Best players to have never won a major

The four majors represent every professional's golfer's best chance to write their name into the sport's history books.

And while almost all of the game's greatest players have won at least one, there are a handful for whom majors eluded them throughout their entire career.

Below, we look at the best players who have never won a major.

Colin Montgomerie

Unquestionably the best European golfer of the 1990s, Colin Montgomerie won the European Order of Merit seven consecutive times between 1993 and 1999, adding an eighth title in 2005.

Although he recorded three runner-up finishes in majors throughout the 1990s, it was in 2006 when Montgomerie had the U.S. Open in the palm of his hands. Needing only a par to win from the middle of the 18th fairway, Montgomerie made double bogey and didn't even finish in a play-off.

Lee Westwood

Racking up a whopping 19 top-10 finishes in majors, it's hard to believe Lee Westwood never got over the line. From the early 2010s, Westwood was amongst the world's elite in ball striking.

Both long and straight off the tee, Westwood certainly gave himself plenty of opportunities, but was all too often let down by a mediocre short game.

Steve Stricker

After four major top-10s, Steve Stricker would suffer such a significant loss of form that he considered retiring from the game, even losing his tour card in 2004.

Stricker would appear at just one major between 2003 and 2005 and missed the cut at the U.S. Open, but played his way back into contention from 2006, where he was T6 and T7 at the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.

Stricker would play for the USA in seven straight years between 2007 and 2013, ranking in the top 10 of the PGA Tour's money list in five of those years, but major success eluded him.

Luke Donald

Another former English world number one who never won a major, Luke Donald was at the peak of his powers in 2011.

It was an outstanding year for Donald, who came fourth at the US Masters, eighth at the PGA Championship and fourth at the Players Championship, as well as finishing in the top 10 at two of the three World Golf Championships and winning the other.

He also won the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and the Scottish Open, but was unable to ever win one of the big four.

Rickie Fowler

It is of course not impossible that we one day see Rickie Fowler win a major, but these days it's hard enough qualifying for them letting alone winning one.

A loss of form saw Fowler appear in just six majors between 2021 and 2023, looking like a totally different player to the one who record four straight top-five finishes in majors in 2014.

In his peak, Fowler was a solid driver, a strong iron player and a world class putter, but despite 13 top-10s in majors, it looks unlikely he'll ever make that next step.

Patrick Cantlay

Since the PGA Tour Player of the Year award was first given to Wayne Levi in 1990, only Luke Donald and Patrick Cantlay have picked up the trophy without ever winning a major.

In 2021, Cantlay won the prestigious Memorial Tournament for a second time, the BMW Championship for the first time and followed that up with the Tour Championship at East Lake.

Despite his superb all-round game, we've rarely seen the best from Cantlay in majors.