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TheWorld Golf Championships (WGC) were a group of annual professionalgolf tournaments played from 1999 through 2023 created by theInternational Federation of PGA Tours as a means of gathering the best players in the world together more frequently than the pre-existing fourmajor championships. All WGC tournaments are official money events on thePGA Tour and theEuropean Tour, and officially sanctioned by theAsian Tour,Japan Golf Tour,Sunshine Tour, andPGA Tour of Australasia.[citation needed]
The WGC tournaments offered comparable prize money to themajor championships. In the pantheon of golf events, the WGCs ranked below the major championships and above most other competitions, althoughThe Players Championship, promoted by the PGA Tour as the "fifth major", may also claim such status.
Despite the name, the World Golf Championships did not claim to crown a recognised 'world champion'.[citation needed]
The World Golf Championships came to an end as the PGA Tour announced the2023 WGC Match Play would be the last WGC tournament.[1] TheCOVID-19 pandemic severely hampered the WGCs, as several tournaments were moved and theWGC-HSBC Champions in China was never played again once the pandemic began. As the PGA Tour's conflict withLIV Golf began, the PGA Tour pursued an "elevated status" for some existing events which have some similarities to WGC events (smaller fields, no cut, and higher prize money).[2]
| Event | Format |
|---|---|
| WGC Championship (1999–2021) | Individualstroke play |
| WGC Match Play (1999–2023) | Individualmatch play |
| WGC Invitational (1999–2021) | Individualstroke play |
| WGC World Cup (2000–2006) | Teamstroke play |
| WGC Champions (2009–2019) | Individualstroke play |
The WGC Championship, WGC Match Play and WGC Invitational events all began in 1999, although the WGC Invitational is the direct successor of theWorld Series of Golf, which began in 1976 and the WGC Match Play is a direct successor to theAndersen Consulting World Championship of Golf which began in 1995. The WGC Championship originally traveled to different venues around the world. After 2006 it found a home at Doral Resort in Florida superseding theDoral Open, a long-standing event on the PGA Tour. Between 2000 and 2006, the men's World Cup was accorded WGC status. TheWGC Champions, first held in 2005, was awarded World Golf Championships status starting with the 2009 edition, becoming the fourth WGC tournament on the worldwide calendar.[3]
In April 2011, the Sunshine Tour announced that it would host a fifth WGC event. The event, to be known as theTournament of Hope, was to be linked to awareness of poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa.[4] In early 2012 it was announced that the tournament would be played in 2013;[5] later in 2012 it was announced that the tournament would not be a WGC event,[6] but ultimately the tournament never took place.
The WGC concept was introduced to create a larger group of golf tournaments with a high global profile by bringing the leading golfers from different tours together on a more regular basis, rather than just for themajor championships. At the time the publicity spoke of a "World Tour" which might develop on the basis of the World Championships and the majors.
The "World Tour" concept seems to have been dropped, but the four events usually attract almost all of the elite players who are eligible to compete and they rank among the most prestigious and high-profile events outside of the majors. The prize money on offer is very close to being the highest for any professional golf tournament. Winners generally receive 70 to 78Official World Golf Rankings points, the most awarded for any tournament apart from the major championships, which carry 100 points, andThe Players Championship, which is allocated 80.[a]Tiger Woods has dominated these tournaments, winning 16 of the first 32 individual (non-World Cup) events and winning at least one event each year from 1999 to 2009.
From 2000 to 2006 the men's golfWorld Cup, a tournament for teams of two players representing their country, was a World Golf Championship event, although it was not an official money event on any tour. Beginning in 2007 it is no longer part of the World Golf Championships, but it is still played, and is currently known as theMission Hills World Cup.
Also from 2000 to 2006, two or three of the four events were staged in theUnited States in most of the years, and one or two were staged elsewhere. Starting in 2007, all three of the individual World Golf Championships events were played in the United States, which attracted criticism from some golfers, includingTiger Woods andErnie Els, and in the media outside the United States.PGA Tour CommissionerTim Finchem responded by insisting that playing in the U.S. is best for golf as more money can be made there than elsewhere.[7] This criticism has been muted since the 2009 elevation of the HSBC Champions, held inChina, to full WGC status. In addition, the WGC-Mexico Championship in 2017 marked the move of half the WGC events to outside the United States. At the end of the 2021 season, the number of WGC events was reduced to two, the Match Play and the HSBC Champions. The HSBC Champions was not held between 2020 and 2022 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, and the Match Play will cease following the 2023 edition.[8]
The winners receiveWedgwood trophies named for a golf legend. The HSBC Champions features theOld Tom Morris Cup; the Dell Match Play Championship, theWalter Hagen Cup; the Mexico Championship, theGene Sarazen Cup; and the FedEx St. Jude Invitational, theGary Player Cup.[9]
Dustin Johnson is the only player to win all four individual WGCs.Tiger Woods' 18 WGC victories dwarfs his nearest rival, Johnson, with six. Although not counting as individual wins, Woods also won the then WGC-World Cup with the United States, and 2-time WGC winnerErnie Els won the same competition with South Africa.
| Player | Wins | Match Play | Championship | Invitational | Champions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tiger Woods | 18 | 3: 2003, 2004, 2008 | 7: 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013 | 8: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2013 | — |
| Dustin Johnson | 6 | 1: 2017 | 3: 2015, 2017, 2019 | 1: 2016 | 1: 2013 |
| Phil Mickelson | 3 | — | 2: 2009, 2018 | — | 1: 2009 |
 Geoff Ogilvy | 2: 2006, 2009 | 1: 2008 | — | — | |
 Rory McIlroy | 1: 2015 | — | 1: 2014 | 1: 2019 | |
| Darren Clarke | 2 | 1: 2000 | — | 1: 2003 | — |
| Jason Day | 2: 2014, 2016 | — | — | — | |
 Ernie Els | — | 2: 2004, 2010 | — | — | |
| Hunter Mahan | 1: 2012 | — | 1: 2010 | — | |
 Hideki Matsuyama | — | — | 1: 2017 | 1: 2016 | |
 Ian Poulter | 1: 2010 | — | — | 1: 2012 | |
| Patrick Reed | — | 2: 2014, 2020 | — | — | |
| Justin Rose | — | 1: 2012 | — | 1: 2017 | |
| Adam Scott | — | 1: 2016 | 1: 2011 | — | |
| Justin Thomas | — | — | 2: 2018, 2020 | — | |
| Bubba Watson | 1: 2018 | — | — | 1: 2014 |
| Nation | Total wins | Team wins | Individual wins | Individual winners |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 United States | 49 | 1 | 48 | 20 |
| Australia | 8 | 0 | 8 | 4 |
| England | 6 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| Northern Ireland | 5 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| South Africa | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Japan | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
 Germany | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
 Canada | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Fiji | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Ireland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Italy | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Scotland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Sweden | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Wales | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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