2026 Cumulative Major Leaderboard Highlights Sam Burns, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler

The major championship season has come to an end once again this year, but unlike last year, all four majors were won by different players. Rory McIlroy, Aaron Rye, Windham Clarke and Ryan Fox may not have been the quartet everyone expected at the start of the season, but they’re guys who managed to write their names in the history books by the end of the year.

As an added bonus, Rai won what could be called the Rory McIlroy Award as the DP World Tour member with the most Race to Dubai points across all four majors. He narrowly edged out Fox, who nearly caught him at the finish line with his win at the British Open Championship. (In this case, McIlroy would not be eligible for his own award.)

Cumulative major leaderboards are a fun topic to talk about after the final round of a championship like this, but the 2026 version is certainly unique. Of the hundreds of players who participated in the majors this year, only 14 can say they played in all four games, earned a weekend tee time, and played in all 16 rounds of the major.

This is the only parameter needed to find your name on the cumulative leaderboard, where two Americans, Sam Burns and Scotty Scheffler, share the top spot.

Golf is a strange thing in this way, where consistency is often not valued as much as ceiling performance. Burns and Scheffler are 20 under par in their majors, neither of them breaking even par in any tournament. Meanwhile, Xander Schauffele, who finished in the top 20 in all four tournaments, was a distant third at 13 under par.

McIlroy ended a major season on top after being largely forgotten over the past two months since his Masters victory and PGA Championship win. Other notable players on the leaderboard are two-time runner-up Cameron Young and Chris Gottapp, who started the major season at even par.

Cumulative Major Leaderboard (vs. parity)

This stroke count leaderboard, courtesy of my friend Rick Gehman, paints a slightly different picture. Every bit of volatility in golf can be rewarded. You need to get about 14 strokes on the field to win a major championship, so this practice can give you a huge advantage not just during the week, but throughout the year.

The top three on the score-to-par leaderboard remain the same, but Young has overtaken McIlroy thanks to his play at the Masters and British Open. Of the players who improved by 30 strokes or more in these four tournaments, McIlroy is the only one to win a major.

Players who missed out on all spots include Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood, who had three top-15 finishes before missing out on the British Open. Patrick Reed is also on the list, along with the three remaining 2026 major winners.

On the other hand, players who were above average on the cumulative leaderboard did not have access to the top 14 on the strokes gained leaderboard. Thomas is ranked No. 17, behind Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton.

Major Cumulative Leaderboard (Number of Strokes)