Although Scotland, specifically Saint Andrews Links, is considered the “home of golf,” the United States has produced the most championship-winning golfers on the PGA Tour. The top-four leaders in all-time wins at major championships (Masters, U.S. Open, The Open, and PGA Championship) are Americans, and 10 of the top-12 leaders are from the US. Jack Nicklaus ranks first with 18 championships, while Tiger Woods (15), Walter Hagen (11), and Ben Hogan (9) round out the top four.
However, several golfers from other nations have won multiple major championships. Five are listed below.
Gary Player (South Africa)
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Gary Player is the most accomplished non-American golfer in PGA Tour history, at least based on major championship victories. Player won nine major championships from 1959 to 1978 and is the only non-American to win each of the four major championships at least once. He was the third golfer, after Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan, to accomplish the feat.
Player won his first major championship at the 1959 British Open, now known as The Open Championship. He won the event again in 1968 and 1974. He won his first of three Masters in 1961 and, the following year, won the PGA Championship for the first time. Player won the U.S. Open for the first and only time in 1965.
His win at the U.S. Open completed the career Grand Slam and was made even more impressive by the fact that he was the first international player to win the event since 1927. He beat Australia’s Kel Nagle in an 18-hole playoff to win the tournament. Player won more than 160 tournaments in his career. He’s also a seven-time Australian Open and 13-time South African Open winner.
Nick Faldo (England)
A six-time major champion, Nick Faldo won The Open Championship and Masters three times each. He won each of his major championship titles during a 10-year span from 1987 to 1996. Faldo won The Open for the first time in 1987 after recording four top-10 finishes in the prior five years. He won again in 1990 and 1992.
Faldo won the Masters for the first time in 1989 and defended his title at Augusta National the following year. He won his sixth and final major at the 1996 Masters. Along with Nicklaus and Woods, he’s one of only three players to win the Masters in consecutive years. Faldo has four top-5 finishes at both the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. He was runner-up at the 1988 U.S. Open and tied for second at the 1992 PGA Championship.
Peter Thomson (Australia)
Australia’s Peter Thomson is a five-time major championship winner who won each of his titles at The Open Championship. He never participated in the PGA Championship and only had nine combined appearances in the Masters and U.S. Open. After finishing as runner-up at The Open in back-to-back years in 1952 and 1953, Thomson won the event three years in a row and won his fourth title in five years in 1958. He last won in 1965.
Thomson is the only golfer in the 20th century to win The Open Championship in three consecutive years and ranks second behind Harry Vardon (6) for the most titles all-time. He finished among the top 10 in 18 of 21 tournaments from 1951 to 1971. His best finish at the U.S. Open and Masters was a T4 (1956) and fifth place (1957), respectively.
Seve Ballesteros (Spain)
A five-time major championship winner from Spain, Seve Ballesteros won the Masters twice and The Open Championship three times from 1979 to 1988. He was just 22 years old when he won The Open in 1979, finishing with a four-round score of 1-under-par. He is the sixth-youngest player to win The Open and the youngest in the 20th century. He won again in 1984 and 1988. Ballesteros won the Masters in 1980 and 1983 and was a top-five finisher in 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1989.
Ballesteros passed away at his home in Spain at just 54 years old in 2011. Six years later, fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia won the Masters on Ballesteros’ birthday. Garcia and Ballesteros are two of only four Spaniards to win a major championship, along with Jon Rahm and José María Olazábal.
Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland)
Ranked No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking as of late February 2023, Rory McIlroy is a four-time major champion. The Northern Ireland native is a Masters title away from completing the career Grand Slam. He’s a two-time winner at the PGA Championship and won the U.S. Open in 2011 and The Open Championship in 2014. He has six top-10 finishes at the Masters, including a fourth-place result in 2015. His best year was in 2012, when he won the PGA Championship for the first time and was named PGA Tour Player of the Year.