You are listening to Swinging Through History the podcast with your host(s) Gavin McCaffrey. This is episode 5 and were gonna be talking about the major championships of golf.

There are four globally recognized major championships:

The Master’s Tournament is a US tournament that takes place in April at Augusta

National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

The PGA Championship is hosted by the PGA of America, takes place in May and is

played at various locations in the U.S.

The US Open is hosted by the United States Golf Association, takes place in June and is

played at various locations in the U.S.

The Open Championship is hosted by The R&A, takes place in July and is played on

a links course at various locations in the U.K.

The four Majors are golf’s most prestigious events.

Elite players from all over the world participate in the majors, and the reputations of the greatest

players in golf history are largely based on the number and variety of major championship

victories they accumulate. There are 3 advantages to winning a major:

Winning a major boosts a player's career far more than winning any other tournament. If

he is already a leading player, he will probably receive large bonuses from his sponsors

and may be able to negotiate better contracts. If he is an unknown, he will immediately

be signed up.

Perhaps more importantly, he will receive an exemption from the need to annually re-

qualify for a tour card on his home tour, thus giving a tournament golfer some security in

an unstable profession.

He also is automatically invited to every other major championship for the next five

years, and receives an exemption into the major he just won as well. Depending on the

major won, he can receive at minimum a 10-year exemption, and at maximum a lifetime

exemption into the major. [12]  

Ironically, the top prizes of each of the majors are not actually the largest in golf. There are

non-major tournaments that feature top golfers competing for purses that are often greater than

the four majors.

One of the most popular is the Players Championship which offers a large prize pool

because the PGA Tour wants its most important event to be equally attractive. It’s

frequently considered to be the unofficial ‘fifth major’ by critics and players.

The European Tour is the leading men’s professional golf tour in Europe. These events

are nearly all played in Western Europe, with the most lucrative of them taking place in

the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France and Spain.

The World Golf Championships, which ended in 2023, offered comparable prize money

to the four majors. It was created by the International Federation of PGA Tours as a

means of gathering the best players in the world together more frequently than the

four majors.

As of 2024, a total of 233 golfers have won at least one of golf’s four major

championships.

In 2024 .

The Open Championship was won by American Xander Schauffele.

The PGA Championship was also won by Xander Schauffele.

The US Open was won by American Bryson DeChambeau.

The Masters Tournament was won by American Scottie Scheffler.