This is a follow-up to my previous blog post about Northern Ireland’s remarkable success in major golf tournaments in recent years (e.g. Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell capturing the last two U.S. Opens and Darren Clarke taking a run at the British Open this weekend). In the last quarter century – going back to the 1986 British – only three countries have turned out more major champions than Northern Ireland has. Here’s the breakdown:
(Note: Some players won more majors than are listed. We’re only talking about the last 100 majors).
● United States (34 winners, 56 titles): Tiger Woods (14), Phil Mickelson (4), Payne Stewart (3), John Daly (2), Lee Janzen (2), Mark O’Meara (2), Curtis Strange (2), Bob Tway, Larry Mize, Scott Simpson, Larry Nelson, Jeff Sluman, Mark Calcavecchia, Hale Irwin, Fred Couples, Tom Kite, Paul Azinger, Ben Crenshaw, Corey Pavin, Steve Jones, Tom Lehman, Mark Brooks, Justin Leonard, Davis Love, David Duval, David Toms, Rich Beem, Jim Furyk, Ben Curtis, Shaun Micheel, Todd Hamilton, Zach Johnson, Lucas Glover, Stewart Cink.
● South Africa (5 winners, 8 titles): Ernie Els (3), Retief Goosen (2), Trevor Immelman, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel.
● Australia (5 winners, 6 titles): Greg Norman (2), Wayne Grady, Ian Baker-Finch, Steve Elkington, Geoff Ogilvy.
● Spain (2 winners, 3 titles): Jose Maria Olazabal (2), Seve Ballesteros.
● Germany (2 winners, 2 titles): Bernhard Langer, Martin Kaymer.
● Northern Ireland (2 winners, 2 titles): Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy.
● Scotland (2 winners, 2 titles): Sandy Lyle, Paul Lawrie.
● England (1 winner, 6 titles): Nick Faldo (6).
● Fiji (1 winner, 3 titles): Vijay Singh (3).
● Ireland (1 winner, 3 titles): Paddy Harrington (3).
● Zimbabwe (1 winner, 3 titles): Nick Price (3).
● Argentina (1 winner, 2 titles): Angel Cabrera (2).
● Canada (1 winner, 1 title): Mike Weir.
● New Zealand (1 winner, 1 title): Michael Campbell.
● South Korea (1 winner, 1 title): Y.E. Yang.
● Wales (1 winner, 1 title): Ian Woosnam.
Or to put it another way:
U.S.: 34 winners, 56 titles.
Rest of the world: 27 winners, 44 titles.
