⛳Competitions

Played every April at Augusta National in Georgia, the Masters is the only major contested at the same course each year, which gives it a familiarity and mystique no other event enjoys. It is an invitational with the smallest field of the majors, and the winner receives the famous green jacket and a lifetime invitation. Created by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts, it is renowned for its glassy greens, roaring back-nine drama on Sunday, and traditions from the par-3 contest to the champions' dinner. It is, for many players, the most coveted title in golf.

The Open, often called the British Open outside the UK, is the oldest championship in golf and the only major played outside the United States. Rotated among a select group of seaside links courses in Britain, including St Andrews, it demands mastery of firm ground, deep pot bunkers and unpredictable wind, a distinct test of shot-making and imagination. The winner lifts the Claret Jug and holds the title of Champion Golfer of the Year. Its links conditions and long history make it the truest examination of the classical skills on which golf was founded.

Run by the USGA and staged in June, the U.S. Open is famous for the most punishing setups in golf: narrow fairways, thick rough and lightning greens designed so that par is a strong score and even par often wins. It is the most democratic of the majors, with open qualifying that lets amateurs and unknowns earn a place alongside the elite. Rotating among demanding championship courses, it rewards patience, precision and mental toughness above all, and has produced some of the sport's most gruelling and dramatic finishes over 72 holes.

Organized by the PGA of America and now played in May, the PGA Championship completes the men's Grand Slam. Contested at stroke play since 1958 after decades of match play, it consistently assembles one of the strongest fields in golf, historically including a number of club professionals alongside the world's best. The winner receives the Wanamaker Trophy. Without the fixed venue of the Masters or the links identity of the Open, its character comes from sheer competitive depth and a rota of demanding modern American courses that test every part of the game.

The Ryder Cup is a biennial match-play contest between the United States and Europe, with no prize money and enormous prestige. Twelve-man teams compete over three days of foursomes, four-balls and singles, and the intensity of representing a continent produces pressure and passion unmatched anywhere else in golf. Once dominated by the Americans, it became a genuine rivalry after Europe was added in 1979 and Seve Ballesteros galvanized his side in the 1980s. Its partisan crowds, patriotic drama and reputation for last-day comebacks make it, for many, the most compelling spectacle in the sport.

The PGA Tour is the world's leading professional circuit, running dozens of tournaments a year for the richest purses in golf. Since 2007 its season has climaxed in the FedEx Cup, a points-based playoff series ending with the Tour Championship, where a season-long race is settled for a nine-figure bonus pool. The Tour controls the elite weekly game in the United States and much of the global schedule, and its response to the LIV Golf breakaway, including elevated signature events with limited fields and large purses, is reshaping the professional calendar.

Formerly the European Tour and rebranded in 2022, the DP World Tour is the second major men's circuit, staging events across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. It has historically been the launchpad for many of the game's greats, from Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo to Rory McIlroy, and it supplies the bulk of Europe's Ryder Cup team. Its season-long Race to Dubai ranks the tour's players, and a strategic alliance with the PGA Tour now links the two circuits, offering leading DP World Tour members a pathway to PGA Tour cards each season.

Bankrolled by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, LIV Golf launched in 2022 as a rival to the established tours, signing stars including Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm with large guaranteed contracts. Its format breaks with tradition: 54 holes with no cut, shotgun starts, and a team competition running alongside the individual event. LIV's arrival triggered suspensions, lawsuits and a 2023 framework agreement with the PGA Tour whose final shape remains unresolved. Whatever its outcome, LIV has permanently altered the economics and politics of men's professional golf and the movement of its talent.