Golf's 5 Oldest Post-War Major Winners
The Oldest Post-War Golfers to Ever Win a Major
Golf is kind to all ages - and many modern golfing legends are 45+ years old!
But who are the oldest major winners since World War Two? Read on to find out more.
Jerry Barber, the oldest player to ever play in a PGA tournament
You can score a 62 on the golf course and also play when you’re a 10 over 82. It’s one of those games that is kind to all ages.
In 2009, Tom Watson was within inches of winning the Open at 59.
The oldest winner of the (British) Open remains Tom Morris Snr or Old Tom Morris, who’s held that record for an incredible 156 years.
He’s not featured on this more modern list, but he truly proved that age is just a number.
Read about the 5 oldest post-war major winners!
1. Phil Mickelson: Age 50 years, 11 months, 7 days: 2021 USPGA
Career Highlight Stats
Second place at Augusta 2023
Six-time major winner
Won the USPGA in 2021
At the time of writing, ‘Lefty’ has just charged through the field at Augusta 2023 to claim second place at the age of 52.
The six-time major winner revealed he had lost 25 pounds in weight to keep up with the field. The slimmed-down version worked a treat.
This gives renewed hope that the last major he claimed at the USPGA in 2021 will not be the last.
Approaching that tournament at Kiawah Island, the outspoken American was ranked 115th in the world and had not troubled any leaderboards in his last 16 starts.
Going into the final round, Mickelson was only the fourth player over 50 to have a lead heading into the last 18 holes.
He held onto the top spot with the longest drive of the tournament at the 16th and a brilliant chip and putt, staying ahead of Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen.
“I’ve tried to stay more in the present and at the shot at hand and not jump ahead and race.
I’ve tried to shut my mind to a lot of stuff going around. I wasn’t watching TV. I wasn’t getting on my phone.”
Age sometimes plays tricks but the great Big Phil is not finished yet.
2. Julius Boros: Age 48 years, 4 months, 18 days: 1968 USPGA
Career Highlight Stats
Played during the 1960s
Three-time major winner
The oldest golfer of all-time until Phil Mickelson started playing at over 50
It would be fair to say that Boros was a laconic presence on and off the golf course, a kind of Fred Couples of the swinging 60s.
The Guardian once noted that Boros “swept his drives” and “flicked his irons”. His putting had “the nonchalance of an old gentleman practising on the living-room rug.”
When he entered the US PGA in 1968, the Hungarian-American already had two majors to his name.
He kept his nerve at the age of 48 to fend off Arnold Palmer and the New Zealand lefty Bob Charles to claim a third and final big one at Pecan Valley, Texas.
He was the golden oldie for over half a century until Mickelson got up to his 50-plus tricks at the 2021 tournament.
3. Jack Nicklaus: Age 46 years, 2 months, 23 days: 1986 Masters
Career Highlight Stats
Nicknamed the “Golden Bear”
Considered one of the greatest golfers of all-time
His son was the caddy at his most memorable major win
Jack Nicklaus had not won a major for six years and as he made his way to Augusta in 1986, there was no great expectation that this was his moment.
There were even stories that he was “gone” and that the clubs were “too rusty”.
After three rounds of gradual improvement, Nicklaus was in a respectable ninth position, although the smart money was on Seve Ballesteros, who looked set to claim a third green jacket when he eagled the 13th to power ahead.
However, after a steady front nine, the Golden Bear roared into life with a back charge of 30. His sense of timing was perfect.
When Seve dunked a four-iron into the water at the 15th – a shot that seemed to kill his major career – Nicklaus drained yet another single putt at the 17th.
Momentum had swung. Greg Norman choked again at the final hole and the forty-something claimed the 18th and most memorable major with his son as a caddy.
The victor said:
“All I kept reading in the papers was: you just don’t win the Masters aged 46. And my gosh, I think they’re wrong!
Obviously I’m in the December of my career, but just which day of December I haven’t yet decided.”
4. Jerry Barber: Age 45 years, 3 months, 6 days: 1961 USPGA
Career Highlight Stats
Oldest player to ever play in a PGA tournament at age 77
Won the 1961 US PGA Championship
Played on two Ryder Cup teams, 1955 and 1961
The diminutive Barber claimed his one and only major at Olympia Fields in the 1961 US PGA Championship.
However, with three holes to go of the 72, the Californian was four shots behind Dan January.
Incredibly, the 45-year-old made a 20-foot putt on the 16th, a 40-footer on the 17th and then a massive 60-foot putt on the final hole to clinch a playoff.
January had played conservatively to get a bogey on the 18th.
They came back for another round the next day which Barber won by a stroke over the thirty-something January, who again bogeyed the 18th.
He still holds the record for the oldest player ever to play in a PGA tournament when he opened up with a superb 71 at the Buick International at Torrey Pines at the age of 77.
5. Hale Irwin: Age 45 and 14 days: 1990 US Open
Career Highlight Stats
He started playing at seven years old
20 top-two finishes in majors, including three US Open wins in 1974, 1979 and 1990
Ranks tied first with Bernhard Langer on the PGA Tour Champions winners list
Hale Irwin was a child prodigy, playing the game from the age of seven years old. His father was a club professional that gave the boy an early look into the mechanics of the game. It worked.
Irwin had no less than 20 top-two finishes in majors, including three US Open wins in 1974, 1979 and 1990.
When asked how he pulled off the latter, Irwin responded:
“In the winter of 1990, I sat down at my desk. The preparation was a little more intense and the specifics of what I was trying to do were a little bit better.
You can do a lot of things if you put your mind to it.”
He had to. It wasn’t until the 91st hole (after an 18-hole playoff with fellow American Mike Donald) that he claimed victory.
Senior life certainly suited the man from Missouri, as he ranks tied first with Bernhard Langer on the PGA Tour Champions winners list.
Who’s your favourite golden oldie? Do you have any players you’d like to add to this list? Let us know in the comments!
