The Open and the Masters

Rory McIlroy will be aiming to achieve a feat no other player has managed since Tiger Woods 21 years ago when The Open returns to Royal Birkdale in July.

Eight players have won the Masters and then gone on to lift the Claret Jug in the same calendar year.

Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo, Mark O’Meara and Woods have all achieved the double, with Woods’s victory at St Andrews, three months after his triumph at Augusta in 2005, the most recent.

McIlroy’s Masters titles in 2025 and 2026 mean he is already keeping rarefied company as one of only six Grand Slam champions, and one of only four players to go back-to-back at Augusta.

Come The 154th Open this summer, the six-time major winner will have the chance to write his name into history once more.

Here we look at the eight players to have claimed the Claret Jug and Green Jacket in the same year.

Tiger Woods, 2005

A Claret Jug and Green Jacket double wasn’t the only remarkable achievement Woods capped off with success at The 134th Open.

His dominant performance on the Old Course saw him become only the fifth player to win two Opens at St Andrews after Bob Martin, JH Taylor, James Braid and Nicklaus. He also became the sixth player to win having led wire-to-wire.

Opening rounds of 66 and 67 moved him clear of the pack going into the weekend, and he went on to finish on 14-under-par and five clear of his closest challenger Colin Montgomerie, underlining his position as the dominant force in golf.

In April of that year he won his fourth Masters Tournament, his first major in three years, after a play-off with Chris DiMarco.

Mark O’Meara, 1998

If McIlroy does manage to capture the Claret Jug this year, he’ll be following O’Meara by winning at both Augusta National and Royal Birkdale.

At 41, the American became the oldest player to win two majors in one year when he claimed the Claret Jug in Southport 28 years ago.

O’Meara defeated Brian Watts in a play-off, the pair having finished one shot better than a 17-year-old Woods.

Earlier that year he drained a 20ft birdie putt on the 18th, having birdied three of the final four holes, to finish one clear of David Duval and Fred Couples, and win his first major in Georgia.

Nick Faldo, 1990

Faldo was at the very peak of his powers when he won The 119th Open just months after defending his Masters title.

The three-time Champion Golfer earned his second Claret Jug on the Old Course to cap an incredible year.

Like Woods would go on to do 15 years later, Faldo thrilled crowds with a peerless display at the home of golf, finishing five clear of the field with a then record score of 18-under-par.

Both Tiger and Faldo had also won the first leg of their double success in a play-off, Faldo having overcome Raymond Floyd at the second extra hole at Augusta National.

Tom Watson, 1977

1977 was the year Watson and Nicklaus captivated the golfing public, going toe-to-toe on both sides of the Atlantic.

Their battle at the Masters, eventually won by Watson, was followed by the now legendary ‘Duel in the Sun’ at Turnberry.

Both men began the final round in Ayrshire level and went on to produce one of the most thrilling contests the Championship has ever seen.

Nicklaus raced ahead of his opponent but, as he said later, “just couldn’t shake him off”, and Watson came charging back, holing from 60 feet on the 15th to draw level.

The man from Missouri edged ahead on the 17th hole and despite Nicklaus draining a 35ft putt at the last, Watson managed to wrap up the victory and get his hands on the second of his five Claret Jugs.

Gary Player, 1974

Player won his third Claret Jug in emphatic style as the wind blew at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 1974, finishing four shots clear of closest challenger Peter Oosterhuis.

This was Player’s eighth major title, 15 years on from his first – The 88th Open at Muirfield. It saw him become the fourth man to secure the Open and Masters calendar year double.

His Masters success that year represented the second of his three titles at Augusta, the South African finishing two ahead of joint runners-up Dave Stockton and Tom Weiskopf to claim the Green Jacket.

Jack Nicklaus, 1966

Nicklaus completed the career Grand Slam with victory at The 95th Open.

Aged 26, his triumph at Muirfield was his sixth major title, but his first Claret Jug. This represented the first time The Open ran across four days – from Wednesday to Saturday – and the American ended the week with a total of 282, one better than Doug Sanders and Dave Thomas.

Earlier that year, he became the first player to win back-to-back at the Masters, paving the way for Faldo, Woods and McIlroy to follow. His success came after an 18-hole play-off on the Monday, outperforming Tommy Jacobs and Gay Brewer in the extra round.

Arnold Palmer, 1962

Palmer thrilled large crowds with his bold and attacking style as the sun shone on Royal Troon for The 91st Open.

That year he’d encouraged some of his fellow Americans – including a young Nicklaus - to cross the Atlantic for the Championship, however he remained the fan favourite in Ayrshire.

A birdie at the final hole of the week closed out a six-stroke victory. And although Palmer didn’t lift the Claret Jug again, his impact that week would change the face of The Open for generations.

At the 26th Masters Tournament in April of 1962, Palmer won the third of his four Green Jackets with success in an 18-hole play-off over Player and Dow Finsterwald.

Ben Hogan, 1953

Perhaps the greatest player of his generation, Hogan won The Open during his only appearance at the Championship in 1953.

The 82nd Open at Carnoustie was won by four shots, the great Australian Peter Thomson the runner-up.

Hogan’s success came in the same year as victories at Augusta and The U.S. Open, and it would take another 47 years until anybody could repeat the feat of three majors in a calendar year when Woods managed it in 2000.

Among the spectators at Carnoustie was a certain Frank Sinatra, in town to perform a concert in Dundee and telling the media “all America is rooting for Hogan”.