Famous Golfers
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50 free Famous Golfers trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Golf keeps its legends for a long time. A champion from the age of hickory shafts is still talked about beside the stars of today, and almost every one of them comes with a nickname, a signature shot or a Sunday they would rather forget. This quiz gives you the clue and asks you to name the golfer. The questions cover the men's and women's game: major winners, pioneers who opened the sport to others, and a few who are best remembered for the tournament that got away. It suits anyone who watches the majors, plays at the weekend or needs a ready-made golf round for a pub quiz or a club night. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you pick up a story even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which golfer won the 1997 Masters by 12 strokes and later held all four major titles at once?
Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods was 21 at that Masters, the tournament's youngest winner. His run of four straight majors across 2000 and 2001 became known as the Tiger Slam.
Q 02Which golfer survived a head-on crash with a bus in 1949 and won the US Open the following year?
Ben Hogan
Ben Hogan dived across his wife just before impact, which saved him from the steering column. Doctors doubted he would walk unaided again; 16 months later he won at Merion.
Q 03Which golfer, followed by fans known as an Army, gave his name to a drink of iced tea and lemonade?
Arnold Palmer
Arnold Palmer saw his half-and-half drink go into mass production in 2001. Back in 1967 he was the first man to reach $1 million in PGA Tour career earnings.
Q 04Which golfer, right-handed in daily life, plays left-handed after mirroring his father's swing?
Phil Mickelson
Phil Mickelson copied his right-handed father like a reflection, and the nickname Lefty followed. He was 50 when he won the 2021 PGA Championship.
Q 05Which golfer won two track and field golds at the 1932 Olympics before winning ten women's majors?
Babe Zaharias
Babe Zaharias also took silver in the high jump at those Los Angeles Games. Before golf she had been a three-time All-American in basketball.
Q 06Which Australian, known as the Great White Shark, lost the 1996 Masters after leading by six?
Greg Norman
Greg Norman shot 78 that Sunday and lost by five. He spent 331 weeks as world number one, yet both of his major wins came at the Open Championship.
Q 07Which golfer played the 2003 Colonial, becoming the first woman in a PGA Tour event since 1945?
Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam was cheered through every hole in Fort Worth but missed the cut, let down by her putting. In 2001 she had become the first woman to shoot 59 in competition.
Q 08Which golfer, nicknamed the Golden Bear, won a sixth Masters title at the age of 46?
Jack Nicklaus
Jack Nicklaus played the back nine in 30 that Sunday for a final round of 65. It was the last of his 18 major championships.
Q 09Which golfer won the 1991 PGA Championship as the ninth and final alternate, with no practice round?
John Daly
John Daly got the call the evening before the first round, when Nick Price left for the birth of his child, and he even used Price's caddie. He was a virtual unknown at the time.
Q 10Which golfer from Holywood, Northern Ireland, completed the career Grand Slam at the 2025 Masters?
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy birdied the first playoff hole to win that Masters, ending ten years without a major. He was the first European to win all four.
Q 11Which South African, known as the Black Knight, was the first non-American to win all four majors?
Gary Player
Gary Player completed the set at the 1965 US Open. Also known as Mr Fitness, he went on to design more than 400 golf courses around the world.
Q 12Which Spaniard won the 1979 Open after hitting his tee shot among parked cars on the 16th hole?
Seve Ballesteros
Seve Ballesteros still made a birdie on that hole. He had learned the game on the beaches near his village, using a 3-iron his brother gave him at eight.
Q 13Which amateur golfer won all four major titles of 1930, then retired from competition at 28?
Bobby Jones
Q 21Which golfer hit a ball lying against a tree with his eyes shut at the 1999 PGA Championship?
Sergio García
Sergio García saw the low fade run up onto the green, yet lost by a stroke. He finally won a major at his 74th attempt, at the 2017 Masters.
Q 22Which golfer led the 2016 Masters by five before hitting two balls into the water at the 12th?
Jordan Spieth
Jordan Spieth made a quadruple bogey on that par three and let the title slip away. A year earlier, aged 21, he had won both the Masters and the US Open.
