10 Things You Didn't Know About The PGA Tour

The PGA Tour is the biggest and longest-standing circuits in the sport which plays host to some of the game's most prestigious tournament such as The Players and The Memorial Tournament. 

The Tour has grown massively in recent years, with total prize fund of around $460million in 2023 but its beginnings are far humbler. Here are some facts about the Tour that you may not be familiar with.

1. Prior to the modern PGA Tour, the Tournament Players Division - founded in 1929 - had existed to great success, with the sport growing tremendously in the late 1950s and 1960s due to the star power of legendary golfers such as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.

2. The official formation of the PGA Tour occurred in late 1968, when the then "Tournament Players Division” split from the PGA of America and hired Joe Dey as its first commissioner. The independent Tour also created the first policy board, made up of four players, three PGA executives and three consulting businessmen.

3. The first event in the newly-formed PGA Tour came in 1969 at the Los Angeles Open. Charlie Sifford won the event, taking home the $20,000 winner's cheque. Two years prior, Sifford had become the first African American to win a professional men's golf tournament. 

4. In total, the first season saw 49 official events, with the season running from January to December. The tournaments almost exclusively took place in the United States, except for the Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes and the West End Classic, which was held in the Bahamas. 

5. The headquarters of the PGA Tour was initially in Washington, D.C. before the Tour relocated to Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida in 1979 where it remains to this day. 

6. Jay Monahan is the current commissioner of the PGA Tour and only the fourth in the organisation's history. He took over the role from Tim Finchem in January 2017.

7. Alongside the PGA Tour helps to run competitions on three further Tours - the PGA Tour Champions for senior players as well as its two developmental Tours, the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas.

8. Tiger Woods and Sam Snead hold the record for the most wins on the PGA Tour with 82. Woods won his first tournament in 1996 at the Las Vegas Invitational and most recently in 2019 at the Zozo Championship. Snead, meanwhile, won his 82 tournaments between 1936 and 1965, prior to the establishment of the modern-day Tour.

9. While the majority of its events take place in America, the PGA Tour does hold occasional events outside of North America. In the most recent 2022/23 season, events were held in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Japan and Scotland, with the Scottish Open, a co-sanctioned event with the DP World Tour.

10. Members of the PGA Tour do not have to pay an entry fee to compete in any tournament but there are several dues and fees, including a $20 Insurance Fee and a Mandatory Locker Room Fee of $50 at every tournament.