PGA Tour facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids
PGA Tour
Formerly	TPA Tour
Sport	Golf
Founded	December 2, 1929 (1929-12-02) (Broke from PGA in 1968)
Commissioner	Jay Monahan
Country	Based in the United States
Most titles	Money list titles: Tiger Woods (10) Tournament wins: Sam Snead (82) Tiger Woods (82)
TV partner(s)	CBS Sports NBC Sports Golf Channel Sky Sports (UK) Warner Bros. Discovery (outside US) JTBC Golf&Sports (South Korea)
Related competitions	Korn Ferry Tour PGA Tour Americas PGA Tour Champions PGA Tour Canada (ceased 2023, merged to form PGA Tour Americas) PGA Tour China (ceased 2020) PGA Tour Latinoamérica (ceased 2023, merged to form PGA Tour Americas)

The PGA Tour is the main organizer for professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It runs a series of big golf tournaments every year where the world's best players compete.

The PGA Tour is a nonprofit organization, which means its goal is to promote the sport of golf, not to make a profit for owners. It's based in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Besides the main PGA Tour, it also organizes other tours like:

PGA Tour Champions: For talented players aged 50 and older.
Korn Ferry Tour: A tour for players trying to earn a spot on the main PGA Tour.
PGA Tour Americas: A tour for players in North and South America.

The PGA Tour started as part of the Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America). But in 1968, the tour players created their own separate group to focus just on tournaments. Today, the PGA Tour runs most of the weekly professional golf events, including big ones like The Players Championship and the FedEx Cup playoffs.

History of the PGA Tour
- Early Years and Famous Players
- Becoming a Separate Tour
How the PGA Tour Works
Big Changes in Professional Golf
- Competition from LIV Golf
- A Surprising Merger
How Players Earn a Spot on Tour
Charity and Community
Player of the Year Awards
Top Money Winners
Images for kids
See also

History of the PGA Tour

The PGA Tour has a long history that began even before it was officially its own organization. Early wins from the 1910s are still counted as official PGA Tour victories today.

Early Years and Famous Players

In the early 1900s, golf tournaments with prize money were already happening across America. In 1916, the PGA Championship was added, creating a schedule of events that would later become the PGA Tour.

Over the decades, legendary players made their mark on the tour.

In 1945, Byron Nelson had an amazing year, winning 18 tournaments, including 11 in a row. Both are records that still stand today.
Ben Hogan, despite a serious car crash, won 10 tournaments in the 1950s, including six major championships.
Arnold Palmer became a huge star in the 1950s and 60s. His exciting style of play made golf popular on television.
Jack Nicklaus dominated the 1960s and 70s, winning 68 titles in those two decades alone.
Tiger Woods changed the game in the late 1990s and 2000s. His incredible skill brought more fans and money to the sport than ever before. He has won 82 PGA Tour events, tying the all-time record with Sam Snead.

Becoming a Separate Tour

By the late 1960s, television brought a lot more money into golf. The tour players and the PGA of America disagreed on how to use this new money. The players wanted bigger prizes for winning tournaments.

In 1968, the players split off to form their own group. This new group, which became today's PGA Tour, focused only on running tournaments for professional players. The PGA of America continued to focus on club professionals (like the pros who teach at your local golf course) and still runs the PGA Championship and helps organize the Ryder Cup.

How the PGA Tour Works

The PGA Tour season is a year-long journey across North America and other parts of the world.

The Tournament Schedule

The tour's schedule is planned around the weather. It starts in January in warm places like Hawaii and California. This is called the "West Coast Swing." Then, it moves to the southeastern U.S. for the "Southern Swing."

During the summer, tournaments are held in the Northeast and Midwest. In the fall, the tour heads south again. Most tournaments have a field of 132 to 156 players. After the first two days, there is a "cut," where only the top players (usually the top 65 and ties) get to play the final two rounds and earn prize money.

The FedEx Cup Playoffs

To make the end of the season more exciting, the PGA Tour introduced the FedEx Cup in 2007. Here's how it works:

Regular Season: From January to August, players earn points in tournaments.
Playoffs: The top players on the points list qualify for a series of three playoff events.
Tour Championship: The field gets smaller at each playoff event, until only the top 30 players are left for the final tournament, the Tour Championship.
The Champion: The player who wins the Tour Championship is crowned the FedEx Cup champion and wins a massive bonus prize.

Major Championships

The four most important tournaments in men's golf are called the major championships. The PGA Tour does not run these events, but they are a huge part of the season.

Masters Tournament
PGA Championship
U.S. Open
The Open Championship (often called the British Open)

Winning a major is the biggest achievement for a professional golfer.

Big Changes in Professional Golf

In the 2020s, the world of professional golf saw some major shake-ups.

Competition from LIV Golf

In 2022, a new golf tour called LIV Golf started. It was funded by the Saudi Public Investment Fund and offered huge amounts of money to attract some of the PGA Tour's biggest stars. This created a lot of competition and disagreement in the golf world. The PGA Tour suspended players who decided to join LIV Golf.

For a while, the two tours were in a legal battle. The U.S. Department of Justice even looked into whether the PGA Tour was acting unfairly to stop its competition.

A Surprising Merger

On June 6, 2023, the PGA Tour, the European Tour, and LIV Golf made a surprise announcement. They agreed to merge their businesses into one new company. This ended all the legal fights between them.

The Saudi Public Investment Fund became the main investor in this new company. However, the PGA Tour still has a lot of control, and its leader, Jay Monahan, became the CEO of the new business. This deal shocked many players and fans, who didn't know it was happening.

In 2024, the PGA Tour also partnered with Strategic Sports Group, a collection of American sports team owners, who invested $3 billion into the new company, called PGA Tour Enterprises. This gives players the chance to own a part of the tour.

How Players Earn a Spot on Tour

Getting a PGA Tour card, which allows a player to compete in tournaments, is very difficult.

Korn Ferry Tour: The main way to get to the PGA Tour is by playing well on the Korn Ferry Tour. At the end of the season, the top 30 players on the Korn Ferry Tour points list earn a PGA Tour card for the next year.
Winning an Event: If a player wins a PGA Tour event, they get a tour card for at least two years. Winning a major championship gives them a five-year exemption.
PGA Tour University: This program helps the best college golfers get a fast track to professional golf. The top player in the college rankings at the end of the season earns a PGA Tour card right away.

Charity and Community

The PGA Tour is very focused on raising money for charity. Every tournament on the schedule is run as a non-profit event, and the money raised goes to local charities in the cities that host them.

Since it began, the PGA Tour and its tournaments have raised billions of dollars for thousands of charities across the country. In 2017 alone, the tour's events generated $180 million for good causes.

Player of the Year Awards

Each year, the PGA Tour honors its best players with special awards.

PGA Tour Player of the Year: Voted on by the players themselves, this award goes to the season's most outstanding player. It is also known as the Jack Nicklaus Trophy.
Rookie of the Year: This award is given to the best player in their first full season on the PGA Tour.

Tiger Woods has won the PGA Tour Player of the Year award a record 11 times.

Top Money Winners

Playing on the PGA Tour can be very rewarding for the best golfers. Here are the top five career money leaders as of mid-2025. This list only includes official prize money from PGA Tour events.