South African golfers who have won Majors include Bobby Locke, Charl Schwartzel and Ernie Els among the seven elite individuals to have achieved the feat.
South Africa has a rich history when it comes to producing world-class golfers. Golfers from South Africa have won a total of 22 Majors in history.
Gary Player is only behind Jack Nicklaus in the list of most appearances in the Majors with Player registering 150 starts in his career and nine wins. Ernie Els has made 107 starts and four wins.
Everything started with Bobby Locke and these golfers have since then inspired a generation of golfers and have put South Africa as a golfing superhouse.
The 2021 Open Championship witnessed 13 golfers from the nation participate in the Major tournament with Garrick Higgo as young as 22. The golfing world will surely see a wave of young South African golfers in the future.
South African Golfers Major Winners List
Ernie Els, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, Trevor Immelman, and Retief Goosen are among the elite list of South African Golfers Major winners in history.
| Bobby Locke | Open Championship (1949, 1950, 1952, 1957) |
| Gary Player | Open Championship (1959, 1968, 1974), Masters (1961, 1974, 1978), PGA Championship (1962, 1972), U. S. Open (1965) |
| Ernie Els | U. S. Open (1994, 1997), Open Championship (2002, 2012) |
| Retief Goosen | U. S. Open (2001, 2004) |
| Trevor Immelman | Masters (2008) |
| Louis Oosthuizen | Open Championship (2010) |
| Charl Schwartzel | Masters (2011) |
Bobby Locke
Bobby Locke became the first South African golfer ever to win a Major championship and many great golfers have followed him since then.
Locke turned professional in 1938 and came to the United States in 1947 to partake in the PGA Tour. Since then, he has recorded 94 professional wins in his career.
He has 15 wins on the PGA Tour including his four Major championship victories. He won his first championship in 1949 when he won The Open Championship and followed it with three more in 1950, 1952, and 1957.
Gary Player
Gary Player has to be at the top of the list of the most famous South African golfers in history due to nine Majors and an illustrious career overall.
He is without a doubt one of the greatest golf players of all time. He is among the few players in the history of the sport to have achieved a career Grand Slam.
Gary turned professional in 1953 and has 159 professional wins in his career. 24 victories are on the PGA Tour including his Major championship wins.
He is one of the most successful golfers who has won it all in his illustrious career. He also became a recipient of the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award for his extraordinary career.
Ernie Els
The former World No. 1 who goes by the name “The Big Easy” has had an illustrious career as well. The South African golfer is still going strong and is an active golfer at the age of 53.
Els turned professional in 1989 and has had 75 professional wins in his career. He has 19 PGA Tour wins including four Majors. He’s won the U. S. Open and the Open Championship twice. He finished second at the Masters in 2000 and 2004.
He was also a member of the “Big Five era” alongside Tiger Woods who dominated the sport from 2004-2007 and were regarded as the best golfers in that period of time.
Retief Goosen
The 54-year-old turned professional in 1990 and after more than three decades on the greens, he is still active and is currently touring the PGA Tour Champions.
Goosen has recorded seven wins on the PGA Tour out of the 38 professional wins in his career. He has two Majors to his name and both have been the U. S. Open.
He finished second twice at the Masters in 2002 and 2007. He was ranked third in the world in 2006, which was his career-high ranking, and was also a member of the “Big Five era” alongside countryman Ernie Els.
Trevor Immelman
Trevor John Immelman has played 281 events on the PGA Tour since turning professional in 1999 and has two wins on the Tour with one being the Masters in 2008.
His win in 2008 was special as he was the first South African after Gary Player to win a Masters. Gary last won it in 1978 and Immelman won it after three decades.
He has 11 professional wins with 5 being on the Sunshine Tour and 4 on the European Tour and reached his highest career ranking of 12 in 2006.
Louis Oosthuizen
Louis Oosthuizen is a professional golfer since 2002 and has had 14 career wins with only one win on the PGA Tour and that too a Major championship.
