All About Tiger Woods Grand Slams: A Comprehensive Guide
Tiger Woods has completed the career Grand Slam (winning all four modern majors at least once) and achieved the unique “Tiger Slam” by holding all four major titles simultaneously. He has won 15 major championships overall, second only to Jack Nicklaus’ 18. Before you discuss or write about these achievements, it helps to understand the three distinct grand slam definitions and the specific details of what Tiger actually accomplished.
What Defines a Grand Slam in Professional Golf
In modern professional golf, “Grand Slam” can mean three different things. Mixing them up is the source of most errors.
The career Grand Slam means winning all four major championships at any point during a career. There is no time limit. A golfer who wins the Masters in 1995, the PGA Championship in 2000, the U.S. Open in 2005, and The Open Championship in 2010 has completed the career Grand Slam.
The consecutive Grand Slam means holding all four major titles simultaneously by winning four consecutive major tournaments. This does not require that the wins happen in a single calendar year. Only one male professional golfer has achieved this.
The calendar-year Grand Slam means winning all four majors within the same calendar year. No male professional has ever done it.
How Tiger Woods Achieved Each Grand Slam
The Career Grand Slam (1997–2000)
Tiger Woods completed the career Grand Slam faster than any golfer in history. He won the 1997 Masters by 12 strokes at age 21, then added the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah. In 2000 he won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach by 15 strokes and The Open Championship at St. Andrews by 8 strokes. That gave him all four career majors at age 24.
| Major | Year Won | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Masters | 1997 | Augusta National |
| PGA Championship | 1999 | Medinah Country Club |
| U.S. Open | 2000 | Pebble Beach Golf Links |
| The Open Championship | 2000 | St. Andrews (Old Course) |
Only five male golfers have completed the career Grand Slam: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods. Every major victory in Tiger’s run came before he turned 25. His 15-stroke win at the 2000 U.S. Open remains the largest margin of victory in major championship history.
The career Grand Slam does not require holding all four titles simultaneously. When Tiger won The Open in July 2000, he had won three of the four majors in 2000 alone, but he lost the 2000 Masters to Vijay Singh. He did not yet hold all four trophies.
The Tiger Slam (2000–2001)
After winning The Open Championship in July 2000, Tiger already owned the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship titles. He then won the 2000 PGA Championship in a playoff against Bob May at Valhalla. That gave him three straight major wins. He completed the “Tiger Slam” by winning the 2001 Masters by two strokes over David Duval.
For 294 days, from August 2000 to April 2001, Tiger Woods held all four major championship trophies simultaneously. This is the consecutive Grand Slam. No other male professional golfer has ever held all four major titles at the same time. The term “Tiger Slam” exists precisely because his achievement defied the traditional calendar-year definition but was equally historic.
Key Distinctions to Keep Straight
The Tiger Slam is not a calendar-year Grand Slam. This is the most frequent source of confusion. Tiger won three majors in 2000 but did not win the Masters that year. His four-in-a-row achievement spanned two seasons. Saying “Tiger won the Grand Slam in 2000” is incorrect. The correct statement is “Tiger completed the Tiger Slam at the 2001 Masters.”
A career Grand Slam does not require holding all four at once. Jack Nicklaus has a career Grand Slam but never held all four titles simultaneously. A player who wins all four majors over a 20-year career still qualifies.
Bobby Jones’ 1930 Grand Slam belongs to a different era. Jones won the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, The Open Championship, and The Amateur Championship in 1930. Those are not the modern four professional majors. When comparing to Tiger Woods or any modern golfer, always use the modern four-major definition.
Three majors in one year is not a grand slam. Winning three majors in a single year is an outstanding achievement, but it is not a grand slam. The term “grand slam” requires all four.
| Type of Grand Slam | Definition | Achieved by (Men’s Professional) |
|---|---|---|
| Career Grand Slam | Win all four majors at any point in career | Sarazen, Hogan, Player, Nicklaus, Woods |
| Consecutive Grand Slam | Hold all four titles simultaneously by winning four straight majors | Tiger Woods (2000 U.S. Open – 2001 Masters) |
| Calendar-Year Grand Slam | Win all four majors in the same calendar year | None |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Grand Slams has Tiger Woods won?
He has completed one career Grand Slam and one consecutive Grand Slam (the Tiger Slam). He has never won a calendar-year Grand Slam.
Did Tiger Woods ever win a calendar-year Grand Slam?
No. In 2000 he won three of four majors (U.S. Open, The Open Championship, PGA Championship) but finished 5th at the Masters.
What is the difference between the career Grand Slam and the Tiger Slam?
The career Grand Slam requires winning all four majors at least once over a career. The Tiger Slam (consecutive Grand Slam) requires holding all four major titles simultaneously by winning four consecutive major starts.
Who else has a career Grand Slam in men’s professional golf?
Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, and Jack Nicklaus. Tiger Woods is the fifth and most recent.
Has any golfer won all four majors in a single calendar year?
No male professional golfer has ever achieved this. Bobby Jones won four tournaments in 1930, but those included two amateur events, not the modern professional four majors.
Why is it called the Tiger Slam?
The term was coined because Tiger Woods was the only golfer to hold all four professional major titles simultaneously, an achievement that did not fit neatly into the existing “calendar-year Grand Slam” definition. The name distinguishes his four-in-a-row accomplishment from the traditional Grand Slam.
Michael Reeves is a PGA Professional with over 20 years of experience in competitive golf and instruction. A former Division I collegiate player at the University of Texas, he competed on the mini-tours before transitioning to full-time coaching and golf journalism. He has been a certified PGA teaching professional since 2005 and has worked with players at every level, from absolute beginners to collegiate champions.
His writing has appeared in Golf Digest, Golf Magazine, and The Left Rough. At GolfHubz, Michael leads the editorial team, overseeing fact-checking and ensuring every answer meets the same standard he demands on the lesson tee: clear, evidence-based, and immediately useful.
When he’s not writing or teaching, Michael plays to a +1.4 handicap at his home club in Austin, Texas. He has attended over 40 major championships as a journalist and fan, and has played more than 200 courses across 15 countries.
You can reach Michael at [email protected] or follow his occasional swing analysis posts on the site.