Golf Major Championships by Country: Mapping Every Nation’s All-Time Majors

Golf’s oldest prize, The Open Championship, returns to Royal Birkdale from 16 to 19 July 2026, the 154th playing of a tournament first held in 1860. It is the perfect moment to map a sport whose national story is unlike any other: golf’s map of major-championship winners is one of overwhelming American dominance, a scattering of proud golfing nations, and one country whose glory is almost entirely locked in the 19th century.

The map below shows every country’s all-time haul of men’s major championships, across The Open, the U.S. Open, the Masters and the PGA Championship. Only about 21 countries have ever produced a champion, and one of them, the United States, has won more than everyone else combined.

The United States stands almost alone

No sport’s map is more lopsided. American men have won 291 major championships, roughly five times the total of second-placed Scotland. The dominance is near-total in the three American-born majors: the USA has won 90 U.S. Opens, 89 PGA Championships and 64 Masters. Only at The Open, played in Britain, does the rest of the world seriously compete.

That depth stretches from Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen through Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson to Tiger Woods and, today, Scottie Scheffler, already a four-time major winner. It is the story of a country that took a Scottish game and turned it into an industry.

Scotland: the home of golf, frozen in time

Scotland is where golf was born, and it ranks a clear second all-time with 55 majors, including a remarkable 41 Open Championships. Scots won the first eight Opens outright between 1860 and 1867, and names like Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris are woven into the sport’s origins.

But Scotland’s dominance is a museum piece. Fifty-two of its 55 majors were won before the Second World War. In the near-century since, Scotland has produced just three, all from two players: Sandy Lyle (the 1985 Open and 1988 Masters) and Paul Lawrie (the 1999 Open). Scotland has never won the PGA Championship, and its only Masters is Lyle’s. No sporting superpower has faded quite so completely while the game it invented went global.

England, South Africa and the chasing pack

England is third with 37 majors, and unlike Scotland it has stayed relevant. Its early Opens came through the Great Triumvirate era, but it also produced Nick Faldo (six majors) and a steady modern stream, including recent U.S. Open and PGA champions. South Africa, fourth on 22, is one of golf’s great overachievers for its size, from Gary Player (9 majors) to Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Louis Oosthuizen.

Australia (18) built its total on The Open and PGA, from Peter Thomson’s five Opens to Greg Norman and, most recently, Cameron Smith. Spain (10) has a special relationship with the Masters, winning it six times through Seve Ballesteros, José María Olazábal, Sergio García and Jon Rahm.

The small nations punching above their weight

Some of golf’s most remarkable stories come from its smallest golfing nations. Northern Ireland, population under two million, has nine majors, six of them from Rory McIlroy, who completed the career Grand Slam at the 2025 Masters. Jersey, a Channel Island of about 100,000 people, also has nine, almost all from Harry Vardon, whose six Open titles remain a record. Fiji has three, all won by Vijay Singh, and Japan broke through only in 2021 when Hideki Matsuyama won the Masters.

The countries behind each major

The four majors have very different national fingerprints. The table below shows how each country’s titles break down. Note how Scotland’s total is almost entirely Opens, how Spain skews to the Masters, and how the PGA Championship, a US-based event for most of its history, has been won by American players 89 times.

The all-time greats

Behind the country totals stand a handful of legendary players. Jack Nicklaus leads everyone with 18 majors, ahead of Tiger Woods (15) and Walter Hagen (11). Gary Player (South Africa) and Ben Hogan share nine, and Harry Vardon‘s six Open titles are still the record for that championship. Among today’s players, Rory McIlroy (6) and Scottie Scheffler (4) carry the torch, one for a tiny nation, the other for the sport’s superpower.

The bottom line

Golf’s map of glory is a study in contrasts: a single dominant superpower, a proud second nation living on past triumphs, and a scattering of countries that produce the occasional great champion. As the world’s best gather at Royal Birkdale, remember that the last ten Opens there were won mostly by Americans and Australians, and the most recent, in 2017, went to a 23-year-old Jordan Spieth. History suggests the winner on 19 July is more likely to extend America’s lead than to end Scotland’s long wait.

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