Most Open Championship Wins: The Full Record
The Open Championship is the oldest major in golf, first played in 1860, and its list of multiple winners is a roll call of the greatest names the game has produced. Ask who has won it the most times and you are really asking who dominated an era — because to win the Claret Jug repeatedly you had to be the best links golfer alive for years on end.
Here is the full record of most Open Championship wins, from Harry Vardon’s untouchable six down to the three-time greats, plus what the history of repeat winners tells you about betting the modern Open at Royal Birkdale and beyond.
Most Open Championship Wins — The Record
| Wins | Player | Years |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Harry Vardon | 1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911, 1914 |
| 5 | James Braid | 1901, 1905, 1906, 1908, 1910 |
| 5 | J.H. Taylor | 1894, 1895, 1900, 1909, 1913 |
| 5 | Peter Thomson | 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1965 |
| 5 | Tom Watson | 1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983 |
| 4 | Young Tom Morris | 1868, 1869, 1870, 1872 |
| 4 | Walter Hagen | 1922, 1924, 1928, 1929 |
| 4 | Bobby Locke | 1949, 1950, 1952, 1957 |
| 3 | Jack Nicklaus | 1966, 1970, 1978 |
| 3 | Gary Player | 1959, 1968, 1974 |
| 3 | Seve Ballesteros | 1979, 1984, 1988 |
| 3 | Nick Faldo | 1987, 1990, 1992 |
| 3 | Tiger Woods | 2000, 2005, 2006 |
Old Tom Morris and Willie Park Sr each also won four of the earliest Opens (1860s–1870s). The list above focuses on the multiple winners most familiar to modern fans.
Harry Vardon and the Great Triumvirate
Harry Vardon’s six Open wins are the standout record in the championship’s history, spread across nearly two decades from 1896 to 1914. He shared his era with James Braid and J.H. Taylor, and together the three became known as the Great Triumvirate — winning 16 Opens between them from 1894 to 1914 and defining the professional game as it grew. Vardon also finished runner-up a record number of times; his was total, sustained dominance of one championship, the kind no player of the modern era has come close to matching.
The Five-Time Winners: Thomson and Watson
Behind Vardon sit four players on five: Braid, Taylor, and two men whose names still shape how we read the Open leaderboard. Peter Thomson won five in the 1950s and ’60s, a links master whose control and course management were decades ahead of their time. Tom Watson is the most recent to reach five, winning the last of his at Royal Birkdale in 1983 — and, famously, coming within a putt of a sixth at Turnberry in 2009 at the age of 59. Their careers are the textbook for the winning links profile Statz still tracks in the best links players ranking.
The Three-Time Greats
A group of the game’s biggest names settled on three Claret Jugs apiece. Jack Nicklaus won three but, remarkably, finished runner-up seven times — nobody has been second more often. Seve Ballesteros brought flair and escapology to three wins in the 1980s, Gary Player spanned three different decades, and Nick Faldo — the most recent three-time champion — ground out his trio with the relentless precision that defined him. Tiger Woods completed his set with wins in 2000, 2005 and 2006, the first of them the runaway St Andrews victory that sealed the career grand slam.
Why the Record Is Safe — and What It Means for Betting
No active player has won The Open more than once, and that is the whole story of the modern game. Padraig Harrington’s back-to-back wins in 2007–2008 were the last successful defence, and no one has strung together a collection since. Fields are deeper, careers spread across more events, and the margins at the top are razor thin. The betting lessons follow directly:
- Don’t over-back a defending champion. Repeat winners have become historically rare — the roll of honour rewards fresh names as often as familiar ones. See the pattern in our recent Open winners breakdown.
- Links pedigree still matters more than price. Thomson, Watson and the modern multiple contenders all shared elite control in the wind — the trait to hunt for on the Leaders table and in current form, not a big name at a short number.
- The Open pays out longshots. Precisely because dominance is dead, generous each-way terms exist for a reason — mid-priced and outsider winners are a live possibility every single year.
Among the current field, the players chasing a second Claret Jug — Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa and Shane Lowry among them — are all trying to do what has become genuinely hard. Weigh their claims with the Statz projections and the tournament pages rather than reputation alone, and put contenders side by side in Compare before you back one.
Most Open Wins FAQ
Who has won The Open Championship the most times?
Harry Vardon holds the record with six Open titles (1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911 and 1914). No one has matched him in more than a century, and given the strength of modern fields it may stand forever.
Who has won The Open five times?
Four players share the record for the second-most Open wins with five apiece: James Braid, J.H. Taylor, Peter Thomson and Tom Watson. Watson is the most recent, winning the last of his five at Royal Birkdale in 1983.
Who were the Great Triumvirate?
Harry Vardon, James Braid and J.H. Taylor — the three players who dominated The Open around the turn of the 20th century. Between them they won 16 Claret Jugs from 1894 to 1914, and Vardon and Taylor share the record for most runner-up finishes too.
How many Opens did Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus win?
Both won The Open three times. Nicklaus took it in 1966, 1970 and 1978, and finished runner-up a record seven times. Tiger Woods won in 2000, 2005 and 2006, with the 2000 St Andrews win completing his career grand slam.
Who is the most recent multiple Open winner?
Padraig Harrington was the last player to win back-to-back Opens (2007 and 2008), and Nick Faldo is the most recent to win it three times (1987, 1990 and 1992). In the modern era, defending the Claret Jug — let alone building a collection — has become extremely rare.
Will anyone break Harry Vardon’s record of six Open wins?
It is very unlikely. Modern fields are far deeper, players compete in fewer Opens across a career, and no active golfer has more than one. Even the best of the current era would need a decade of dominance in one championship to get close.