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Koepka Joins Seven, Byron Nelson On Five Majors

  Brooks Koepka with the trophy after winning the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club

Brooks Koepka with the trophy after winning the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club

Brooks Koepka has catapulted himself into golfing greatness by winning his fifth Major at the 2023 PGA Championship – putting him level with golfing icons such as Seve Ballesteros.

Koepka won four Majors in eight starts from 2017-19 as the dominant force in golf, and after four years he added a third PGA Championship to his two US Opens when he triumphed by two shots at Oak Hill.

The 33-year-old is just the 20th player in the long history of the sport to have won five men’s Majors, so he’s already in elite company with still plenty of life left in his career.

He’s never been a prolific winner on the PGA Tour with just four victories in regular events – meaning he’s actually won more Majors – and he’s not been afraid to admit he finds it much easier to get up for the four biggest tests in golf than the everyday events.

Now playing in LIV Golf, that could be ideal for Koepka to save himself for the Majors, and maybe match or even surpass some of the huge names that he’s now mixing it with on the list of all-time Major winners.

With five, Koepka has drawn level with the great Seve, and also Peter Thomson, Byron Nelson, James Braid and John Henry Taylor.

There are only 14 players who have won more men’s Majors than Koepka, so he even now has to be considered among the greats, with some big names next up on the list.

An iconic trio of Sir Nick Faldo, Phil Mickelson and Lee Trevino all sit on six Major titles, before he’d then be looking up at the group of seven-time champions who are all legends of the game.

Harry Vardon, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Bobby Jones and of course Arnold Palmer all had seven Majors in their careers – and now Koepka is just two away from those.

The way he’s been playing he has every chance of chasing them down.

The all-time list of major winners

18 – Jack Nicklaus

15 – Tiger Woods

11 – Walter Hagen

9 – Ben Hogan, Garry Player

8 – Tom Watson

7 – Harry Vardon, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer

6 – Sir Nick Faldo, Phil Mickelson, Lee Trevino

5 – Seve Ballesteros, Peter Thomson, James Braid, John Henry Taylor, Byron Nelson, Brooks Koepka