Scottie Scheffler is set to begin his first chance at joining golf’s most elite and illustrious list: career Grand Slam winners.
Gene Sarazen. Ben Hogan. Gary Player. Jack Nicklaus. Tiger Woods. Rory McIlroy.
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But just how long will Scheffler’s pursuit of the U.S. Open crown last? Two years? How about 10? Even more?
Naturally, Scheffler would like to be the seventh player to complete the Grand Slam at Shinnecock this week. He would even hoist the trophy on his 30th birthday: Sunday, June 21. However, there’s plenty of history where the game has tested the will and patience of even its most dominant performers.
Before Scheffler tees off at the 126th U.S. Open on Thursday, let’s take a look at when each of the six current career Grand Slam winners first attempted to complete their quests — and when they actually accomplished the feat.
Gene Sarazen
Attempts to complete career Grand Slam: 2
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Sarazen, the founding Grand Slam member, won the 1935 Masters in a playoff over Craig Wood in the tournament’s second year of existence, meaning his wait is technically the second shortest on this list.
To clarify, Sarazen lifted the claret jug at the 1932 Open and had to wait three years before the win at Augusta, but technically, he only missed the opportunity to do so once: when Horton Smith won the inaugural Masters in 1934 — also over Craig Wood. (Don’t worry, Wood would eventually win in 1941.)
Sarazen’s first major wins came a decade prior at the 1922 U.S. Open and 1922 PGA Championship. He’d repeat at the PGA in 1923 while ripping off four majors in the 1930s (the ’32 U.S. Open and the ’33 PGA, in addition to the ’32 Open and ’35 Masters) for a grand total of seven major wins in his career.
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Ben Hogan
Attempts to complete career Grand Slam: 1
Like Sarazen, Hogan won his PGA Championship and U.S. Open first (in 1946 and 1948, respectively). The main difference is that Hogan put on the green jacket at the 1951 Masters before finishing the job in his first and only Open Championship in 1953.
Hogan, who was 40 at the time, won his third major of 1953 at Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland by posting a 6-under 282 and besting the field by four strokes. This is the avenue Scheffler is seeking at Shinnecock (read: never having to endure a wait to complete the Grand Slam).
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That Open win was Hogan’s last major triumph, but along the way, he won nine total. Hogan remains the only player to win the Masters, U.S. Open, and Open Championship in the same calendar year — something Rory McIlroy can technically still achieve in 2026.
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Gary Player
Attempts to complete career Grand Slam: 3
In six short years, Player was a Grand Slam winner, achieving the feat by the age of 29. The most elusive for Mr. Fitness? The U.S. Open.
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Player won the PGA at Aronimink in July 1962 to complete the third leg of the slam.
The South African would go on to tie for eighth at the U.S. Open the following June, when The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, throttled the field (Julius Boros won in a playoff after finishing at 9 over). Congressional Country Club wasn’t any more favorable a year later, with Player finishing 15 over and in a tie for 23rd.
Player’s wait for the Grand Slam concluded in the suburbs of St. Louis in June 1965, when he became the first foreign-born winner of the U.S. Open by defeating Kel Nagle at Bellerive Country Club. Player, also the first non-American to hold the Grand Slam distinction, went on to win five more majors (nine total) but never again triumphed at the U.S. Open.
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Jack Nicklaus
Attempts to complete career Grand Slam: 3
Nicklaus won the 1963 PGA Championship a year after Player for Leg 3, but he had to endure two unsuccessful trips across the pond in 1964 and 1965 before lifting the claret jug at Muirfield Golf Links in Scotland.
In ’64, Nicklaus finished runner-up on the Old Course at St Andrews despite tying the course record with a 66 in the third round. A year later, he finished T-12 at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, after being undone by weekend scores of 77 and 73.
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At Muirfield, Nicklaus trailed by two shots entering the final round but closed in 1-under 70 to prevail by a stroke. It was the first of three Open titles.
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Tiger Woods
Attempts to complete career Grand Slam: 1
Waiting is overrated, especially when your name is Tiger Woods.
Woods punctuated that sentiment to great effect when he captured the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in runaway fashion in June 2000. A month later at St Andrews, Woods would do it again and etch his name into the history books as the fastest man to win all four majors, doing so in a little over three years — start to finish.
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The 24-year-old phenom bested Ernie Els and Thomas Bjorn by eight strokes on the Old Course to also become the youngest player to ever complete the career Grand Slam.
After also winning the 2000 PGA, Woods would cap the “Tiger Slam” at the 2001 Masters — four consecutive major wins over two seasons — by beating David Duval by two strokes.
That wasn’t the end for Woods — not by a long shot. He would win 14 majors in the span of 11 years before winning his most recent, and possibly his last, at the 2019 Masters.
Woods was 21 win he won his first major — the 1997 Masters — and 43 when he achieved one of the most incredible comeback victories in sports history in 2019.
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Rory McIlroy
Attempts to complete career Grand Slam: 11
Like most of the players on this list, McIlroy jetted out early in his career to punch three-fourths of the Grand Slam ticket. Augusta proved to be his Achilles’ heel — until it wasn’t.
In his 11th attempt, McIlroy became the first European on the list of career Grand Slam winners when he knocked off Justin Rose in a playoff in 2025.
Before that touchstone moment, McIlroy’s wait for the green jacket was arguably golf’s biggest story. Now, he is the two-time reigning Masters champion. McIlroy’s 2026 win cemented him in the club’s annal’s as one of just four players who successfully defended his title. That list includes Woods, Nicklaus and Nick Faldo.
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