What Percentage Of PGA Players Never Win? [Surprising]

The PGA Tour is one of the toughest places to win in the world of professional golf. Those good enough to have a PGA Tour card are competing against the best golfers in the world.

As a result, getting a PGA Tour title under your belt is far from easy. Some players can have a very good career, without ever having a career win. Others can win 20 events and earn lifetime membership.

So how many golfers playing on the PGA Tour have never actually won a tour event? Let’s have a look.

What Percentage Of PGA Players Never Win?

What Percentage Of PGA Tour Players Never Win?

What Percentage Of PGA Tour Players Never Win?

About 90% of golfers who ever play on the PGA Tour never win a tournament. Although this number is difficult to determine, only about 10% of players will ever collect at least one victory on the PGA Tour.

Each year it gets harder to win on the PGA Tour, with better players coming out of college and the Korn Ferry Tour, as well as other top-tier tours from around the world.

The number of golfers that play on the PGA Tour can also vary each year, so makes the number increasingly difficult to figure out.

Some players that have played on the PGA Tour may have only played a handful of times in their careers, usually through a sponsors invite or a qualifying round. This, therefore, increases the number of players to never have won on the PGA Tour.

Ultimately, the percentage of golfers that have won on the PGA Tour changes each year.

During the 2021-22 season, 730 players competed on the PGA Tour, including team events such as the Zurich Classic but also majors such as the PGA Championship. Of these 730 players, around 30% have won at least once in their careers.

But this number also only considers PGA Tour wins. Many players on the list have won at least once on other major tours such as the DP World Tour.

Some of the best golfers have next won a tournament on the PGA Tour but have still ended high up on the all-time money list. Brett Quigley for example, has never achieved a tour title on the PGA Tour but has taken home over $11 million in earnings.

Who Has The Best Winning Percentage In PGA Tour History?

Tiger Woods holds the best win percentage in PGA Tour history at 22%, having won 82 times out of 373 events played. This means that over his career, Tiger has won a tournament every 5 starts.

Tiger Woods currently holds the highest number of victories on the PGA Tour alongside Sam Snead, with a total of 82 victories, including 15 major championships.

The next best winning percentage on the PGA Tour is currently Rory McIlroy at just under 10%. This stat just shows how incredible of a career Tiger Woods has had, when compared to the other great golfers that have played on the PGA Tour.

The greatest major champion of all time and possibly the greatest ever to play the game of golf, Jack Nicklaus, has a winning percentage of 12.5. In a career that spanned over 30 years, Nicklaus made 85% of cuts and came runner-up 58 times.

Final Thoughts

There’s no denying, winning on the PGA Tour is far from easy.

Even if you’re playing the last in the final round with a three-shot lead, getting the job done is one of the hardest things to achieve.

Having said that, I wouldn’t feel too sad if I had managed to pick up $11 million in earnings, despite never finishing on top of the leaderboard.

FAQs

Do PGA players get paid if they don’t win?

Golfers on the PGA Tour will get paid, provide they make the cut after 2 rounds. If they make the cut, they’ll be paid based on how well they finish on the leaderboard. Some tournaments, such as The Masters, will pay golfers even if they miss the cut.

Who played the most PGA tournaments without a win?

Brett Quigley has played in the most PGA Tour events and never had a victory, having made 408 starts. However, he made the cut over 50% of the time and had 5 runner-up finishes.

Ed Welton

Founder, Editor

Ed is the founder and editor at EEE Golf. He’s been playing golf for over 20 years, competing in many top amateur events. He’s played courses all over the world and played with some of the best players in the game. His aim is to help educate people about the game of golf and give insights into the sport he loves most.

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