Zach Johnson won the Open Championship at St. Andrews in 2015. It was his second major of his career, after having previously won the Masters. He has won twelve times in his career, and played on four Ryder Cup teams. Johnson's victory likely gave him a spot in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Yet, when everyone looks back at the 2015 majors, he will be the forgotten story.
That should say all you need to know about the 2015 PGA Tour season and the rise of the superstars in golf. We saw Jordan Spieth go from being a prodigy to becoming the best player in the world, and we saw Jason Day evolve from someone who contended a bunch to winning three times, including finally being able to call himself a major champion. The majors this season were filled with drama and storylines, and golf writers will be able to point back to 2015 as the year when two of the world's best golfers took over the game, and another golfer being rewarded for his patience to secure a bust at St. Augustine.
But is it the greatest season ever for major champions? It is part of the conversation, but in order to truly judge, we compiled a list of seasons where big time golfers walked away with major championships. You decide whether or not 2015 gets to be ranked among the best ever.
A few criteria. We decided to start in 1934, the year the Masters was founded, so every season has four majors. One player can win two majors in a season, but if anyone won three in one season, the season is disqualified. This disqualifies the 1953 season (Ben Hogan won three times) and the 2000 season (Tiger Woods won three times). Finally, all players in question do not have to be in the Hall of Fame, but it certainly helps their chances. Without further ado, here are some of the best seasons of major golf champions of all time.
1962:
- Masters: Arnold Palmer
- US Open: Jack Nicklaus
- Open Championship: Arnold Palmer
- PGA Championship: Gary Player
Golf fans have a fond recollection of The Big Three as rivals who fought each other down the stretch at majors, but 1962 was the only season where each member of The Big Three won a major. Arnold Palmer was in the prime of his career and was, without a doubt, the King. His Masters victory gave him his third green jacket, and he won the Open Championship in back to back years. Still, what Palmer remembers most from 1962 was his inability to win the US Open at Oakmont, just outside of his hometown. He ended up losing in a playoff to a young kid from Ohio named Jack Nicklaus...who would go on to win 18 major championships throughout the course of his career. Gary Player's PGA Championship get him the third leg of the Career Grand Slam, a quest he would complete at the 1965 US Open.
1963:
- Masters: Jack Nicklaus
- US Open: Julius Boros
- Open Championship: Bob Charles
- PGA Championship: Jack Nicklaus
While 1962 was the domination of Arnold Palmer and the rise of Jack Nicklaus, 1963 was the year Nicklaus took the crown from Palmer, winning two majors including the first of his six green jackets. The other two champions may not immediately catch the eye of the casual golf fan, but both of them have impressive Hall of Fame careers. Boros' US Open was his second US Open victory, and his first major in ten years. He would add a third major, the 1968 PGA Champion, at the age of 48, making him the oldest major champion of all time. Charles played all over the world, winning six times in the US, four times in Europe, and eight times in New Zealand. He was the first New Zealand golfer and the first left hander to win a major.
1970:
- Masters: Billy Casper
- US Open: Tony Jacklin
- Open Championship: Jack Nicklaus
- PGA Championship: Dave Stockton
The criticism of Billy Casper is that he didn't win as many majors as he should have with the amount of talent that he had. He ended his career inside the top 10 in overall victories, and in 1970, he won his third and final major at the Masters. Tony Jacklin only finished inside the top 10 at the US Open once, but he made the most of it by winning in 1970. His victory went alongside his Open Championship win the year prior. Jacklin won a total of 29 times all over the world and was a Ryder Cup captain, but he is perhaps known more for his tragic life off the course than he is his brilliance inside the ropes. Nicklaus was nearly halfway to his final major tally by the end of 1970 after winning his 8th major title. Dave Stockton is now the guy all the professionals go to for putting tips, but before that, he was making himself known on Tour. He would finish with ten PGA Tour victories and two wins in the PGA Championship, with a few near misses in other majors, as well. Stockton is the only man listed in this article who is not in the Hall of Fame.
1972:
- Masters: Jack Nicklaus
- US Open: Jack Nicklaus
- Open Championship: Lee Trevino
- PGA Championship: Gary Player
Arnold Palmer would not come close to winning a major in the 70's, but there was still a Big Three in professional golf. Taking the place of Palmer was Lee Trevino, who was outspoken and flashy and was not afraid to have fun on the golf course. He won two majors in 1971 and in '72 he defended his Open Championship, stopping the Grand Slam hopes of Jack Nicklaus, who had established himself as a dominating figure on the game of golf. Trevino would finish with six career majors. Nicklaus became only the second player to win ten or more majors in their career after he won the Masters, and tied Walter Hagen with the most majors won with eleven at the US Open. Player won his sixth major and second PGA Championship in 1972.
1980:
- Masters: Seve Ballesteros
- US Open: Jack Nicklaus
- Open Championship: Tom Watson
- PGA Championship: Jack Nicklaus
1980 was a bridge year, connecting the old era with a new one. PGA Championship would be his final major until his unlikely win in 1986, and it would mark the end of the Golden Bear Era on the PGA Tour. Seve Ballesteros became the first European to win the Masters, and it would inspire a wave of great European players taking over the world of golf on the PGA Tour and globally, which would create a huge change in the Ryder Cup and switch the event from an American dominated event to a European dominated one. Tom Watson won the third of his five Open Championships, forever linking him with that event. Watson would finish with eight majors, and Seve with five.
Following Seve's victory at the 1980 Masters and the fall of Jack Nicklaus as the face of the sport, the game became much more global, which allowed players from all over the world to take part in the majors. This caused a rise of major champions that were far more under the radar and perhaps did not have the lengthy resumes as the major champions of the 60's and 70's. This would continue throughout the 90's, until Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters. Tiger would go on to dominate the Tour, leaving very little left for the rest of the field to take.