Danny Willett’s Masters victory marked the 50th Major Championship for European Tour Members as he held off the challenge from countryman Lee Westwood and defending champion Jordan Spieth on a dramatic final day at Augusta National.
Willett followed in Sir Nick Faldo’s footsteps and became just the second Englishman to win the Green Jacket and the first European since José María Olazábal in 1999.
The 28 year old also became the 24th European Tour Member to win a Major Championship, and of those 50 wins, 16 have come at Augusta.
After Spieth dropped six shots in three holes, Willett rose to the occasion, posting a 67 to become the first European Tour Member to win a Green Jacket since Charl Schwartzel five years ago.
Seve Opens his account
The late, great Seve Ballesteros became the first European Tour Member to win a Major in 1979 when he beat American duo Jack Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw by three shots to win The Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club.
Seve would have to wait less than a year for his second Major, claiming the first of two Green Jackets in the 1980 Masters, and three years later he won again at Augusta, this time finishing four strokes ahead of Crenshaw and Tom Kite.
He won his second Open Championship in 1984 on the Old Course at St Andrews, overturning a two-shot deficit to finish ahead of Bernhard Langer and Tom Watson, and his fifth and final Major victory came in 1988 when he returned to Royal Lytham to complete his hat-trick of Open Championships.
The Spaniard has the second-highest number of Major wins of all European Tour Members in the modern era.
Sir Nick Faldo secures Masters and Open Championship hat-tricks
Sir Nick Faldo is the European Tour’s most successful Member with six victories in Major Championships: three Masters wins in the space of eight years and three victories in The Open Championship in six years.
His first Major victory was in 1987 when he came from a shot behind to beat Paul Azinger to The Open Championship on the final day at Muirfield. He waited two years for his next victory, winning the first of three Green Jackets, emulating fellow European Tour Member Sandy Lyle’s success at Augusta in 1988.
Faldo then successfully defended the Masters and also won The Open for the second time in 1990. He returned to Muirfield in 1992 where he won his third Open Championship, and four years later he won a third Green Jacket at Augusta - a 20th win for European Tour Members.
McIlroy starts hunt for career Grand Slam
Rory McIlroy won his first Major on his eighth attempt when he stormed to an eight-stroke victory in the 2011 US Open. It was the Northern Irishman’s third appearance in the tournament, and was the perfect comeback after his final-day collapse at the Masters less than two months earlier.
Major title number two came at the 2012 US PGA Championship, where he again won by eight shots, and in 2014 he doubled his tally, first claiming The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club and then holding off Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler to clinch the US PGA for a second time.
McIlroy is aiming to become just the sixth player in history to complete a Grand Slam, needing victory at Augusta National to complete the set.
Harrington wins three Majors in six events
Irishman Padraig Harrington won an incredible three Major titles in the space of 13 months in 2007 and 2008. He won The Open Championship in 2007 at Carnoustie and successfully defended his title at Royal Birkdale, becoming the first European to retain the Claret Jug in more than 100 years.
Proving he could win Majors on the other side of the Atlantic, Harrington then triumphed in the US PGA Championship, carding two weekend rounds of 66 to finish two shots clear of Ben Curtis and Sergio Garcia.
European Tour dominance at Major Championships
Including Harrington’s Open Championship and US PGA Championship wins, European Tour Members won 11 of 16 Major Championships from 2008 to 2011.
South African Trevor Immelman’s wire-to-wire victory in the Masters in 2008, holding off challenges from Brandt Snedeker and Tiger Woods, kick-started that impressive run of form before Harrington’s double closed out 2008.
In 2009, Angel Cabrera won his second Major title as he beat both Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell in a play-off at Augusta National, and YE Yang became the first Asian player to win a Major when he beat Woods by three strokes at the US PGA Championship.
Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen and Martin Kaymer all tasted Major success in 2010, and the following year Charl Schwartzel, McIlroy and Darren Clarke won the first three Majors, making it six in a row for European Tour Members.
