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Rory McIlroy lifted the 2011 US Open - the first of his four majors to date © Getty Images

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I noticed that the winners of all four golf majors in 2011 were new ones - they hadn't won one before. How rare is this? asked Michael Browne

You're right to say that all four of the 2011 major-winners - Charl Schwartzel (Masters), Rory McIlroy (US Open), Darren Clarke (Open Championship) and Keegan Bradley (PGA Championship) - hadn't won one before. Only McIlroy has added to his collection since.

Unsurprisingly, it's quite a rare event. The last time the four majors were all lifted by first-time winners was in 2003 - Mike Weir, Jim Furyk, Ben Curtis and Shaun Micheel, none of whom has won one since.

The only other years in which it happened were 1969 (George Archer, Orville Moody, Tony Jacklin and Raymond Floyd) and 1959 (Art Wall, Billy Casper, Gary Player and Bob Rosburg).

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