The Grand Slam was invented ‘accidentally’ during a casual conversation on an airplane piloted by Arnold Palmer with the journalist, Bob Drum.
The conversation ‘grew legs’ when Arnold’s prospects of winning the centenary Open at St. Andrews came up for discussion after Arnold had won The Masters and US Open in 1960 and speculated out loud about winning a ‘triple crown’ by adding The Centenary Open Championship at St. Andrews?
“What might that bring? Arnold asked.
Drum wasn’t impressed and said: “Sweet Fanny Adams!”
There is no denying that majors, these days, are by far the biggest events in the golfing year but I am by no means the only one who believes it is reasonable to say that apart from the two Open Championships (US and British) any Masters or PGA Championship won prior to 1960 should not be termed a major, especially retrospectively, for the simple reason that nobody regarded them as such at the time they were won.
Anyone not old enough to appreciate let alone remember what golf was like prior to 1960, may find it hard to believe that nobody spoke of winning ‘majors’ or Grand Slams before Arnold Palmer won the US Open in the most dramatic of circumstances at Cherry Hills in 1960.
Upon reflection, however, Drum recognised a ’good story.’ He wrote about the exchange between himself and Arnold, hyping up the idea of a Grand Slam. The possibility of such an extraordinary achievement caught on. Unfortunately, Kel Nagle (Australia) upset the odds – and saved the bookies a fortune – by ‘pipping’ Arnold by one stroke at the Home of Golf but the idea of ‘The Slam’ didn’t die.
Now, in the year 2023 and looking forward, the ‘squeezing’ of the four majors into a tight 16-week period is once more devaluing their importance and their ability to be regarded as extra special. I’m not bothered! As far as I am concerned, there are only two professional golf majors. Just two. Always and forever – The Open Championship and the US Open. The Masters is an ‘invitational’ with a limited field (rarely more than 90 competitors, including amateurs and elderly with former champions who have no chance of making the cut let alone winning).
Augusta National co-founder, Clifford Roberts, said as much: “It has been proven, at least to our own satisfaction, that those who patronize the Masters, get more pleasure and excitement watching the great players make birdies than bogeys. It would be easy to set up Augusta National so that no one could break 80 on it. But, if this were done, we doubt if the players would like it. And we are certain such a policy would be unpopular with the patrons…most assuredly Mackenzie and Jones would have been disappointed if good scores by capable players had not been forthcoming.” That doesn’t sound like a proper major to me.
Year-on-year, the PGA Championship may arguably have the strongest entry because it consistently comprises of more golfers in the Official World Rankings top 100 than any of the others. Nevertheless, it more resembles ‘just another PGA Tour event’ because of the venues that are usually chosen to host it. (Not in 2023 though, Oak Hill arguably hosted the best of the four tournaments generally acknowledged as majors this year.)
The late, Peter Alliss was fond of stating that Jack Nicklaus would have won 37-majors if he had scored a mere one-quarter of a shot lower in each major round he played. Au contraire, Jack may have finished in second place nineteen times but that doesn’t mean he would have won all of those tournaments if scoring two strokes better. Jack lost five majors by one shot and seven others by two shots, which means he might have won or tied in 30-majors, if only two stokes better; not 37. If Jack won four out of the seven of ‘possible’ play-offs (most unlikely) his total would come down to 27.
Whether you use the Alliss ‘quarter-shot per round theory’ or not, Nicklaus has no close rivals and, even if you were to include (R&A and USGA) amateur majors, Bob Jones still would not be close enough to trouble the Nicklaus record. Jones won seven professional majors (four USGA and three R&A) as well as six amateur majors (five USGA and one R&A). Jones also finished second in four US Opens, losing two of them in play-offs and another by one stroke. So, by the quarter-shot per round criteria you could say Jones might have ‘won’ 16-majors whereas Nicklaus’s haul would creep up to a theoretical 29.
Then you must also consider that Bob Jones was a part-time amateur who retired at 28 having won 11 of the last 13-majors (amateur and professional) he played in while never being eligible to play in the PGA Championship, whereas Jack won the 1986 Masters aged 46. Jones never visualised his own ‘invitational’ as a major – certainly not at the beginning. He won three (British) Opens but only played in four. The first time he travelled to St. Andrews in 1921 for The Open, he famously tore up his card and walked in during the third round when he became ensnared in Hill Bunker (11th).
Tiger Woods has won three USGA and three R&A Opens. Tiger finished second in two USGA Opens; one by one stroke and the other by two strokes so, with the help of that priceless quarter shot and conceding him victory in both, he would still be lagging far behind Nicklaus with 11-wins including his three US Amateur Championships.
Only nineteen golfers in history have won both the US Open and The Open; a mere six won both of them more than once (Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus, Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen). When considering who the ‘greatest of all time’ might be – I’d be of a mind to confine it to that six and ‘go’ with: 1-Jones, 2-Nicklaus, 3-Woods, 4-Hagen, 5-Trevino, 6-Els.
The 19 Winners of both ‘Open’ Championships are:
7-Harry Vardon (USO-1900; BO-1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911, 1914); Bobby Jones (USO-1923, 1926, 1929, 1930; BO-1926, 1927, 1930); Jack Nicklaus (USO-1963, 1967, 1972, 1980; BO-1966, 1970, 1978).
6-Walter Hagen (USO-1914, 1919; BO-1922, 1924, 1928, 1929); Tom Watson (USO-1982; BO-1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983); Tiger Woods (USO-2000, 2002, 2008; BO-2000, 2005, 2006).
5-Ben Hogan (USO-1948, 1950, 1951, 1953; BO-1953)
4-Gary Player (USO-1965; BO-1959, 1968, 1974); Lee Trevino (USO-1968, 1971; BO-1971, 1972); Ernie Els (USO-1994, 1997; B.O-2002, 2012)
3-Gene Sarazen (USO-1922, 1932; BO-1932); Arnold Palmer (USO-1960; BO-1961, 1962)
2-Ted Ray (USO-1920; BO-1912); Jim Barnes (USO-1921; BO-1925); Tommy Armour (USO-1927; BO-1931); Tony Jacklin (USO-1970; BO-1969); Johnny Miller (USO-1973; BO-1976); Rory McIlroy (USO-2011; BO-2014); Jordan Spieth (USO-2015; BO-2017).
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