Men's Major Championships

The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the Major Championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf. In order of their playing date, the current majors are:

 

April – Masters Tournament (weekend ending 2nd Sunday in April) – hosted as an invitational by and played at Augusta National Golf Club in the U.S. state of Georgia.

June – U.S. Open Championship (weekend ending with the 3rd Sunday in June) – hosted by the USGA and played at various locations in the U.S.

July – The Open Championship (weekend containing the 3rd Friday in July) – hosted by The R&A, an offshoot of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, and always played on a links course at one of nine various locations in the UK. In the US, this tournament is often called The British Open.

August – PGA Championship (4th weekend after the Open Championship) – hosted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America and played at various locations in the U.S.

 

Alongside the biennial Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup team competitions, the majors are golf's marquee events. Elite players from all over the world participate in them, and the reputations of the greatest players in golf history are largely based on the number of major championship victories they accumulate. The top prizes are not actually the largest in golf, being surpassed by the Players Championship, three of the four World Golf Championships events (the HSBC Champions, newly promoted to WGC status in 2009, has a top prize comparable to that of the majors), and one or two invitational events. However, winning a major boosts a player's career far more than winning any other tournament. If he is already a leading player, he will probably receive large bonuses from his sponsors and may be able to negotiate better contracts. If he is an unknown, he will immediately be signed up. Perhaps more importantly, he will receive an exemption from the need to annually equality for a tour card on his home tour, thus giving a tournament golfer some security in an unstable profession. Currently, the PGA Tour gives a five-year exemption to all major winners.

 

Three of the four majors take place in the United States. The Masters (often known as the "U.S. Masters" outside North America) is played at the same course, Augusta National Golf Club, every year, while the other three rotate courses (the Open Championship, however, is always played on a links course). Each of the majors has a distinct history, and they are run by four different golf organizations, but their special status is recognized worldwide. Major championship winners receive the maximum possible allocation of 100 points from the Official World Golf Rankings, which are endorsed by all of the main tours, and major championship prize money is official on the three richest regular (under-50) golf tours, the PGA Tour, European Tour and Japan Golf Tour.

In recent years, the Players Championship, which was held two weeks before the Masters, has started to be called "the fifth major" by elements of the American media. This has not been publicly encouraged by golf authorities, but the tournament does attract a similar strength of field. With "The Players" move to mid-May in 2007, some people believe that the Players should be considered a de facto major championship, even if it is not considered part of "the grand slam". However, the idea of increasing the number of recognized "majors" from four to five has never attracted any popularity - possibly because tennis, from which the concept of the "Grand Slam" was copied - has only ever retained its own four "Grand Slam" championships. In addition to the Players, three World Golf Championship events were established in 1999 and a fourth WGC individual event was added in 2009, bringing to nine the total number of events in which all of the world's top 50 players competes against each other every year. Out of these nine tournaments, only the four established "majors" have been recognized as such either in prestige or in recognition, despite the higher prize money available in the Players and three WGC events.