1. Rory McIlroy, 7.51
McIlroy is the personification of the decade. As a 22-year-old in 2011, he won his first major title, the U.S. Open, by a staggering eight strokes. Between that event and the conclusion of the 2014 season, he claimed four of the 13 majors.
He rolled again, and again by eight strokes, at the following season’s PGA Championship at Congressional.
McIlroy’s third and fourth major titles of the decade both came in 2014, and those were closer. He took the British Open by two strokes over Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler, and then won his second PGA by a shot over Phil Mickelson.
What has set McIlroy apart has been his ability to contend, even when he hasn’t won. Seven additional times during the decade McIlroy finished among the top five, including his tie for second, two strokes behind Francesco Molinari, at the 2018 British Open.
Only twice during the decade, in 2013 and 2019, did he fail to finish top five at least once in a season’s worth of majors. And in both of those seasons, he did post a tie for eighth.
The decade’s longest stretch of major championships without McIlroy among the top five lasted just five events, between the 2011 British Open and the 2012 PGA. That stretch was bracketed at both ends by runaway McIlroy victories.
Only five players during the decade completed majors at which they pulled away from the field by a margin exceeding 3.25 standard deviations. McIlroy, 3.35 at the 2011 U.S. Open and 3.28 at the 2012 PGA, was the only one to do it twice.