List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins

This is a list of the fifty-three golfers who have won 17 or more official (or later deemed historically significant) money events on the PGA Tour. ^{[1] [2]} It is led by Sam Snead and Tiger Woods with 82 each.

Many players won important events early in the 20th century, prior to the formation of the tour, with records being kept by the PGA of America. At various times, the PGA Tour has reassessed the status of some tournaments. In the 1980s, the significance of all historical tournaments was reassessed by golf historians, working together with PGA Tour staff, during the course of a major statistical research project. ^[3] The Open Championship was first recognized as an official tour event in 1995, and in 2002, all victories in earlier Open Championships were classified as official PGA Tour wins.

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 late-40s, 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.

Since 1975, only four players have won PGA Tour events after their 50th birthday, the age at which golfers become eligible to compete on PGA Tour Champions: Craig Stadler won in 2003 at age 50, Fred Funk won in 2007 at age 50, Davis Love III won in 2015 at age 51, and Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship in 2021 at age 50, becoming the oldest winner of a major. 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 list is complete as of July 16,2023 ^[update] . ^[1]

Rank	Player [lower-alpha 1]	Lifespan	Wins	Majors [lower-alpha 2]	Winning span	Span (years)
T1	Sam Snead H	1912–2002	82	7	1936–1965	30
	Tiger Woods H	1975–		15	1996–2019	24
3	Jack Nicklaus H	1940–	73	18	1962–1986	25
4	Ben Hogan H	1912–1997	64	9	1938–1959	22
5	Arnold Palmer H	1929–2016	62	7	1955–1973	19
6	Byron Nelson H	1912–2006	52	5	1935–1951	17
7	Billy Casper H	1931–2015	51	3	1956–1975	20
T8	Walter Hagen H	1892–1969	45	11	1914–1936	23
	Phil Mickelson H	1970–		6	1991–2021	31
T10	Cary Middlecoff H	1921–1998	39	3	1945–1961	17
	Tom Watson H	1949–		8	1974–1998	25
12	Gene Sarazen H	1902–1999	38	7	1922–1941	20
13	Lloyd Mangrum H	1914–1973	36	1	1940–1956	17
14	Vijay Singh H	1963–	34	3	1993–2008	16
15	Jimmy Demaret H	1910–1983	31	3	1938–1957	20
16	Horton Smith H	1908–1963	30	2	1928–1941	14
T17	[lower-alpha 3] Harry Cooper H	1904–2000	29	0	1923–1939	17
	Gene Littler H	1930–2019		1	1954–1977	24
	Lee Trevino H	1939–		6	1968–1984	17
T20	Leo Diegel H	1899–1951	28	2	1920–1934	15
	Paul Runyan H	1908–2002		2	1930–1941	12
22	Henry Picard H	1906–1997	26	2	1932–1945	14
T23	Tommy Armour H	1894–1968	25	3	1920–1938	19
	Johnny Miller H	1947–		2	1971–1994	24
	Macdonald Smith	1892–1949		0	1912–1936	25
T26	Dustin Johnson	1984–	24	2	2008–2020	13
	Gary Player H	1935–		9	1958–1978	21
	Rory McIlroy	1989–		4	2010–2023	14
T29	[lower-alpha 4] Jim Barnes H	1886–1966	22	4	1914–1937	24
	Johnny Farrell	1901–1988		1	1921–1936	16
	Raymond Floyd H	1942–		4	1963–1992	30
T32	Davis Love III H	1964–	21	1	1987–2015	29
	Willie Macfarlane	1890–1961		1	1916–1936	21
	Lanny Wadkins H	1949–		1	1972–1992	21
	Craig Wood H	1901–1968		2	1928–1944	17
T36	Hale Irwin H	1945–	20	3	1971–1994	24
	Greg Norman H	1955–		2	1984–1997	14
	Johnny Revolta	1911–1991		1	1933–1944	12
	Doug Sanders	1933–2020		0	1956–1972	17
T40	Ben Crenshaw H	1952–	19	2	1973–1995	23
	Ernie Els H	1969–		4	1994–2012	19
	Doug Ford H	1922–2018		2	1952–1963	12
	Hubert Green H	1946–2018		2	1971–1985	15
	Tom Kite H	1949–		1	1976–1993	18
	Bill Mehlhorn	1898–1989		0	1923–1930	8
T46	Julius Boros H	1920–1994	18	3	1952–1968	17
	Jim Ferrier	1915–1986		1	1944–1961	18
	Dutch Harrison	1910–1982		0	1939–1958	20
	Nick Price H	1957–		3	1983–2002	20
T50	Bobby Cruickshank	1894–1975	17	0	1921–1936	16
	Jim Furyk	1970–		1	1995–2015	21
	Harold "Jug" McSpaden	1908–1996		0	1933–1945	13
	Curtis Strange H	1955–		2	1979–1989	11

See also

• List of longest PGA Tour win streaks
• Most PGA Tour wins in a year
• List of golfers with most European Tour wins
• List of men's major championships winning golfers

Notes

1. Players with the same number of wins are listed alphabetically; players under 50 years of age are shown in bold; members of the World Golf Hall of Fame are indicated by H.
2. Major championship wins are counted using the modern definition of The Open Championship, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and the Masters Tournament.
3. 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.
4. Jim Barnes was born in England, but became a U.S. citizen soon after moving to the United States in 1906.

References

1. "Most career wins (top 50)". PGA Tour. Archived from the original on September 21, 2023. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
2. "Most Career Wins on the PGA Tour". Liveabout.com. February 17, 2024. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
3. Barkow, Al (November 1989). The History of the PGA TOUR . Doubleday. pp.  200-298. ISBN   0-385-26145-4.