Xander Schauffele Vies To Become The 17th Back-To-Back Open Championship Winner In History

With The Open Championship getting underway in Northern Ireland later this month, we’re taking a look at how many back-to-back winners we’ve had over the years.

Join us as we reveal which golfers have won the iconic Open Championship in back-to-back years since its inception. Could Xander Schauffele be the next name added to the list?

Have There Ever Been Back-To-Back Open Championship Winners?

The 153rd edition of The Open Championship kickstarts at Royal Portrush in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, later this month, with the world’s best set to battle it out for the Claret Jug.

J.J. Spaun was triumphant at the last major, claiming his first major championship at the 2025 U.S. Open. Can he claim a second successive major as he heads across the pond?

Scottie Scheffler, who won the PGA Championship in May, will do his utmost to stop his compatriot in his tracks, and so will career grand slam winner Rory McIlroy, who is vying to win a second Open Championship of his career, this time in his home country.

Scheffler is currently favoured among the best golf betting sites in the UK.

Xander Schauffele, meanwhile, is the reigning champion. He’ll be hoping to add his name to the elite list of players that have won The Open Championship in back-to-back years.

If he achieves said feat, he’d become the 17th golfer to win the tournament in successive years.

Since the first edition of The Open Championship, there have been a total of 16 back-to-back winners. The last was Irishman Padraig Harrington, who triumphed in 2007 and 2008.

Legendary figure Tiger Woods, who is now a billionaire thanks to his net worth, has also famously won the tournament in consecutive years. He did so in 2005 and 2006 and also won in 2000.

It would be a remarkable achievement if Schauffele added his name to the list, especially when considering the incredible quality on show at the top level of golf nowadays.

But when exactly is the 2025 Open Championship? Schauffele gets his title defence underway at Royal Portrush on Thursday, 17 July, with the tournament running until Sunday, 20 July.

Who Has Won The Open Championship Back-To-Back?

As we’ve already mentioned, there have been 16 back-to-back Open Championship winners.

The first player to do so was Tom Morris Sr., who won the event in its second and third years in 1861 and 1862. His son, Tom Morris Jr., achieved the same feat a few years later, winning The Open in four consecutive years in 1868, 1869, 1870 and 1872 (tournament wasn’t held in 1871).

Young Tom remains the only golfer to have won the major back-to-back-to-back-to-back.

There have been a few that have won three successive Open Championships, however, with Jamie Anderson winning in 1877, 1878 and 1879, Bob Ferguson winning in 1880, 1881 and 1882 and Australian Peter Thomson winning in 1954, 1955 and 1956.

Remaining pre-World War II back-to-back Open Championship winners include John Henry Taylor (1894 and 1895), record-winner Harry Vardon (1898 and 1899), James Braid (1905 and 1906), amateur player Bobby Jones (1926 and 1927) and Walter Hagen (1928 and 1929).

Post-war, Bobby Locke (1949 and 1950), Arnold Palmer (1961 and 1962), Lee Trevino (1971 and 1972) and Tom Watson (1982 and 1983) were back-to-back winners of The Open, alongside the aforementioned Thomson, Woods and Harrington.

Multiple Open Championship Winners

Including the 16 back-to-back winners, there are a total of 27 players that have lifted the coveted Claret Jug on multiple occasions.

The most recent addition to the list is South Africa’s Ernie Els, who won a second Open Championship in 2012, having first won the major 10 years prior, back in 2002.

Greg Norman, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros and Jack Nicklaus are also included.

Below is the full list of players that have won multiple Open Championship titles.