Where Rory McIlroy ranks among the best European golfers in history

I cannot believe that there is even an argument or debate about Rory McIlroy’s standing in the history of European golf.

In my mind at least, he is the greatest ever to draw breath. There will be those who will point to Nick Faldo’s six majors and, of course, others will tell you it is Seve Ballesteros.

Faldo won The Masters and The Open three times each, Seve claimed two Masters and three Opens. McIlroy is the only European golfer ever to win the Career Grand Slam and only the fourth man in history to successfully defend the Green Jacket.

What makes what he is achieving now so impressive is that he went 11 years between winning major number four and claiming The Masters for the first time last year - and now he has done it again.

As good as Faldo and Seve were, they were never able to win the US Open or US PGA Championship.

Faldo won nine times on the PGA Tour, the same number as Seve. McIlroy has triumphed 30 times. 

He is almost 37 but is one of the fittest golfers on the planet. He need only look at what Justin Rose is still achieving at the age of 45. Phil Mickelson won the US PGA aged 50, Jack Nicklaus won The Masters when he was 46.

McIlroy has another huge advantage - he led the driving distance charts at Augusta and routinely averages in excess of 320 yards. As he gets older he will obviously start to lose some of that distance but will still be one of the longest hitters out there.

He won The Masters in 2025 with four double-bogeys and this year he missed more fairways than he hit. In other words, he has now found a way to win while not at his best.

By his own admission, Nicklaus won many of his 18 majors with his B-game and current world number one Scottie Scheffler has developed the same happy knack.

In the run-up to this year’s Masters I was convinced that McIlroy was undercooked. His last competitive outing came at the Players Championship in March. He chose to give both the Texas Open and Houston Open a miss. But he knew what he was doing.

His attention will now turn to the US PGA, US Open and Open Championship at Birkdale. He admitted that having climbed his Everest by winning last year’s Masters he struggled to find the motivation to compete at the three majors that followed in 2025. I am absolutely certain that will not be the case this year.

Here is how I rank Europe’s major winners:

1. Rory McIlroy

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

The only European to have won all four, and thus the only one to have achieved the Career Grand Slam. He now has six majors to his credit and I do not believe he is finished yet. It is also worth pointing out that he has been winning majors and has been at the top of the game for 15 years. That takes some doing.

2. Seve Ballesteros

The only European who can hold a candle to McIlroy. If only he had been able to find more fairways with the driver who knows how many majors he could have won? Produced recovery shots that left onlookers shaking their heads in disbelief and possessed the best short game I have ever seen.

3. Nick Faldo

Probably the most single-minded golfer England has ever produced. Rebuilt his golf swing with the express purpose of winning majors. Proved all his critics wrong by winning three Masters and three Opens. But while McIlroy’s golf is thrilling to watch, Faldo’s seldom was.

4. Henry Cotton

Cotton is often forgotten when talk turns to the best European golfers. He won The Open in 1934, 1937 and 1948 and was the best British golfer of his generation. He competed only occasionally in America, admitting that he did not enjoy either the travel or the courses. But he definitely deserves his place in the pantheon.

5. Tony Jacklin

For an all-too-brief period, Jacklin was the best player on the planet - at a time when Nicklaus was in his prime. He ended an 18-year wait for a home winner when he claimed The Open at Royal Lytham in 1969 and the following year left a world-class field trailing in his wake when he won the US Open by an astonishing seven shots. He was also a winner on the PGA Tour and was a true trailblazer.

6. Padraig Harrington

The Irishman became known as a bridesmaid for much of his career. But he never stopped believing. He was and remains one of the hardest workers in the game and his major breakthrough finally came when he won The Open in 2007. The following year was even better. First of all he successfully defended the Claret Jug and the following month he added the US PGA Championship.

7. Sandy Lyle

It is often forgotten that Scotland’s Sandy Lyle was the first European to win The Masters, doing so courtesy of a brilliant bunker shot at the final hole in 1988. Three years earlier he had also won The Open at Royal St George’s. He also won The Players Championship and was a Ryder Cup stalwart but his star burned all too briefly.

8. Bernhard Langer

Was there ever a more dedicated, more cussed competitor than the German? No golfer worked harder. He fought the yips throughout his career. It would have destroyed lesser men but not Langer. They say that you cannot win The Masters unless you are a world-class putter. Langer, who was also one of the shortest hitters, somehow managed to win it twice.

9. Jose Maria Olazabal

Olazabal’s hero was Ballesteros and, like his idol, the Spaniard struggled throughout his career with a wayward driver. But he was an astonishing iron player and a wondrous putter and it came as no surprise when he won The Masters in 1994. Many thought it would open the floodgates but Olazabal suffered years of debilitating pain in his legs and feet before finally finding a cure and recording a hugely emotional second win in 1999.

10. Ian Woosnam

Woosnam was a diminutive Welshman who struggled horribly in the early stages of his career but he refused to give up and became a prolific winner on the European Tour, claiming 29 titles. Despite his small stature he was a big hitter and when he won The Masters in 1991 he was the world’s top-ranked golfer.

NB: I have not included any of the greats from the late 19th and early 20th century simply because the level of opposition they faced does not compare with any of the players listed above.