Q 23Which US Open champion, a physics major in college, plays irons that are all cut to the same length?
Bryson DeChambeau
Bobby Jones earned his living as a lawyer and never turned professional. After retiring he founded Augusta National and co-founded the Masters.
Q 14Which golfer won seven majors but never the US Open, where he finished runner-up four times?
Sam Snead
Sam Snead once missed a 30-inch putt on the final playoff hole of a US Open. He was still winning on the PGA Tour at 52, in Greensboro in 1965.
Q 15Which golfer, known as the Merry Mex, was struck by lightning at the 1975 Western Open?
Lee Trevino
Lee Trevino suffered spinal injuries in the strike near Chicago. Before turning professional he had served four years in the US Marines as a machine gunner.
Q 16Which golfer, a five-time Open champion, led the 2009 Open at the age of 59 before losing a playoff?
Tom Watson
Tom Watson needed only a par on the 72nd hole to win but missed from eight feet. He said later that coming so close had torn his guts out.
Q 17Which English golfer won the 1987 Open at Muirfield with a final round of 18 consecutive pars?
Nick Faldo
Nick Faldo had rebuilt his swing under coach David Leadbetter in the mid-1980s to contend in majors. He went on to win six of them and was knighted in 2009.
Q 18Which golfer, a four-time major winner, is nicknamed the Big Easy for his height and fluid swing?
Ernie Els
Ernie Els won the South African Amateur a few months after turning 17. After his son's autism diagnosis he launched a yearly charity pro-am in Florida.
Q 19Which golfer, known for his plus fours, won the 1999 US Open months before dying in a plane crash?
Payne Stewart
Payne Stewart holed a 15-foot par putt on the last green at Pinehurst to win by a stroke. A bronze statue of his celebration now stands behind that green.
Q 20Which golfer won five consecutive LPGA tournaments in 1978, during her first full season on tour?
Nancy Lopez
Nancy Lopez won nine times that year and was named both the tour's top rookie and its best golfer. She also made the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Bryson DeChambeau, nicknamed the Scientist, asked his coach for a matching set so that his posture never had to change. His whole method grew out of a physics-based golf book he was given at 15.
Q 24Which golfer was arrested on his way to the 2024 PGA Championship, then shot 66 the same day?
Scottie Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler was released in time for his second round after a traffic incident, and the charges were dropped within two weeks. That summer he won Olympic gold in Paris.
Q 25Which golfer became women's world number one at 17 and later won Olympic gold, silver and bronze?
Lydia Ko
Lydia Ko was born in Seoul and moved to New Zealand at the age of four. Her gold at Paris 2024 completed the set and qualified her for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Q 26Which golfer, daughter of an Australian Open tennis champion, won Olympic gold at the Tokyo Games?
Nelly Korda
Nelly Korda was the first American woman to win Olympic golf gold since 1900. Her father Petr won the 1998 Australian Open, and her brother Sebastian also plays professional tennis.
Q 27Which golfer became the first Japanese man to win a major by taking the 2021 Masters?
Hideki Matsuyama
Hideki Matsuyama's caddie bowed to the 18th fairway once the tournament was over, as a gesture of Japanese respect. Ten years earlier Matsuyama had been the leading amateur at Augusta.
Q 28Which South Korean golfer won the 1998 US Women's Open after a famous shot from a water hazard?
Se Ri Pak
Se Ri Pak is honoured for that shot with a statue outside the stadium in Gongju. Her win inspired a generation of Korean women who followed her onto the LPGA Tour.
Q 29Which golfer retired in 2010 at the age of 28 while ranked women's world number one?
Lorena Ochoa
Lorena Ochoa had held the top ranking for 158 straight weeks when she stepped away. She was the first Mexican golfer of either sex to be ranked number one.
Q 30Which golfer earned the nickname Boom Boom for his long driving and won the 1992 Masters?
Fred Couples
Fred Couples won that Masters after his ball rolled back towards the water but stayed on the bank. The same year he became the first American to top the world rankings.