With his victory at the 2012 AT&T National Pro Am, Phil Mickelson moved into a tie for ninth place on the all time PGA Tour victories list. Cary Middlecoff also holds that position.
Five more wins puts him past Walter Hagen, a feat that seems inevitable. Billy Casper and Byron Nelson at 51 and 52 also seem within reach.
The all time leader is Sam Snead, who over a 30 year career clocked 82 wins. Nicklaus is in second with 73. Tiger has 71.
I’ve always thought that for Tiger, breaking Snead’s record will be easier than approaching Jack’s Majors. But I’m no longer so sure about either of them.
The list of players with 20 or more Tour victories is below:
| Rank | Name | DOB – DOD | Country | Wins | Majors | Winning Span | Span Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Snead | 1912–2002 | United States | 82 | 7 | 1936–1965 | 30 |
| 2 | Jack Nicklaus | 1940– | United States | 73 | 18 | 1962–1986 | 25 |
| 3 | Tiger Woods | 1975– | United States | 71 | 14 | 1996–2009 | 14 |
| 4 | Ben Hogan | 1912–1997 | United States | 64 | 9 | 1938–1959 | 22 |
| 5 | Arnold Palmer | 1929– | United States | 62 | 7 | 1955–1973 | 19 |
| 6 | Byron Nelson | 1912–2006 | United States | 52 | 5 | 1935–1951 | 17 |
| 7 | Billy Casper | 1931– | United States | 51 | 3 | 1956–1975 | 20 |
| 8 | Walter Hagen | 1892–1969 | United States | 45 | 11 | 1914–1936 | 23 |
| 9 | Phil Mickelson | 1970– | United States | 40 | 4 | 1991–2012 | 22 |
| Cary Middlecoff | 1921–1998 | United States | 40 | 3 | 1945–1961 | 17 | |
| 11 | Gene Sarazen | 1902–1999 | United States | 39 | 7 | 1922–1941 | 20 |
| Tom Watson | 1949– | United States | 39 | 8 | 1974–1998 | 25 | |
| 13 | Lloyd Mangrum | 1914–1973 | United States | 36 | 1 | 1940–1956 | 17 |
| 14 | Vijay Singh | 1963– | Fiji | 34 | 3 | 1993–2008 | 16 |
| 15 | Horton Smith | 1908–1963 | United States | 32 | 2 | 1928–1941 | 14 |
| 16 | Harry Cooper | 1904–2000 | United States | 31 | 0 | 1923–1939 | 17 |
| Jimmy Demaret | 1910–1983 | United States | 31 | 3 | 1938–1957 | 20 | |
| 18 | Leo Diegel | 1899–1951 | United States | 30 | 2 | 1920–1934 | 15 |
| 19 | Gene Littler | 1930– | United States | 29 | 1 | 1954–1977 | 24 |
| Paul Runyan | 1908–2002 | United States | 29 | 2 | 1930–1941 | 12 | |
| Lee Trevino | 1939– | United States | 29 | 6 | 1968–1984 | 17 | |
| 22 | Henry Picard | 1906–1997 | United States | 26 | 2 | 1932–1945 | 14 |
| 23 | Tommy Armour | 1894–1968 | Scotland | 25 | 3 | 1920–1938 | 19 |
| Johnny Miller | 1947– | United States | 25 | 2 | 1971–1994 | 24 | |
| 25 | Gary Player | 1935– | South Africa | 24 | 9 | 1958–1978 | 21 |
| Macdonald Smith | 1892–1949 | United States | 24 | 0 | 1924–1936 | 13 | |
| 27 | Johnny Farrell | 1901–1988 | United States | 22 | 1 | 1921–1936 | 16 |
| Raymond Floyd | 1942– | United States | 22 | 4 | 1963–1992 | 30 | |
| 29 | Jim Barnes | 1886–1966 | England | 21 | 4 | 1916–1937 | 22 |
| Willie Macfarlane | 1890–1961 | United States | 21 | 1 | 1916–1936 | 21 | |
| Lanny Wadkins | 1949– | United States | 21 | 1 | 1972–1992 | 21 | |
| Craig Wood | 1901–1968 | United States | 21 | 2 | 1928–1944 | 17 | |
| 33 | Hale Irwin | 1945– | United States | 20 | 3 | 1971–1994 | 24 |
| Davis Love III | 1964– | United States | 20 | 1 | 1987–2008 | 22 | |
| Bill Mehlhorn | 1898–1989 | United States | 20 | 0 | 1923–1930 | 8 | |
| Greg Norman | 1955– | Australia | 20 | 2 | 1984–1997 | 14 | |
| Doug Sanders | 1933– | United States | 20 | 0 | 1956–1972 | 17 |
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Yes I agree I think Tiger passing Sam Sneads record of 82 tour wins would be a much easier assignment.
A difficult one at that but more achievable then winning another 5 majors.
Hagen, yes – but the next threshold at 51 seems a stretch. He has been playing 21 years, and has 40 wins. So that is an average of about 2 wins per year. 51 would take 5.5 years at that rate, or until he is 47. But the last couple years have only seen one win per year- although admittedly, none of the wins that I remember looked like yesterday.
Now, if he has a year like 2009, and perhaps this showed something like this, then he could punch past Hagen within a couple years, but it is still a long way to for someone over 44.
In likelyhood, this is what I would say is most to least likely with Phil :
1) win Masters this year or next.
2) win 3 tournaments (2 more) this year.
3) win Masters 2 of the next 3 years
4) win British
5) win FedEx Cup
6) win 51
I’m assuming that Phil plays ten more years averaging a little more than a win each year That puts him at 41 or 42.
Unlike Tiger, I see Phil playing until hes eligible for the Senior tour and maybe still playing on the regular tour after that
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Sam Snead loved to play barefooted. He played and won two tournments barefooted. I’ve tried it and I had excellent balance and it slowed down my swing for better contact and both times I played I beat my partner. It also feels great, try it sometime.