Grand Slam (golf)
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The Grand Slam in men's golf is an unofficial concept, having changed over time. In the modern era, The Grand Slam is generally considered to be winning all four of golf's major championships in the same calendar year. Before The Masters was founded, the national amateur championships of the U.S and the UK were considered majors along with the two national opens and only Bobby Jones has ever completed a grand slam with these. No man has ever achieved a modern grand slam, Tiger Woods being the closest in winning all four consecutively, but over two calendar years.
The term also refers to a tour tournament, the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, an annual off season tournament contested by the winners of the four major championships.
In annual playing order, the modern major championships are:
- April - The Masters (weekend ending 2nd Sunday in April) - hosted as an invitational by and played at Augusta National Golf Club
- June - United States Open Championship (US Open) (weekend ending with the 3rd Sunday in June) - hosted by the USGA and played at various locations in the USA
- July - The Open Championship (The Open; usually called the "British Open" in the U.S.) (weekend containing the 3rd Friday in July) - hosted by The R&A and always played on a links course at various locations in the UK
- August - PGA Championship (USPGA) (4th weekend after The Open) - hosted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America and played at various locations in the USA.
The term "Grand Slam" was first applied to Bobby Jones' achievement of winning the four major golf events of 1930: The Open Championship, the U.S. Open Championship, the United States Men's Amateur Golf Championship and The (British) Amateur Championship. When Jones won all four, the sports world searched for ways to capture the magnitude of his accomplishment. Up to that time, there was no term to describe such a feat because no one had thought it possible. The Atlanta Journal's O.B. Keeler dubbed it the "Grand Slam," borrowing a bridge term. George Trevor of the New York Sun wrote that Jones had "stormed the impregnable quadrilateral of golf." Keeler would later write the words that would forever be linked to one of the greatest individual accomplishments in the history of sports: This victory, the fourth major title in the same season and in the space of four months, had now and for all time entrenched Bobby Jones safely within the "Impregnable Quadrilateral of Golf", that granite fortress that he alone could take by escalade, and that others may attack in vain, forever.
Jones remains the only man to have achieved the grand slam, since before the creation of The Masters and the advent of the professional era, the amateur championships were considered major championships.
The modern definition could not be applied until at least 1934, when the Masters was founded, and still carried little weight in 1953 when Ben Hogan, after winning the Masters, the US Open and The (British) Open, could not compete in the PGA Championship; the nearly concurrent PGA Championship and The (British) Open and the state of transatlantic travel made completing the Grand Slam impossible. Hogan is the only player to have won The Masters, the US and British opens in the same calendar year.
Tiger Woods has come closest to meeting the modern definition of golf's Grand Slam by holding all four modern major championships simultaneously — the US Open Championship, The (British) Open Championship and the PGA Championship in 2000 and the 2001 Masters — although not in the same calendar year. This has been referred to as a Consecutive Grand Slam or, after the only player to achieve it, a Tiger Slam. In fact, even before Woods accomplished this, there was much debate over the definition of "Grand Slam". Fred Couples said "I don't know how I can put it more simply...if he wins all four, it's a Slam". As noted above, however, because there is no official definition, there is no definitive answer.
Only five golfers have won all four of golf's modern Majors at any time during their career, an achievement which is often referred to as a Career Grand Slam: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods. Nicklaus has three Career Grand Slams, having won each major at least three times, while Woods has two, having won each major at least twice.
A number of dominant players of their eras have failed to achieve the Career Grand Slam because of their inability to win a particular major. Sam Snead failed to win a US Open; Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson failed to win a PGA Championship; Lee Trevino failed to win The Masters. These shortcomings have been attributed to various concepts: a particular major is just ill-suited to a player's game; the player lacked the ability to fully adapt to that major; and the player experienced just sheer bad luck.
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[edit] The Women's Grand Slam
Women's golf also has a set of majors. No woman has completed a four-major Grand Slam, but Babe Zaharias won all three majors contested in 1950 and Sandra Haynie won both majors in 1974.
