Golfers with the most PGA TOUR wins

The PGA TOUR is the elite tour in professional golf, with all players aspiring to one day test themselves against the very best.

First established in 1929 before breaking away from the PGA of America in 1968, there are now nearly 50 events per year.

Below we look at the five most successful golfers in the history of the PGA TOUR.

Sam Snead - 82 wins

Winning span: 1937-1965

One of the PGA TOUR's pioneering golfers, Sam Snead won his first PGA TOUR event in 1936 with his career culminating in his final victory nearly 30 years later at the Greatest Greensboro Open, winning the tournament for a record eighth time.

Snead also won the US Masters three times, the PGA Championship three times and The Open once, denied the career Grand Slam with four runner-up finishes at the US Open.

Tiger Woods - 82 wins

Winning span: 1996-2019

Perhaps the greatest golfer of all time, it took Tiger Woods just five starts as a professional to win a PGA TOUR event, getting started with the Las Vegas Invitational. The following year, Woods would play in his first major as a professional, going on to win the 1997 US Masters by 12 shots.

Incredibly, Woods would return from years of injury struggles to win a fifth Masters in 2019, and while he'd looked like coming up short of Sneed's record for a number of years, he'd tie Snead winning the 2019 ZOZO Championship.

Jack Nicklaus - 73 wins

Winning span: 1962-1986

If Tiger Woods isn't the greatest golfer of all time, Jack Nicklaus is. The record-holder with 18 major wins, three clear of Woods, Nicklaus won his first tournament on the PGA TOUR in 1962 and would win every year for 17 straight years.

Not until 1979 when he only played 12 events and his career was winding down did Nicklaus blank. His penultimate win came in 1984, before remarkably winning the 1986 US Masters for his final PGA TOUR victory.

Ben Hogan - 64 wins

Winning span: 1938-1959

Ben Hogan was already a three-time major winner and 52-time PGA TOUR winner before a career- and life-threatening car accident.

Incredibly, Hogan, who was told he might never walk again, went on to win 12 more PGA TOUR titles, including six majors, completing the career Grand Slam with the Open Championship in 1953.

Arnold Palmer - 62 wins

Winning span: 1955-1973

For golfers have captured the public's imagination quite like Arnold Palmer. The working class boy done good, Palmer would win a first PGA TOUR title in 1955, taking his first major at the 1958 US Masters.

Between 1958 and 1964, Palmer would win seven majors, including four US Masters, as well as record four major runner-up finishes and a total of 37 PGA TOUR events, winning for the 62nd and final time at the 1973 Bob Hope Desert Classic.