He is the player who finished runner-up to Jack Nicklaus in four major championships but never won one 

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Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood are shining examples of an underrated attribute in golf: resilience.

Rory McIlroy went 11 years between his fourth and fifth major championship. He worked himself into a position to win the 2024 US Open before blowing his lead to Bryson DeChambeau in a crushing defeat. 

Instead of letting that get the better of him, he bounced back and completed the career grand slam the following year, as McIlroy won the Masters paired with DeChambeau in the final group.

Meanwhile, Fleetwood had six runner-up finishes and 30 top fives on the PGA Tour, the most of any player ever without a win. But he persevered, and Fleetwood won the Tour Championship in 2025, despite a devastating defeat to Keegan Bradley at the Travelers Championship in June. 

But few players have had their patience tested more than this player, who finished second place to Jack Nicklaus at four major championships and was never able to win one during his career. 

The player who finished second to Jack Nicklaus at four major championships

Many fell victim to the unprecedented success of Nicklaus, who holds the record for the most majors won, with 18. 

Even those who won majors during Nicklaus’ prime had to go through the “Golden Bear” to do so. He finished second in majors a record 19 times, leaving many to wonder what more Nicklaus could have achieved if some of those results had flipped his way. 

But few can feel more aggrieved by Nicklaus’ dominance than Bruce Crampton. The Australian won 14 times on the PGA Tour during his career, and was ranked in the top five players in the world in 1972 and 1973. 

Crampton came agonisingly close to etching his name in history with a major win, but Nicklaus stood in his way. His first disappointment came at the 1972 Masters, where he finished three strokes behind the triumphant Nicklaus, who won his fourth Green Jacket. 

Later that year, Nicklaus avenged his 1971 loss to Lee Trevino in a dramatic playoff with his third US Open win, with Crampton two shots behind. Crampton then finished four shots behind Nicklaus at the 1973 PGA Championship, and two behind at the same major in 1975, despite leading after two rounds.

As the world was celebrating the unrivalled success of the great Nicklaus, Crampton must have been sick of the sight of him! He went on to win 20 times on the PGA Tour Champions, the 10th most of all time, but he also never won a major on the senior tour. 

The player with the most runner-up major finishes without a win

Crampton had a right to feel hard done by, finishing runner-up to the same player at four separate major championships. But he still doesn’t hold the record for the most second-place finishes at majors without a win. 

Five players have come second four times without winning one, including Sergio Garcia, but Colin Montgomerie was runner-up five times. 

He finished second at the US Open three times and missed out to Ernie Els twice. Montgomerie got closer than Crampton ever did, falling in a playoff to Els in 1997. He also lost a playoff at the 1995 PGA Championship to Steve Elkington. 

Montgomerie’s final runner-up finish at a major came to Tiger Woods in 2005 at The Open Championship, but Woods won by five strokes in his typical dominant fashion in that era. 

He is fourth all-time with 31 wins on the European Tour and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. But the Scotsman never captured that elusive major championship win.