He let go of the PGA Tour in 2022 as he signed with LIV Golf. Oosthuizen has always felt short in other Major tournaments as he has finished second and T2 in all the other three Majors.
His 2010 Open Championship win was his first and last on the tour and finished T23 in 2023. He has 9 wins on the European Tour and reached his career-high ranking of #4 in 2013.
Charl Schwartzel
Charl Schwartzel has 16 professional wins in his career with two PGA Tour wins. His first win on the tour was the Masters in 2011 and the second was the Valspar Championship in 2016.
He too joined LIV Golf in 2022 and won the LIV Golf Invitational London in June. He has also recorded 11 wins on the Europen Tour and reached his best ranking of #6 in 2012.
South African Golfers Who Have Won The Masters
South African golfers who have won the Masters Tournament are:
- Gary Player
- Trevor Immelman
- Charl Schwartzel
Gary Player was the first golfer from South Africa to win a Masters when he did it in 1961. He has won this particular Major thrice in his career.
Player finished 8-under 280 to win the tournament in 1961 with Charles Coe and Arnold Palmer as the runners-up. He also took home a cash prize of $20,000.
Gary Player’s record in the other two Masters are:
- 1974 – 10-under 278 and $35,000 prize money.
- 1978 – 11-under 277 and $45,000 prize money.
Trevor Immelman won the Masters in 2008 and has been entered into the history books as the second South African to win the Masters.
Immelman beat legendary golfer Tiger Woods to win the championship and finished with 8-under 280. On the 30th anniversary of Player’s win, the prize money also increased and the winner’s share was $1,350,000.
Charl Schwartzel followed in their footsteps and won the Masters in 2011 in Agusta, Georgia. Rory Mcllroy led in the first three rounds and eight different players took the lead during the final round.
At the end of the day, Schwartzel took home the victory as he finished the day with 14-under 274 with Jason Day and Adam Scott as runners-up. A slight increase in the prize money as he took home $1,440,000.
Young South African Golfers
South African golfers are renowned worldwide and are one of the most successful golfing nations in the world. Some upcoming young South African golfers are:
- Wilco Nienaber – 23 years old
- Garrick Higgo – 24 years old
- J. C. Ritchie – 29 years old
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout – 29 years old
The several tours in golf including the PGA, European, Sunshine, and LIV Golf have many golfers who hail from South Africa. They have been part of tours for a very long time with a rich history.
Wilco Nienaber
The young golfer turned professional in 2019 and has already registered a win on the Sunshine Tour. He is also currently touring the European Tour and has a bright future ahead of him.
He finished T68 at the 2021 U. S. Open and hasn’t participated in any other Major championship tournaments.
Garrick Higgo
The 24-year-old is currently touring the PGA, European, and Sunshine Tour. He has already played 58 events on the PGA Tour and has one win since he turned professional in 2019.
He won the inaugural Palmetto Championship in 2021 which had a total purse of $7,300,000 and he got a winner’s share of $1,314,000.
Although he is very young, he has already racked up 7 professional wins and reached his best world rankings of #38 in 2021 and is currently ranked 157 in the OWGR and 72nd in the FedEx Cup standings.
J. C. Ritchie
Juan Carlo “J.C.” Ritchie turned professional in 2014 and since then has recorded 12 professional wins. He has currently part of the European and Sunshine Tour.
He has not yet been part of the PGA Tour but made his debut in the Major championship in the 2020 U. S. Open. He also played in the Open Championship in 2021 and finished T40.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Bezuidenhout has 10 professional wins in his career and has been a professional golfer since 2015. He has not registered a win on the PGA Tour.
He was formerly touring the European Tour and is now a member of the PGA and Sunshine Tours. He has played in 71 events on the PGA Tour and finished as the runners-up in the 2022 John Deere Classic, which is his best finish.
He has played in all the Majors and his best finish was T30 in the 2021 PGA Championship. He is currently ranked 93rd in the world and sits at 107th in the FedEx Cup standings.