Thirty-nine editions, one golf course that’s hosted almost all of them, and a two-man club at the top that keeps getting more interesting. The Tour Championship winners by year list stretches back to 1987, and depending on how you count it, either Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy holds the record for most titles — because as of 2022, they’re tied.
That’s worth pausing on, because the record books have quietly rewritten themselves. For years this was Tiger’s tournament to own. Then McIlroy won it a third time in 2022, matching a mark that had stood alone since 2018.
The event that decides everything
The Tour Championship sits at the very end of the PGA Tour calendar, the last of four FedEx Cup Playoff events and, since 2007, the tournament that hands out the season’s biggest single check. Win it, and you’re not just adding a trophy — you’re claiming the FedEx Cup itself, currently worth $10 million to the champion.
The field is exclusive by design. Only the top 30 players on the FedEx Cup points list after three preceding playoff events get an invitation. No cut, no easing in — just thirty of the best players alive, at one course, for one week that decides who takes home the biggest paycheck in golf.
That course is East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. It’s been the tournament’s permanent home since 2004. Before that, the very first Tour Championship — 1987, won by Tom Watson — was played at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, and the event bounced between a handful of venues before East Lake became the fixed answer.
Tiger and Rory, tied at the top
Start with the two names that matter most. Tiger Woods won in 1999, 2007, and 2018 — thirteen years spread over that first title and his last, which came during his comeback season and is still one of the most emotional wins of his career. Rory McIlroy answered with titles in 2016, 2019, and 2022, the 2016 win coming in a three-way playoff against Ryan Moore and Kevin Chappell that he needed a fourth extra hole to close out.
Phil Mickelson sits just behind them with two wins, in 2000 and 2009. After that, it’s a wide-open field of one-time winners — Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson, Vijay Singh, and dozens of others who each got their moment at East Lake and never got a second.
What changed in 2007
The tournament existed for two decades before it became what it is now. From 1987 through 2006, the Tour Championship was a prestigious season-ending event, but nothing more than that — a strong field, a good purse, a trophy. Then the FedEx Cup arrived in 2007, and the Tour Championship became the payoff round for an entire season’s worth of points accumulation. Tiger Woods won that first FedEx Cup-era title by eight strokes, still the largest margin of victory the tournament has ever produced.
The money followed. What was once a well-paying tour stop is now the richest single payday in golf — a $40 million purse for 2026, with $10 million going to the winner alone. That number keeps climbing almost every year, and it’s part of why the top 30 spots matter so much down the stretch of the regular FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Tour Championship Winners By Year By Year
2025 — Tommy Fleetwood
2024 — Scottie Scheffler, −30 (269)
2023 — Viktor Hovland, −27 (261)
2022 — Rory McIlroy, −21 (265)
2021 — Patrick Cantlay, −21 (267)
2020 — Dustin Johnson, −21 (267)
2019 — Rory McIlroy, −18 (267)
2018 — Tiger Woods, 269
2017 — Xander Schauffele, 268
2016 — Rory McIlroy, 268
2015 — Jordan Spieth, 271
2014 — Billy Horschel, 269
2013 — Henrik Stenson, 267
2012 — Brandt Snedeker, 270
2011 — Bill Haas, 272
2010 — Jim Furyk, 272
2009 — Phil Mickelson, 271
2008 — Camilo Villegas, 273
2007 — Tiger Woods, 257
2006 — Adam Scott, 269
2005 — Bart Bryant, 263
2004 — Retief Goosen, 269
2003 — Chad Campbell, 268
2002 — Vijay Singh, 268
2001 — Mike Weir, 270
2000 — Phil Mickelson, 267
1999 — Tiger Woods, 269
1998 — Hal Sutton, 274
1997 — David Duval, 273
1996 — Tom Lehman, 268
1995 — Billy Mayfair, 280
1994 — Mark McCumber, 274
1993 — Jim Gallagher Jr., 277
1992 — Paul Azinger, 276
1991 — Craig Stadler, 279
1990 — Jodie Mudd, 278 (Nabisco Championship)
1989 — Tom Kite, 276 (Nabisco Championship)
1988 — Curtis Strange, 279 (Nabisco Golf Championship)
1987 — Tom Watson, 268 (Nabisco Championships of Golf)
Chad Campbell’s 2003 win is its own small footnote in the list — it wasn’t just a title, it was his first career PGA Tour victory of any kind, won on the sport’s biggest late-season stage before he’d ever broken through anywhere else.
Fleetwood finally gets his
The most recent name on the list deserves more than a line item. Tommy Fleetwood had played 163 PGA Tour events without a win — a run long enough that it had become its own storyline, the best player in the world without a Tour title. He ended it at East Lake, closing with a final-round 68 to finish 18-under and beat Patrick Cantlay and Russell Henley by three strokes.
That’s not just a nice story. That’s a man collecting the biggest first win in the sport’s history, in the one tournament built to reward an entire season, with $10 million and a FedEx Cup attached to it. There won’t be a bigger breakthrough on Tour for a while.
Where 2026 fits into all of this
This year’s edition returns to East Lake August 27 through 30, same course it’s called home for over two decades now. The purse climbs again to $40 million, with the winner’s share holding at $10 million — still the richest single check in the sport.
Whoever wins gets to decide something else too: does the record stay tied at three, or does somebody new step into a club that’s belonged to exactly two men for the better part of a decade?
7. FAQ
Q: Who has won the Tour Championship the most times?
A: Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are tied for the most Tour Championship wins, with three apiece — Woods in 1999, 2007, and 2018, and McIlroy in 2016, 2019, and 2022.
Q: Who won the 2025 Tour Championship?
A: Tommy Fleetwood won the 2025 Tour Championship, his first career PGA Tour victory in his 164th start, along with the FedEx Cup and its $10 million prize.
Q: Where is the Tour Championship played?
A: The Tour Championship has been played permanently at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta since 2004. Before that, the inaugural 1987 event was held at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio.
Q: When is the 2026 Tour Championship?
A: The 2026 Tour Championship is scheduled for August 27–30 at East Lake Golf Club, with a total purse of $40 million and a $10 million winner’s share.
