Rory McIlroy Has Six Majors and Three Left to Win in 2026 — What Are the Odds He Pulls Off the Calendar Grand Slam?
Rory McIlroy won his second consecutive Masters title last week at Augusta National, completing back-to-back green jackets and cementing a place among the greatest stretches of major championship golf in modern history. He now holds six major championships — the US Open (2011), The Open Championship (2014), the PGA Championship (2012 and 2014), and the Masters (2025 and 2026). The career Grand Slam, which he completed at the 2025 Masters, is already in the books. Now the conversation has shifted to something far more ambitious: the calendar Grand Slam. Three majors remain in 2026. What are the actual odds?
What the Calendar Grand Slam Actually Requires
The calendar Grand Slam means winning all four majors in the same calendar year — the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open, and The Open Championship. It has happened exactly once in golf history: Bobby Jones accomplished it in 1930, and that was before the modern major era as we know it today. In the professional, modern era, no one has come close. Tiger Woods is the most frequent comparison point, and his “Tiger Slam” — holding all four major trophies simultaneously across two calendar years between 2000 and 2001 — remains the closest any player has come. The last time a player even won three majors in a single calendar year was Ben Hogan in 1953, more than 70 years ago. The scale of what Rory would need to accomplish is genuinely historic.
The Remaining Schedule and the Odds
Rory has three shots to complete the calendar Grand Slam, and the schedule that remains actually sets up reasonably well for him — at least by the standards of an impossible task. The PGA Championship runs May 14-17 at Aronimink Golf Club in Pennsylvania, where Rory is listed at +650 on DraftKings. The US Open follows June 18-21 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in New York, where Rory’s odds shortened post-Masters to +700. The Open Championship closes things out July 12-19 at Royal Birkdale in England — Rory’s home territory, near Southport — where he sits at +750.
Those three numbers deserve a moment of mathematical attention. At roughly 13 percent, 12.5 percent, and 12 percent implied probability respectively (pulling from the raw odds before accounting for book margin), the combined probability of Rory winning all three — treating each event as independent — works out to approximately 2 percent. That means if you could bet the calendar Grand Slam outright as a single proposition, the true fair odds would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-to-1. No such bet exists at a major sportsbook right now, but the math is worth understanding as a baseline for how realistic this chase actually is.
What Rory Has Working in His Favor
The case for Rory — as a threat at each of the three remaining stops, not necessarily to win all three — is stronger than the raw numbers might suggest. Shinnecock Hills has historically produced results that favor precise ball-strikers who can manage a demanding setup in difficult wind conditions. Rory’s game checks those boxes. Royal Birkdale is essentially a home match: it sits near Southport, Rory is Northern Irish, and links golf is where he built his foundation. His track record in The Open at classic links venues is well-documented, and +750 at a course this well-suited to his game is a number worth noting regardless of the Grand Slam narrative.
The PGA Championship at Aronimink is the X factor. Rory has won the PGA Championship twice (2012 and 2014), but Aronimink is a demanding parkland course where the defending champion — Scottie Scheffler — will be favored at +400 or shorter. Scheffler also defends The Open Championship at Birkdale, meaning Rory faces the world’s current best player as the primary obstacle at two of the three remaining majors. Cameron Young, whose odds shortened considerably after his T3 finish at the Masters, sits at 22-to-1 for the next two majors and 25-to-1 for The Open — further complicating the field.
The Honest Conclusion
The calendar Grand Slam is not something you bet on as a single proposition, because that bet does not exist. What you can do is evaluate each of the three remaining majors individually and ask whether Rory’s odds represent fair value given his current form, course fit, and the state of the competition. At +650 at Aronimink, he is a legitimate threat against a deep field. At +700 at Shinnecock and +750 at Birkdale, he is arguably underpriced given his historical affinity for both venues. The Grand Slam conversation is the narrative hook — and it is a spectacular one — but the underlying value play is simpler: a player who just won back-to-back Masters titles, who is playing the best golf of his life, has three more tournaments to make history. Back him where the numbers make sense, and enjoy watching golf history being attempted in real time.
Adam Hutchinson
Sports Betting Contributor
Adam Hutchinson was one of Hello Rookie’s first staff hires, and he still fills many roles for the company. He’s a loving husband, father, and a diehard fan of the Cubs and Bears.