The Masters Tournament, the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, and the PGA Championship are the four most prestigious, most competitive, most challenging, and most rewarding championships in professional golf and are often simply referred to as “the majors”.  

            The Masters Tournament is scheduled for the first full week in April and is the first of the four major tournaments.  The Masters is held at the same location each year, at Augusta National Golf Club, a private golf club located in the city of Augusta, Georgia.  It is an invitational event, which means that the number of players is smaller than those of the other major championships.  Entry into the event is controlled by the Augusta National Golf Club.  Each year a green jacket is awarded to the winner of the Masters Tournament and it must be returned to the club house a year later.  Angel Cabrera is the champion of the 2009 Masters Tournament.

            The second tournament is the U.S. Open Championship and is held in mid-June.  Given that there are no weather delays, the final round is scheduled to be played on Father's Day, the third Sunday in June.  It is held at a different course each year, chosen specifically so scoring is difficult and emphasis placed on accurate driving.  The course chosen for the Open are quite long and have open rough and hilly greens.   The 2009 U.S. Open was held June 15-21 at Bethpage State Park on the Black Course in Farmingdale, New York.  This years champion is Lucas Glover.

            Third of the tournaments is the Open Championship, often referred to as the British Open, and is the oldest of the four major championships.  It is held on the weekend of the third Friday in July.  It is held on one of nine historic courses in Scotland or England.  The Open features a four hole playoff for all golfers tied at the end of regulation play.  The prize money for the Open was historically the least, yet since 2002 it has actually been the highest.  The 2009 Open will be held July 16-19 at the Ailsa course at Turnberry in England. 

            Last but not least, the fourth and final championship is the PGA Championship.  The last of the series, it has been nicknames “Glory's Last Shot”.  Winning the PGA gives a golfer privileges that greatly improve and secure your career, like automatically being invited to play in the other three major championships for the next five years and being exempt from qualifying for the PGA Championship for life.  The purse for winning the 2008 event was $7.5 million.  The 2009 PGA Championship will be held August 10-16 at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota. 

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