championship in three weeks, but he can earn $500,000 in FedEx bonus money and another $2 million for finishing 10th in the Comcast pool if he retains that spot. There is no bonus money beyond the 10th position.
The Tour has shifted the bonus money to better reflect seasonlong performance with plenty still to play for in the playoffs. The overall bonus pool is $100 million but instead of $25 million going to the winner of the FedEx Cup—which is the winner of the Tour Championship—it will be $10 million.
The first two playoff events will have $20 million purses and the leader in points after the BMW Championship also gets a $5 million bonus, with bonus payouts down to 30th place before getting to Atlanta.
So Scheffler—if he remains No. 1 through the BMW and then wins the Tour Championship—would receive the same $25 million overall he got for winning the Tour Championship last year. It’s simply a more fair distribution and doesn’t put it all on winning one event.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Scottie Scheffler Doesn’t Have a Grand Slam (Yet?) but Joined an Elite Club .
