Cumulative 2026 major leaderboard shows Sam Burns' rise, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler's consistency

Another major championship season has come and gone, and unlike last year, all four majors were won by different players. Rory McIlroy, Aaron Rai, Wyndham Clark and Ryan Fox may not have been the foursome anyone expected at the onset of the season, but they are the men who were able to etch their names into the history books by year's end.

As an added bonus, Rai wins what might as well be called the Rory McIlroy Award as the DP World Tour member who earned the most Race to Dubai points across the four majors. He barely eked out Fox, who nearly caught him at the finish line with his win at The Open Championship. (McIlroy is not eligible to win his own award in this case.)

The cumulative major leaderboard is a fun topic of conversation once the final such championship wraps up, and the 2026 version is certainly unique. Of the hundreds of players who participated in majors this year, only 14 can say that they made the cut in all four, earned weekend tee times and thus played in all 16 major rounds.

That is the lone parameter required to find your name on the cumulative leaderboard, which features a pair of Americans sharing the top spot: Sam Burns and Scottie Scheffler.

Golf is weird in this way, where consistency is often not rewarded as much as ceiling performances. Burns and Scheffler were both 20 under across the majors, neither exceeding even par at any of the events. Meanwhile, Xander Schauffele, who finished inside the top 20 in all four tournaments, was 13 under in a distant third place.

McIlroy rounds out the quartet at the top as his major season was largely forgettable over the last two months after his win at the Masters and contention run at the PGA Championship. Other notables on the leaderboard are Cameron Young with his two runner-up results and Chris Gotterup, who ended his major season as he started it, at even par.

Cumulative major leaderboard (relative to par)

The strokes-gained leaderboard, courtesy of friend Rick Gehman, paints a slightly different picture. It rewards the volatility in golf a little more. Winning a major championship requires gaining somewhere around 14 strokes on the field and thus gives you a massive edge, not only that week but throughout the course of the year for this exercise.

The top three remain the same from the score-to-par leaderboard, but Young jumps McIlroy thanks to his play at the Masters and The Open. Of those who gained north of 30 strokes to the field in these four tournaments, only McIlroy won a major championship.

Players who did not make every cut to make an appearance include Justin Rose, who had three top-15 finishes before his missed cut at The Open, and Tommy Fleetwood. Patrick Reed is also a name on the list, as are the three remaining major winners from 2026. 

Meanwhile, none of the players who were over par on the cumulative leaderboard accessed the top 14 in the strokes-gained leaderboard. Thomas is the highest at No. 17 after Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton.

Cumulative major leaderboard (strokes gained)