Golf’s major winners

The men's major golf championships - known simply as the majors - are the four most prestigious events in the small ball professional game. The competitions are the Masters Tournament, the U.S. Open, The Open Championship and the PGA Championship. All are contested annually, and if the same golfer wins them all in a calendar year, he duly completes golf’s official and prestigious ‘Grand Slam’.

In fact, as yet no-one has ever achieved this feat, although Tiger Woods (pictured) has held all four titles at once, having won them in 2000 and 2001 - a feat which dubbed ‘The Tiger slam.’

Jack Nicklaus has 18 major triumphs to his name… more than anyone else. Second on the list is Woods with 15 while Walter Hagen lies third with 11. Indeed, Hagen and Nicklaus have both won the PGA Championship on five occasions. Nicklaus also holds the record for the most victories in the Masters with six and he shares the record for the most US Open victories with Willie Anderson, Bobby Jones and Ben Hogan, each winning the prize four times.

Harry Vardon with six, holds the record for the most Open Championship victories, while five men - Nicklaus, Woods, Hogan, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen - won all four of the majors during their respective careers.

Although the US Amateur and the Amateur Championship were once considered to be majors, they’re no longer recognized as such, and victories in these two competitions are not included in the list.

To date, a total of 451 majors have been played and 223 different golfers have won at least one of them, while 82 have been victorious in two or more.

■ And if you didn’t know, last weekend Woods equalled the record of 82 PGA tour wins with victory in the Zozo Championship in Japan.