Golf history is weird. You think you know the guys who are going to dominate for a decade, and then suddenly, someone you haven't thought about in three years is crying on the 18th green with a trophy that weighs forty pounds. If you’re looking for a list of major golf tournament winners, you’re probably trying to settle a bet or maybe just trying to make sense of how the landscape shifted so fast between 2024 and 2025.
It was a wild ride. Honestly, the last two years felt like a movie. We saw legacy-defining breakthroughs, some of the most heartbreaking "almosts" in sports history, and a guy named J.J. Spaun basically coming out of nowhere to survive a rain-soaked Oakmont.
Let's break down who actually took home the hardware and why those wins mattered.
The 2024 Major Champions: Power and Pain
The 2024 season was defined by one guy’s pure dominance and another guy's absolute misery. Scottie Scheffler started the year by winning the Masters, which, at this point, feels like his birthright. He just doesn't blink. But the real story of 2024 was arguably what happened at Pinehurst and Valhalla.
Xander Schauffele finally got the "best player without a major" monkey off his back at the PGA Championship. He didn't just win; he set a record for the lowest score in major history (21-under par). People used to say he couldn't close. He proved them wrong. Then, because he’s apparently a "bus comes in twos" kind of guy, he went and won The Open Championship at Royal Troon just a few months later.
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But we have to talk about Bryson.
The U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 was legendary. Bryson DeChambeau won his second major there, but it was how he did it that stayed with people. That 55-yard bunker shot on the 72nd hole? Pure insanity. It was the "shot of his life." Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy had to watch from the scoring room after missing two putts inside four feet. It was brutal.
- The 2024 Masters: Scottie Scheffler
- The 2024 PGA Championship: Xander Schauffele
- The 2024 U.S. Open: Bryson DeChambeau
- The 2024 Open Championship: Xander Schauffele
Scottie Scheffler’s Historic 2025 Run
If 2024 was the year Xander broke through, 2025 was the year Scottie Scheffler decided to own the record books. He won two majors in 2025, but the way he won them was different. He looked bored. Well, not bored, but so much better than everyone else that it felt inevitable.
At Quail Hollow for the PGA Championship, Scottie basically fell apart for five holes on Sunday, letting Jon Rahm back into the mix. Most players would have spiraled. Scottie just hit a "switch" and started striping fairways again. He won by five strokes.
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Then he went to Royal Portrush for The Open. It was a "victory march." He didn't just win the Claret Jug; he lapped the field. He’s now joined the ranks of Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player as the only guys to win the Masters, the PGA, and The Open before turning 30. That’s the elite of the elite.
The Rory Redemption at Augusta
The 2025 Masters was probably the most emotional golf event in a decade. After 15 years of "pent-up disappointment," Rory McIlroy finally won the Green Jacket. He beat Justin Rose in a playoff. When that final birdie putt dropped, the roar at Augusta was loud enough to shake the pines. He’s finally part of the Career Grand Slam club. Only six guys have ever done it.
The Oakmont Shocker: J.J. Spaun
Nobody—literally nobody—had J.J. Spaun on their list of major golf tournament winners for 2025.
The U.S. Open at Oakmont was a disaster for most of the field. Rain, brutal rough, and a course that looked more like a torture chamber than a golf club. Spaun started his final round with five bogeys in six holes. He looked done. Then, he found a rhythm, drove the green on 17, and drained a 64-foot birdie on 18 to win his first major. He was the only person in the entire field to finish under par.
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Why this list of major golf tournament winners matters right now
You’ve gotta look at the trends. For a while, we thought LIV Golf vs. PGA Tour was going to ruin the majors. Instead, it’s made them feel more intense. When Bryson (LIV) and Rory (PGA) were duking it out at Pinehurst, it felt like a heavyweight title fight.
The current crop of winners tells us that the "Old Guard" is shifting. Tiger is 50 now. Phil is still out there, but he’s not the threat he was. We are firmly in the Scheffler/Schauffele/DeChambeau era.
If you're looking for actionable insights on how to track these guys moving forward, keep an eye on these specific stats that the recent winners share:
- Total Driving: At Oakmont and Pinehurst, if you couldn't keep it on the short grass, you were dead. Spaun and DeChambeau aren't just long; they were precise when it mattered.
- Scrambling from Sand: Look at Bryson's win in '24. His bunker play was what saved his career.
- Mental Resetting: Scottie Scheffler’s 2025 PGA win happened because he could ignore a bad front nine. If you're betting on future majors, look for the guys who don't "double-bogey their emotions."
Next time you're looking at a list of major golf tournament winners, remember that the names on the trophy only tell half the story. The other half is the mud, the missed four-footers, and the 64-foot "hail mary" putts that actually went in.
Golf is basically just 72 holes of trying not to lose your mind, and lately, the guys winning are the ones who are just slightly better at staying sane.
Actionable Next Steps:
To stay ahead of the next major cycle, start tracking Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee for the upcoming venues. For the 2026 majors, look specifically at players who perform well on bentgrass greens, as the rotation of courses is heading toward more traditional northeastern layouts where that surface is dominant. Check the current Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) compared to DataGolf’s rankings; the latter often predicts major success more accurately by accounting for field strength across different tours.