Ranking the 10 Best Active Golfers Who Have Never Won a Major
It's a double-edged competitive sword.
Any golfer worth his tour card would want to be on a "best active" list, except perhaps when the rest of that list includes the words "who have never won a major."
But that's where we're at on the eve of the U.S. Open at Oakmont, the historic course in suburban Pittsburgh where much of the field will vie to join Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and others whose resumes read "major champion."
Of course, not all non-major winners are created equal.
Many players who've not won one are on a short list of favorites each time a major week approaches, while many others have laudable career resumes that include nearly everything else but a Masters, PGA, U.S. Open or British Open win and can still be in the mix if things break just right across four rounds.
The B/R golf team set out to meld those mindsets and come up with a definitive list of the 10 best active non-major winners as the field tees off at Oakmont. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the app comments.
10. Russell Henley
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At the intersection of past performance and future momentum you'll find Russell Henley, the 36-year-old with five PGA Tour wins and top-10 finishes at three of four majors.
Henley arrives to Oakmont ranked seventh in the world on the strength of six top 10s in 12 overall events in 2025, though he missed cuts at both the Masters in April and the PGA Championship in May. He was a non-factor in both those tournaments last year, too, before finishing seventh at the U.S. Open and fifth at the British.
His elite iron play is well-suited for Oakmont and could make him a factor.
9. Matt Kuchar
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We're in contender emeritus territory with Matt Kuchar, who picked up the first of nine PGA Tour wins in 2002 when Scheffler was a few months shy of birthday No. 6.
His nearest pass at a major victory came in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, where he shared the British Open lead after one round and had the outright lead with five holes to play on Sunday before Jordan Spieth rallied to beat him by three strokes.
Now 46, Kuchar was also third at the 2012 Masters and has six career top-fives at majors but hasn't been a top-10 finisher at one since 2019 and has zero top-10 finishes in 10 overall events this year.
8. Will Zalatoris
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It's all about health these days for Will Zalatoris, who finished sixth or better in three of four majors in 2022 but has been a non-factor since thanks to a balky back.
Now 28, the Wake Forest product won his first PGA Tour event at the FedEx St. Jude Championship that year and went to a playoff at the PGA Championship before losing to Justin Thomas in a three-hole aggregate playoff at Southern Hills.
A tie for ninth at the 2024 Masters was his most recent contention in a major but he reherniated two discs after last month's PGA Championship and will be out until the fall after undergoing another back surgery.
7. Rickie Fowler
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If you feel like you've seen Rickie Fowler on lists like this for a while, you're not wrong.
The Oklahoma State product turned pro in 2009 and became a major factor soon after with a fifth-place finish at the British Open in 2011 and a 10th-place finish at the U.S. Open in 2013. He was the ultimate poster boy for near-misses in 2014, becoming the first player to take fifth or better in all four majors in a year without winning any of them.
Fowler was second by a stroke to Patrick Reed at the 2018 Masters and has at least three top 10s at each major in his career, though his world ranking has slipped to 108th and he'll not participate at Oakmont this week after failing to qualify.
6. Max Homa
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There was an air of inevitability not too long ago about Max Homa, a collegiate champion in 2013 who won two pro events apiece in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and finished the latter of those three years ranked seventh in the world.
It's not translated so much to the majors, though, where the Californian, now 34, has just two top-10 finishes in 23 tries, taking 10th at the British Open in 2023 and third at the Masters the following spring.
Homa made cuts but was an also-ran at the Masters and PGA Championship this year and won't play the U.S. Open after losing a qualifying playoff event to Cameron Young and skidding to 92nd in the world.
5. Tony Finau
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Tony Finau, the big hitter from Utah, is another on the list who's been close at each of the four majors, including top 10s at the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open in 2018 alone.
He was 10th or better at two majors apiece in 2019, 2020 and 2021. He also shot a final-round 67 to get within two strokes of winner Bryson DeChambeau and clinch a seven-figure payday at last year's U.S. Open at Pinehurst.
Just one top-10 finish and four missed cuts in 2025 have dropped Finau's world ranking to 41st, but his length off the tee could make him a contender at Oakmont provided his driving accuracy and putting hold up.
4. Ludvig Aberg
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There's no higher-ranked player on our list than Ludvig Aberg, a 25-year-old Swede who's sixth in the world and has finished 12th or better in three of six majors he's played—including a second-place showing at the 2024 Masters after two rounds in the 60s.
He was a shot up on the field after two rounds at the U.S. Open two months later at Pinehurst before a third-round 73. This spring, Aberg shared the final-round lead with two players at Augusta before a bogey/triple-bogey finish left him seventh.
He's listed at +3000 on DraftKings heading into Oakmont, making him the seventh overall favorite behind six players who've each won at least one major.
3. Tommy Fleetwood
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A gradual and consistent run toward the top of the sport continues for Tommy Fleetwood, who was 99th in the world after the 2016 season but has finished among the top 25 players in eight of the last nine years.
The 34-year-old Brit has eight top-10s in 39 career majors, including outright seconds at both the U.S. Open and British Open in 2018 and 2019, respectively. In fact, his final-round 63 in the former at Shinnecock Hills tied the event's single-round scoring record and left him a stroke behind winner Brooks Koepka.
Fleetwood recently joined the list of athletes with a significant social media presence, and a win at Oakmont would no doubt delight the better than 19,000-plus subscribers he picked up in the first 48 hours on YouTube.
2. Viktor Hovland
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A win at the 2018 U.S. Amateur officially raised the curtain on a then-20-year-old Viktor Hovland, who's gone on to win 11 pro events, including a one-shot victory earlier this spring at the Valspar Championship in Florida.
He climbed to fourth in the world after consecutively finishing seventh or better at the British Open, Masters and PGA Championship in 2022 and into 2023, then shot five-under 66 in three of four rounds to finish third at the 2024 PGA.
High-level ball striking will be mandatory for anyone harboring legitimate hopes for a win at Oakmont, and it figures to be a layout suited for Hovland, who's among the elite on tour in both driving accuracy and green approaches.
1. Patrick Cantlay
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Looking for a top candidate to end a drought? Here's your guy.
Patrick Cantlay hasn't hoisted a major trophy dating back to his pro debut in 2012, but he's been particularly consistent at the U.S. Open, making it to the weekend nine times in nine attempts—including 15th, 14th, 14th and third over the last four years.
He led after a round last June at Pinehurst and was second after 36 and 54 holes before winding up two shots behind DeChambeau.
And he arrives this time around with three top-15s in his last four events and among the tour's statistical leaders in greens in regulation (70.53 percent) and strokes gained (1.124), both of which will matter at Oakmont.
Go ahead, drop a couple DraftKings bucks at +5500.
And don't worry, you can thank us later.
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