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Who are the Highest Ranked Golfers without a Major Tournament Win?

The Masters Tournament Golf Ball

Image courtesy: Bigstock
Contributor karenfoleyphotography

The Masters kicks off the PGA Tours’ major tournaments in 2017, and 65 players teed off on the opening day without ever winning a major tournament.

Of the 94 players at this year’s tournament, 29 have tasted glory in some fashion at one of the PGA’s big four.
The Masters, U.S. Open, The Open Championship and PGA Championship represent the big time for golf’s elite, and taking home one of the four titles can make or break a golf career.

Using the PGA Tours’ rankings, who are the highest ranked golfers without a major tournament win?

Hideki Matsuyama – ranked 4th

Hideki Matsuyama’s best performance at a PGA major was his fourth place finish at the 2016 PGA Championship.
Matsuyama is currently ranked fourth on the tour and the golfer is hoping to end his drought of PGA majors in 2017.
While major wins have been hard to come by, Matsuyama has tallied four PGA tour wins at the Memorial Tournament, twice at the Phoenix Open and the HSBC Championship.

Justin Thomas – ranked 7th

Despite his seventh place ranking, American golfer Justin Thomas has never finished better than 18th at a PGA major tournament. That 18th place finish came in the 2015 PGA Championship. Thomas has won four PGA events despite poor finishes at the major tournaments. Can he win one of the big four in 2017? Of course, he can. At just 23, Thomas will be around for some time to come on the PGA tour.

Rickie Fowler – ranked 8th

Rickie Fowler is extremely noticeable with his flat billed baseball cap and orange outfits.

In fact, the PGA Tour golfer looks more like an extreme sports athlete at times than a professional golfer.

Although Fowler has been able to accumulate four PGA Tour wins, the major championships have been elusive.
The 2014 golf season was one of heartbreak for Fowler as he had four top-five finishes.

Fifth at the Masters, second at both the U.S. Open and The Open Championship, and third at the PGA Championship, Fowler hasn’t seen the same success since his near wins at the big four just three years ago.

Alex Noren – ranked 10th

The PGA’s 10th ranked player is Swedish golfer Alex Noren.

The former Oklahoma State golfer has been a professional since 2005, but major wins have been impossible to reach.
It isn’t just the majors, however.

Noren hasn’t won on the PGA Tour yet. Noren has found success across the pond on the European Tour where he has won eight times. In 2016, he only played in four PGA events.

He has already equaled that mark in 2017 as he is on target to set a personal best for events played on the PGA circuit.

Jon Rahm – ranked 12th

Spaniard Jon Rahm is just 22-years old, but the youngster has been turning heads in the golf world since becoming a professional in 2016.

He picked up his first tour win this year at the Farmers Insurance Open in January and could be a breakout star at the big four.

The former Arizona State Sun Devil made the cut for two majors in his rookie season, and a 23rd place finish at the U.S. Open was followed by a 59th place Open Championship.

It may be too early for Rahm to win a major this year, but he will be a name golf fans will hear a lot of in the future.

Masters Winner

Sergio Garcia

Until this year’s Master tournament, Sergio Garcia had done everything there was to do in golf, except win a major.

Going into the 2017 Masters, Garcia was the 11th ranked player on the PGA tour, and ahead of the tournament experts proclaimed Garcia to be the best golfer to never win a major tournament.

Twice he had finished second at The Open Championship and twice second at the PGA Championship, but he could never finish on top.

Finally at 37, after winning so many other golf tournaments, Garcia won the biggest of them all and became immortal in the golf world when he won his first green jacket at Augusta.

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