Six women have completed the Career Grand Slam by winning four different majors. There are variations in the set of four tournaments involved as the players played in different eras, and the women's tournaments defined as "majors" have varied considerably over time in a way that has not been paralleled in the men's game. The six are Pat Bradley, Juli Inkster, Annika Sörenstam, Louise Suggs, Karrie Webb, and Mickey Wright. Webb is separately recognized by the LPGA as its only "Super Career Grand Slam" winner, as she is the only one of the group to have won five different tournaments recognized as majors.
Although other women's tours, notably the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA of Japan Tour, recognize a different set of "majors", the U.S. LPGA is so dominant in global women's golf that the phrase "women's majors", without further qualification, is almost universally considered as a reference to the U.S. LPGA majors.
The current four championships are:
- March/April—The Kraft Nabisco Championship (week ending in the first Sunday of April)—Founded by Dinah Shore, it is most remembered for the winners taking a "lake jump" into the water surrounding the 18th green, also called the "Green Jacket of the LPGA" in reference to the ceremony held at The Masters. It shares another trait with The Masters—it is held at the same venue every year, Mission Hills Country Club.
- June—The McDonalds LPGA Championship Presented by Coca-Cola (week ending second Sunday in June)—hosted by the LPGA and played at various courses throughout its tenure (by picking a course and sticking there for a few years), most recently at Bulle Rock in Havre de Grace, Maryland.
- June/July—The U.S. Women's Open (three weeks after the LPGA Championship)—Hosted by the USGA, it is held at various golf courses around the nation. It is considered by some to be the biggest major in the LPGA circuit, despite the fact it is not sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour. It is held at various courses throughout the United States.
- August—The Ricoh Women's British Open (the week of the first Sunday of August)—It is hosted by the Ladies' Golf Union and has been hosted at a links course since 2002. 2007 marked the first time it was held at what is considered by many to be the greatest golf course in the world, and certainly the most historic, the Old Course at St Andrews. This is the only championship sanctioned as a major by both the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour.[1]
[edit] The Senior Grand Slam
Senior (i.e., 50 and over) men's golf also has a set of majors. No man has ever won all of the senior majors contested in a year, even in the period between 1980 and 1982 when only two senior majors existed.
Today, a senior Grand Slam would arguably be a greater accomplishment than even the mainstream men's or women's Grand Slam, since senior golf has five majors instead of the four on the other tours.
No man has won all five of the current senior majors in his career. Miller Barber won both of the 1980-1982 senior majors, the Senior PGA Championship and U.S. Senior Open, during that time span, and won the inaugural Senior Players Championship in 1983. Those three tournaments would be the only senior majors until 1989, when The Tradition was first played. Prior to the founding of The Tradition, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player also completed that era's Career Senior Grand Slam. However, neither Barber, Palmer, nor Player would ever win The Tradition.
Jack Nicklaus is the only other player to have completed any era's Career Senior Grand Slam, doing so in his first two years on the Senior Tour (now the Champions Tour). In his first year of eligibility in 1990, he won The Tradition and the Senior Players Championship. The next year, he defended his Tradition title and went on to win the Senior PGA and U.S. Senior Open. However, he failed to complete a calendar-year Senior Grand Slam by failing to defend his Senior Players title. Nicklaus is the only player to have won four different senior majors in his career. Although he never won the Senior British Open, that event was not recognized as a U.S. senior major until 2003, after he had stopped playing the Senior Tour. (Player won the Senior British Open three times before 2003.)
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ The Evian Masters, held the week before the Women's British Open, is considered a major by the LET, but not by the LPGA. However, the LPGA sanctions it as a regular tour event, and its winner earns an automatic berth in the LPGA's season-ending event, the LPGA Playoffs at The ADT.
[edit] See also
- Men's major golf championships
- Chronological list of men's major golf champions
- Golfers with most major championship wins
- PGA Grand Slam of Golf - an annual off-season tournament contested by the winners of the four men's major championships.
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