This is a list of golfers who have won five or more official (or later deemed as historically significant) money events on the PGA Tour
The distinction between these two categories is important to understand as many players won important events early in the 20th century, well before a PGA Tour was officially established. The significance of many of these events was retrospectively established by golf historians, working together with PGA Tour staff, in the 1980s, during the course of a major statistical research project.
The column for Major refers to so-called "Professional Majors". The U.S. Amateur and the British Amateur were also considered to be majors for much of their history, but these championships are not considered here. Players under 50 years of age are shown in bold. During the last 30 years, only three players have won PGA Tour events after their 50th birthday. A golfer becomes eligible to compete on PGA Tour Champions, against other older players, at that age. Craig Stadler won in 2003 at age 50, Fred Funk won in 2007 at age 50, and Davis Love III won in 2015 at age 51. Sam Snead is the oldest to win a PGA event, at age 52, in 1965. Others who have won PGA Tour events past age 50 include Jim Barnes, John Barnum, and Art Wall, Jr. The rarity of golfers winning a non-senior event at that age is not restricted to the PGA Tour; Miguel Ãngel Jiménez is the only golfer to win a European Tour event after turning 50, doing so in 2014.
Accumulating 20 wins is significant, because it is one of the requirements for "life membership" on the PGA Tour. This means that the golfer does not need to requalify for membership on the tour each year by finishing in the top 125 on the money list (starting in 2013, top 125 on the FedEx Cup points list), or through an exemption for tournament victories. Many golfers struggle to do this through their 40s, and go through a hiatus in their career before they qualify for the Champions Tour, but those with 20 wins avoid this problem. However, life members are required to maintain a certain (relatively modest) standard of play to retain their playing privileges: when they can no longer do so, they are moved into the "Past champions" membership category, effectively becoming honorary members.
Some of the players on this list have won numerous events on other tours, in particular many of the non-Americans. Seve Ballesteros, for example, is shown with only nine PGA Tour wins, but five of them majors. He won an additional 45 European Tour events. A substantial number of players born from approximately 1930 to 1960 have won many PGA Tour Champions events, with some having significantly more wins on the senior circuit than on the regular PGA Tour (notably Hale Irwin and Gil Morgan).
The PGA Tour recognized The Open Championship as an official tour event in 1995. In 2002, it decided to classify Open Championship victories before 1995 as PGA Tour wins, and the victory tallies in the table reflect this amendment. Members of the World Golf Hall of Fame are indicated by H.
Players with the same number of wins are listed alphabetically. The list is complete as of April 8, 2018.
- ^ Harry Cooper was born in England, but grew up in Dallas, Texas, and became a U.S. citizen before starting his professional career. However, he was not allowed to compete for the U.S. in the Ryder Cup. U.S. citizens born outside the country, even if they were born with only U.S. citizenship, were not eligible to represent the U.S. in the Ryder Cup until 2002. Even today, those who naturalize after age 18 are ineligible for Team USA.
- ^ Jim Barnes was born in England, but became a U.S. citizen soon after moving to the United States in 1906.
See also
Top 10: Golfers With Most PGA Tour Wins - A list of the Top 10 Golfers who have won the most PGA Tour titles, as of 14 December 2013.
- List of longest PGA Tour win streaks
- Most PGA Tour wins in a year
References
