Golfers Who Won Major With Lower Score Each Round

In the history of golf's major championships, how many times has a golfer won a major by posting a lower score each successive round? It is a rare feat to improve one's score in each successive round en route to a major championship win. So rare that it has happened only eight times in golf history.

Those eight times were recorded by just seven golfers, because Ben Hogan did it twice. Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus also make the list. The first time it happened was in 1904, and the most-recent was in 2026.

Is there any special significance to lowering one's score each round? Not really, it's just a rare statistical oddity. It's obviously better to go lower each day than to increase one's score each successive round. But winning a major is winning a major — it doesn't matter how you do it.

The List: Improved Score Each Round of Major Victory

  • Jack White, 1904 British Open, 80-75-72-69. Trailed after each of the first three rounds, finished on 296 to win by one stroke.
  • James Braid, 1906 British Open, 77-76-74-73. Did not take the lead until the final round, finished on 300 to win by four strokes.
  • Ben Hogan, 1951 U.S. Open, 76-73-71-67. Trailed after each of the first three rounds, finished on 287 to win by two strokes.
  • Ben Hogan, 1953 British Open, 73-71-70-68. Had a share of the lead following the third round, finished at 282 and won by four.
  • Gary Player, 1959 British Open, 75-71-70-68. Was still just tied for 10th place after three rounds, but won by two after finishing at 284.
  • Jack Nicklaus, 1986 Masters, 74-71-69-65. Was tied for ninth place following the third round, four off the lead, but final-round 65 included a 30 on the back nine. Finished on 279 to win by one.
  • Mark O'Meara, 1998 Masters, 74-70-68-67. Trailed after each of the first three rounds, finished on 279 (with a final-hole birdie) to win by one.
  • Aaron Rai, 2026 PGA Championship, 70-69-67-65. Was tied for second place after three rounds, finished at 271 and won by three strokes.
Jack White was the first golfer to win a major while improving his score each round. He did it at a time when the Open Championship was 44 years old, the U.S. Open was nine years old, and the PGA Championship and Masters were still well into the future. (White's total of 296 was also the first sub-300, 72-hole winning score in the Open Championship.)

There was a 45-year gap from James Brad in the 1906 Open to Ben Hogan in the 1951 U.S. Open, from the second instance to the third instance of a golfer lowering his score each round en route to a major championship victory. The list above includes two other gaps of near 30 years each.

The largest decrease in score from a golfer's first round to final round among the golfers above is 11 by White, whose first-round score was 80 and final-round score was 69. Hogan (in 1951) and Nicklaus both had nine-stroke improvements from the first to the fourth rounds.

And the lowest starting score by any golfer who won a major with a lower score each round was in the most-recent addition to the list: Aaron Rai's 70 in the 2026 PGA Championship.

Note: These are not the only golfers who lowered their scores each round of a major. But they are the only ones who did so in a major they won.

Related articles:

Sources:
Brenner, Morgan. The Majors of Golf (affiliate link), Volumes I and II, 2009, McFarland and Company.
Ray, Justin. "He is the first man to win a major improving his score each round ...," X.com, May 17, 2026, https://x.com/JustinRayGolf/status/2056145052909404250
The R&A. The Open Media Guide 2026, The Open Championship Records, Scoring Records – General.

Popular posts from this blog