It’s one thing to win a golf major. It’s another to win two majors in a row.
Rory McIlroy will look to accomplish the feat for the second time in his career this week.
You have to go back to 2014 for the last time McIlroy entered this rarefied air, as he won The Open Championship in July of that year, and then the PGA Championship in August of that year.
It should be noted that the PGA Championship moved its spot on the golf calendar back in 2019. So, we now have six years of this new landscape to analyze.
No golfer has yet to win the Masters in April, and then follow it up with a PGA Championship win in May.
It’s now Rory who has the opportunity to make history, as he won the Masters a month ago. He comes into the tournament at Aronimink Golf Club having played in just one event since his Masters win. The Northern Irishman teed up in the Truist Championship at Quail Hollow this past weekend and finished T19.
Rory has played in only eight tournaments so far in 2026. Here is a look at his results:
- Dubai Invitational (Jan. 15 - Jan. 18): T3
- Hero Dubai Desert Classic (Jan. 22 - Jan. 25): T33
- AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Feb. 12 - Feb.15): T14
- The Genesis Invitational (Feb. 19 - Feb. 22): T2
- Arnold Palmer Invitational (March 5 - March 8): Withdrawn
- THE PLAYERS Championship (March 12 - March 15): T46
- Masters Tournament (April 9 - April 12): 1
- Truist Championship (May 7 - May 10): T19
McIlroy should be well rested this week, although he is dealing with a blister underneath the nail on his right pinky toe. It caused him to limp around Quail Hollow this past weekend, and he cut his afternoon practice at Aronimink short on Tuesday after just three holes due to discomfort.
That will certainly be something to watch this week in Pennsylvania, as McIlroy looks to set a new standard by winning the Masters and then the PGA Championship.
Here, we’ll take a look at the past seven years and see how the Masters champion has fared in the PGA Championship. We’ll also look at what each year’s PGA Championship winner did in the Masters the month prior.
2019
Masters winner: Tiger Woods
PGA Championship winner: Brooks Koepka
The hype train heading into the 2019 PGA Championship was at Mach 10, as Tiger Woods stunned the world in April with a throwback performance to win the Masters. It was also the first PGA Championship to take place in the month of May, and it was on a course that Tiger had had success on in the past.
Bethpage Black was the site of the 2019 PGA Championship, and Tiger had won the 2002 US Open on that course. The 2009 US Open was also held at Bethpage Black, and Tiger finished tied for 6th.
So, a lot was lining up for Tiger to have a strong showing in back-to-back Majors.
However, much to the chagrin of Hollywood script writers, that did not come to fruition as Tiger opened the tournament with a two-over 72 and then shot a three-over 73 on Friday. He missed the cut.
Brooks Koepka was actually the one that carried Masters momentum into the PGA Championship, as he finished T2 at Augusta that year. Koepka finished fourth in the AT&T Byron Nelson on May 12, and then won the PGA Championship at Bethpage the following week.
2020
Masters winner: Dustin Johnson
PGA Championship winner: Collin Morikawa
This was the year the world, and the golf calendar, was turned upside down. COVID-19 postponed the Masters to November, and the PGA Championship actually preceded it iin early August. Collin Morikawa won the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, and then finished T44 at Augusta three months later. After winning the 2020 Masters in November of that year, Johnson missed the cut at Augusta in April of 2021, and missed the cut at the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.
2021
Masters winner: Hideki Matsuyama
PGA Championship winner: Phil Mickelson
Matsuyama took a full month off after his 2021 Masters victory. He re-appeared at the AT&T Byron Nelson and finished T39. The next week at the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island he finished T23. Mickelson’s win here at Kiawah Island is one of the true upsets in golf history as “Lefty” had +20000 odds to win going into the tournament. He wound up being the oldest golfer to win a major championship, at 50 years, 11 months, and seven days.
2022
Masters winner: Scottie Scheffler
PGA Championship winner: Justin Thomas
This was the year of Scheffler as he won his first career Tour tournament at that year’s WM Phoenix Open in February, rose to world No. 1 in March, and then won the Masters for his first major title in April. After the Masters, Scheffler participated in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and AT&T Byron Nelson, finishing T18 and T15 respectively. That hot streak did not carry over to that year’s PGA Championship at Southern Hills, though, as Scheffler shot 71-75 on the first two days and missed the cut.
Thomas came into that year’s PGA Championship in good form, as he had eight top 10 finishes in his previous 12 tournaments. That included a T8 at that year’s Masters. Thomas had pre-tournament odds of +1600, but just +3300 odds to win at the start of the final round. The Louisville native was superb on Sunday, as he memorably shot a 67 and then won a playoff over Will Zalatoris to claim the major victory.
2023
Masters winner: Jon Rahm
PGA Championship winner: Brooks Koepka
Rahm dominated the Tour for the early portion of 2023. In nine starts ahead of that season’s Masters, Rahm finished in the top 10 seven times. The Spaniard won that year’s Masters, posted a T15 at the RBC Heritage a week later, and then finished second at the Mexico Open in late April. After two weeks off, Rahm inexplicably shot a 6-over 76 in the first round at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill and was never able to recover. He finished T50 for the tournament.
Koepka’s win at Oak Hill in 2023 wasn’t too surprising as he had the sixth-best pre-tournament odds at +1800. He finished T2 at that year’s Masters, and sandwiched in between the two majors he was T11 or better in three LIV tournaments.
2024
Masters winner: Scottie Scheffler
PGA Championship winner: Xander Schauffele
At this point in time, it was kind of shocking that Scheffler didn’t pull off a back-to-back majors win. Scheffler was incredibly hot in early 2024, winning the Arnold Palmer on March 10, THE PLAYERS Championship on March 17, the Masters on April 14, and the RBC Heritage on April 22.
A three-week intermission from tournament play was apparently the only way to cool him off, as he finished a ho-hum T8 at that year’s PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.
Schauffele had an incredible 2024, as he did not miss the cut the entire year and also won two majors (the PGA Championship and The Open Championship). He finished 8th at the Masters, and then second at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow on May 12. Just a week later he was crowned the winner at the PGA Championship.
2025
Masters winner: Rory McIlroy
PGA Championship winner: Scottie Scheffler
McIlroy is one of the few people on the planet that can claim to have won back-to-back majors in the same calendar year. We have to go back a ways, as Rory won The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in July 2014, and then won the PGA Championship (when it was still held in the month of August) a few weeks later.
McIlroy could not extend his hot streak last year, though, as he finished T47 at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow after winning the Masters a month earlier. Sandwiched in between those starts was a T12 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and a T7 at the Truist Championship.
Scheffler, on the other hand, had a torrid stretch that lasted for months, starting with the 2025 Texas Children’s Houston Open. He finished T2 in that tournament in late March of 2025, then finished fourth at the Masters. He then went on to finish T8 at the RBC Heritage on April 20, then won THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson on May 4, and then incredibly won the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow on May 18. That was just the early stages of one of the most remarkable seasons a golfer has ever had.
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