How Many Majors Does Johnny Miller Have

So, you’re at a cocktail party, someone mentions “Johnny Miller,” and you freeze. Is he the guy who crashed the golf cart? Or the dude who won a bunch of those big, heavy trophies? Relax. Grab your drink. I’m about to settle this once and for all: How many majors does Johnny Miller have?

The short answer is two. Yes, exactly two major championships. That’s it. But hold your horses—because when it comes to Johnny Miller, the number is the least interesting part of the story. This is a guy who played like a god for about three years, then suddenly started playing like your uncle after too many hot dogs at the turn.

The First One: A Masterpiece at Oakmont

Let’s start with his first major, the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont. This is the stuff of legend. The course was so hard that year it made the other pros weep into their visors. The final round, the place was a beast—no one had broken 70 all day.

Then Johnny Miller, a 26-year-old kid with a head of hair the size of a tumbleweed, goes out and shoots 63. Yes, a 63. In the final round of a U.S. Open. That’s like walking into a lion’s cage with a squirt gun and teaching the lion to tap dance. He beat the field by one shot, but the shock waves knocked over half the trees in Pennsylvania.

It remains one of the greatest rounds in golf history. Even today, when you say “63 at Oakmont,” people get a little bit misty-eyed. It’s like the Mona Lisa of scorecards, except with fewer eyebrows and more sideburns.

The Second One: A Comeback for the Ages

Now, his second major. This one is the 1976 British Open at Royal Birkdale. Miller wasn’t the same machine by then, but he was still dangerous. He went head-to-head with a young Seve Ballesteros (who was basically a wizard in a sweater) and looked him in the eye.

Miller shot a final-round 66 to win by six shots. Six shots! That’s not a win, that’s a election landslide with putters. He made more birdies than a toucan at a fruit buffet. People still talk about his iron play that week—he hit the ball so pure, they should have bottled it and sold it as medicine.

So, two majors. But here’s the punchline: Johnny Miller was, for a hot minute, the best player on the planet. Between 1973 and 1975, he won 16 tournaments. That’s more than some players win in a decade. He had a run where he was just unhittable.

Johnny Miller explains the secrets to his elite ball-striking

The Great Collapse (And It Was Dramatic)

Then something weird happened. Johnny’s game fell off a cliff. And I don’t mean a gentle slide. I mean he drove a golf cart off the edge of a canyon. His putting went from “magic” to “please, just get it close.” He went from winning eight tournaments in 1974 to, well, not much.

Why? Partly injuries, partly the yips, and partly because he found Jesus. No joke. He became a devout Mormon, stopped drinking, and started seeing golf as a hobby instead of a religion. That’s nice for his soul, but bad for his scoring average. He’d walk up to a 4-foot putt and say, “Lord, help me,” and the Lord would say, “I gave you a putter, now use it.”

He never won another major. He came close a few times, but the window slammed shut. So, yes, two majors. But let’s be real: he could have had five or six if his brain and his back hadn’t decided to throw a joint party of betrayal.

Okay, But What About His Announcing?

If you know Johnny Miller from TV, you know him as the guy who said things like, “That’s a terrible shot, he should be ashamed.” He was the Simon Cowell of golf. He’d tell a guy he just choked on national TV while the guy’s wife was crying in the gallery. Brutal. But also, deeply entertaining.

He once said about his own career, “I wasn’t the best, but for a few years, I was the best I could be.” That’s the kind of humble-brag you only get from a man who shot a 63 on the hardest course ever. So, two majors—but those two weigh more than most guys’ 10.

Jonny Lee Miller

The Surprising Fact

Here’s the kicker: Johnny Miller won more PGA Tour events (25) than many Hall of Famers with twice the majors. He’s in the Hall of Fame. He has a green jacket? No, he never won the Masters. He came second, fourth, and threw up his hands. But the man has a silver putter that he still uses, and he’ll talk your ear off about how today’s players are soft.

He’ll tell you that he hit the ball so hard that his iron faces looked like they’d been chewed by a beaver. And you know what? He’s right.

So, How Many Majors?

Let me count them on my fingers: Two. The U.S. Open (’73) and the British Open (’76). That’s it. No Masters, no PGA Championship. Just two, but with a thundering echo that rattles the golf world every time someone shoots a low round in a major.

So next time someone asks, you can say, “Two, but he changed the game forever.” Then you can add, “And he called a guy a ‘choker’ on live TV. So there’s that.”

Johnny Miller: two majors, one legendary attitude, and a career that proves that sometimes the quality of the wins matters more than the quantity. Now, pass the peanuts.