The European man with more golf majors than McIlroy

Rory McIlroy pictured with the Harry Vardon Trophy [ALI HAIDER/EPA/Shutterstock] When Rory McIlroy won the US Masters for the second time in April, he joined Nick Faldo with six major championships - with just one European ahead of him in the all time pecking order. A win in this weekend's PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club would see McIlroy draw level with Jersey's Harry Vardon, for the number of majors won by a European man. Vardon has seven majors to his name, all won between 1896 and 1914.

While Vardon's fame has been eclipsed by golf's modern superstars, his influence on the game is still widely felt. 'Remarkable' Andrew Keites is chairman of the Harry Vardon Trust, which was set up in 1984 to support young golfers in Jersey, where Vardon was born. He is not convinced Vardon gets the respect his achievements deserve.

"It's easy to forget. Obviously there's a recency bias and people take note of what they see on the television," he said. "Vardon was one of three [players] rather grandly known as the great triumvirate.

"There was an Englishman John Henry 'JH' Taylor, and a Scotsman, James Braid, and they dominated the professional golfing scene, especially the Open Championship for about 20 years, from the mid-1890s through to the mid-1910s," he said. Vardon's major wins came at The Open in 1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911 and 1914, along with one US Open win in 1900. Given that Vardon died in 1937, Keites says it is "remarkable that he came from this little island and still holds that record".