Thursday 11 April 2019 06:34, UK
Rory McIlroy is bidding to become the sixth player to complete golf's career Grand Slam by winning the Masters at Augusta this week.
McIlroy's victory at the 2014 Open Championship secured him the third of his four major victories, adding it to his US Open win of 2011 and PGA Championship success the year later, but five years on and the Masters remains elusive in his quest to join the elite group of Grand Slam winners.
Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen are the five who have done it before and McIlroy will have another go at adding his name to that list at Augusta this week.
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We take a look at the five players to have won all four majors since the Masters era began in 1934, with the quintet accounting for an incredible 57 major victories in total.
Woods remains the youngest player to have ever won all four of the major tournaments. Along with Nicklaus he is also the only player to have won each of the four majors on at least three different occasions.
The 14-time major winner also remains the only player to have won all four majors in succession. Woods completed the first of two career Grand Slams aged 24 by winning the 2000 Open at St Andrews which formed part of the 'Tiger Slam' and culminated at the 2001 Masters.
He appeared destined to eclipse Nicklaus' 18 major wins but the last of his major titles came at Torrey Pines in 2008 when he battled past Rocco Mediate after an 18-hole Monday play-off.
Nicklaus, who leads the way with 18 majors, won his first major title in 1962 at the US Open at Oakmont via an 18-hole play-off victory over Arnold Palmer.
He completed the first of three career Grand Slams at the age of 26 with victory in 1966 at The Open at Muirfield after winning the third green jacket of his career earlier in the year.
Nicklaus won his last title in 1986 at the Masters at the age of 46 and was also runner-up in a major on 19 occasions during his glittering career.
Jordan Spieth has joined Nicklaus as the only player to win three legs of the career Grand Slam before turning 24.
Hogan was 40 when he completed his Slam by winning the only Open he ever played, the 1953 edition at Carnoustie, during his hugely successful career.
That same year he also won the Masters and US Open, where he produced a ruthless performance to achieve a wire-to-wire victory but was unable to achieve the calendar Grand Slam at the PGA that year due to a clash of dates with The Open. He is the only player to win the Masters, US and Open titles in the same year.
He had previously won the Masters and US Open and had to wait for another six starts before securing the Slam after claiming the third leg at the 1951 Masters.
Player, a nine-time major championship winner, completed the Slam aged 29 at the 1965 US Open at Bellerive, the only time he won the event.
The South African is the only non-American on the list and claimed the third leg of the career Slam in 1962 at the PGA Championship only a year after winning his first major in 1961. It was a further 10 major starts before he secured the fourth leg of the major championships.
Player's final major win was at Augusta in 1978, his third green jacket, when he held off three players - including Tom Watson - by one stroke. Watson is one of 13 players with three legs of the career Slam to their name.
Sarazen, a seven-time major winner, first won a major at the 1922 US Open as a 20-year-old.
He completed the Slam aged 33 by winning the Masters in 1935, the second year of the tournament, having missed the inaugural edition the year before due to a "prior commitment" to play an exhibition match in South America.
Sarazen's albatross at the 15th in the final round on his first appearance at Augusta remains one of the most famous shots in golf history and propelled him to becoming the first member of the modern-era career Grand Slam winners.
Watch the Masters throughout the week live on Sky Sports Golf. Live coverage of the opening round begins with Featured Groups on Thursday at 2.15pm via the Sky Sports Red Button.
