Rory McIlroy aims to make history this week as he bids to become a back-to-back Masters and PGA Championship winner at Quail Hollow.
Over the course of golfing history, 21 players have won multiple majors (two or more) in the same calendar year. Some have achieved this feat multiple times with various different combinations, with a total of 34 same-year major winners all considered.
Xander Schauffele became the latest golfer to win multiple majors in a calendar year with victory at both the PGA Championship and Open Championship in 2024. But just when was the last time somebody won both the Masters and PGA Championship back-to-back?
Has There Ever Been A Back-To-Back Masters & PGA Championship Winner?
When it comes to professional golf, the epitome of success is major championships. Every golfer is measured on the amount of majors they have won throughout their career.
The Masters, PGA Championship, Open Championship and US Open are golf’s four major championship events. These four tournaments are the most coveted in world golf, with every playing looking to win one.
Throughout golf history, some players have been successful enough to win multiple majors. Some have even won multiple majors in the same year too. But what about back-to-back major wins? More specifically, has any player ever won the Masters and PGA Championship back-to-back?
This is something that Rory McIlroy is aiming to achieve following his victory at Augusta National in April in the first major championship of 2025. Should the Northern Irishman go on to win the 107th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, he would become just the second back-to-back winner of The Masters and PGA Championship.
The only other man who has won back-to-back Masters and PGA Championship titles is Sam Snead. The American golfer achieved this feat back in 1949, winning The Masters in April before backing that up with success at the PGA Championship a month later.
That is exactly what McIlroy is bidding to do as he looks to win his sixth major at the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club.
Although there has only ever been one back-to-back winner of The Masters and PGA Championship, there have been two other players alongside Sam Snead who have won both of these majors in the same calendar year.
Golfers Who Won The Masters & PGA Championship In The Same Year
A total of three golfers have won The Masters and the PGA Championship in the same year, with Jack Nicklaus achieving the feat on two separate occasions. Sam Snead and Jack Burke Jr also won the two majors in the same year, with Snead’s of course coming back-to-back as well.
The Masters-PGA Championship double is in fact the rarest combination when it comes to winning multiple majors in the same calendar year. Just three players have completed the double since 1934 – the year it became possible for players to do so.
Is is so rare that the last time it happened was 50 years ago!
This year in 2025, Rory McIlroy aims to take inspiration from Snead, Burke Jr and Nicklaus as he goes in search of the Masters-PGA Championship double.
As previously mentioned, Sam Snead was the first player to ever achieve the Masters-PGA Championship double with his back-to-back major triumph in 1949.
Jack Burke Jr then won both The Masters and PGA Championship in 1956, but it wasn’t back-to-back with the PGA tournament being held in July – the final major of the year.
Jack Nicklaus then achieved this feat on two separate occasions in both 1963 and 1975. Again, despite winning both the Masters and PGA Championship in the same year on these two separate occasions, neither were back-to-back majors with the schedule having changed.
Since Nicklaus’ Masters-PGA Championship second double in 1965, no player has achieved the feat since. Could Rory McIlroy replicate the 18-time major champion in 2025 and break the 50-year duck of Masters and PGA Championship same-year winners?
All Three Masters-PGA Championship Double Winners
Sam Snead – 1949
The great Sam Snead, who still holds the record for the most PGA Tour wins in his career (82), became the first man in history to win The Masters and the PGA Championship in the same year.
At this time, the PGA Championship was still a match-play event, before it moved to today’s stroke-play format in 1958.
To this day, Snead remains the only player in history who has won the Masters-PGA Championship double in back-to-back majors.
Jack Burke Jr – 1956
Seven years after Sam Snead made history as the first Masters-PGA Championship double winner in the same year, Jack Burke Jr followed suit by winning both majors in 1956.
Burke Jr got the better of Ted Kroll to claim the PGA Championship title when it was still a match-play tournament, adding a second major in the same year following his victory at Augusta in April to win his first Green Jacket.
Jack Nicklaus – 1963 & 1975
In 1963, the great Jack Nicklaus spectacularly won his second major honor of his career by triumphing at The Masters.
This was only Nicklaus’ second year as a professional golfer, making his Masters-PGA Championship double in 1963 even more impressive.
By this stage the PGA Championship was now a stroke-play tournament, with Nicklaus overcoming a three-shot deficit to claim the win ahead of runner-up Dave Ragan.
Just 12 years later in 1975, Nicklaus picked up his 13th and 14th major wins. It was yet another Masters-PGA Championship double for the American golfing legend, making him the only player to have won both of these tournaments in the same year on multiple occasions.
Previous Masters & PGA Championship Winners In Different Years
Excluding the three elite names already mentioned – Sam Snead, Jack Burke Jr and Jack Nicklaus – there are several other players who have claimed both The Masters and PGA Championship titles, but in different years.
There are currently another eight players who have won the Masters-PGA Championship double, but in different years.
Tiger Woods, Gary Player, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy are just some of the names who have achieved this feat.
McIlroy is the last player added to this list following his win at The Masters in April 2025, completing the career Grand Slam in the process.
Should he win the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, a course the Northern Irishman has conquered four times previously, he will join that elite list and put his name in the history books with the likes of Snead, Burke Jr and Nicklaus.
| Golfer | Masters Wins | PGA Championship Wins |
| Byron Nelson | 1937, 1942 | 1940, 1945 |
| Ben Hogan | 1951, 1953 | 1946, 1948 |
| Gary Player | 1961, 1974, 1978 | 1962, 1972 |
| Raymond Floyd | 1976 | 1969, 1982 |
| Vijay Singh | 2000 | 1998, 2004 |
| Tiger Woods | 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2019 | 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007 |
| Phil Mickelson | 2004, 2006, 2010 | 2005, 2021 |
| Rory McIlroy | 2025 | 2012, 2014 |
