The Vardon Trophy is awarded by the

PGA of America The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America) is an American organization of golf professionals that was founded in 1916. Consisting of nearly 29,000 men and women members, the PGA of America's undertaking is to establish ...

to the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

's leader in scoring average. When the award was first given in 1937, it was awarded on the basis of a points system. No award was given from 1942–1946 due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In 1947, the PGA began awarding it for low scoring average. In 1988, the trophy began going to the golfer with the lowest adjusted scoring average over a minimum of 60 rounds, with no mid-round withdrawals (instituted in 1988). The trophy is named for the

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the ...

golfing great

Harry Vardon Henry William Vardon (9 May 1870 – 20 March 1937) was a professional golfer from Jersey. He was a member of the Great Triumvirate with John Henry Taylor and James Braid. Vardon won The Open Championship a record six times, and also won the ...

, who died in 1937. The PGA Tour presents its own Byron Nelson Award annually to the player with the lowest adjusted scoring average for the year. It has a 50-round minimum, and was instituted in 1980. For both awards, non-medal rounds (such as in the

WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship The WGC Match Play, currently titled as the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play for sponsorship reasons, is a professional men's golf tournament that has been held since 1999. It is the only one of the World Golf Championships to have been contested ...

and The International) count towards the minimum number of rounds but are not included in the calculation of the scoring average. Differences in the eligibility criteria for the awards have resulted in different players winning the awards on six occasions. In 1988, 1993, and 1995,

Greg Norman Gregory John Norman AO (born 10 February 1955) is an Australian entrepreneur and retired professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as world number one in the 1980s and 1990s. He won 89 professional tournaments, including 20 PGA Tour tournament ...

won the Byron Nelson Award but not the Vardon Trophy because he failed to meet the 60 round minimum for the Vardon Trophy (52, 54, and 58 rounds, respectively). This also happened to

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

in 2006 (55 rounds) and Steve Stricker in 2013 (51 rounds). In 1989,

Payne Stewart William Payne Stewart (January 30, 1957 – October 25, 1999) was an American professional golfer who won eleven PGA Tour events, including three major championships, the last of which came just a few months before his death in an airplane acci ...

failed to qualify for the Vardon Trophy because of his mid-round withdrawal from the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. In 1987, Dan Pohl won the Vardon Trophy even though

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ...

and Paul Azinger both had lower averages; Frost and Azinger were not

members, a requirement for eligibility that was dropped after the 1987 season. The minimum rounds required also dropped from 80 to 60 at that time. For the 2019–20 season, the minimum rounds required to be eligible for the trophy was reduced from 60 to 44, due to cancellation of tournaments because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The minimum rounds for the Byron Nelson Award dropped from 50 to 35.

Winners

Multiple winners

Sixteen men have won the Vardon Trophy more than once (1937–2020). *9 wins **

: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013 *5 wins **

Billy Casper William Earl Casper Jr. (June 24, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American professional golfer. He was one of the most prolific tournament winners on the PGA Tour from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. In his youth, Casper started as a caddie a ...

: 1960, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968 **

Lee Trevino Lee Buck Trevino (born December 1, 1939) is an American retired professional golfer who is regarded as one of the greatest players in golf history. He was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981. Trevino won six major championships and ...

: 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1980 *4 wins **

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous ev ...

: 1961, 1962, 1964, 1967 **

Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead (pronounced English_phonology">sni:d.html" ;"title="English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d">English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002) was an ...

: 1938, 1949, 1950, 1955 **

Rory McIlroy Rory Daniel McIlroy (born 4 May 1989) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland who is a member of both the European and PGA Tours. He is the current world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, and has spent over 100 weeks in ...

: 2012, 2014, 2019, 2022 *3 wins **

Ben Hogan William Ben Hogan (August 13, 1912 – July 25, 1997) was an American professional golfer who is generally considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He is notable for his profound influence on golf swing theory an ...

: 1940, 1941, 1948 **

: 1989, 1990, 1994 ** Tom Watson: 1977, 1978, 1979 *2 wins **

Fred Couples Frederick Steven Couples (born October 3, 1959) is an American professional golfer who has competed on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. A former List of World Number One male golfers, World No. 1, he has won 64 professional tournaments, m ...

: 1991, 1992 **

Bruce Crampton Bruce Crampton (born 28 September 1935) is an Australian professional golfer. Early life Crampton was born in Sydney, New South Wales, and attended Kogarah High School from 1948 to 1950. In August 1953 he reached final of the New South Wales Am ...

: 1973, 1975 **

Dustin Johnson Dustin Hunter Johnson (born June 22, 1984) is an American professional golfer. He has won two major championships, the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club with a 4-under-par score of 276 and the 2020 Masters Tournament with a record score ...

: 2016, 2018 **

Tom Kite Thomas Oliver Kite Jr. (born December 9, 1949) is an American professional golfer and golf course architect. He won the U.S. Open in 1992 and spent 175 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1989 and 1994. Career Kite w ...

: 1981, 1982 **

Lloyd Mangrum Lloyd Eugene Mangrum (August 1, 1914 – November 17, 1973) was an American professional golfer. He was known for his smooth swing and his relaxed demeanour on the course, which earned him the nickname "Mr. Icicle." Early life and family Mangrum ...

: 1951, 1953 ** Nick Price: 1993, 1997 **

Jordan Spieth Jordan Alexander Spieth (born July 27, 1993) is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour and former world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking. He is a three-time major winner and the 2015 FedEx Cup champion. Spieth's first majo ...

: 2015, 2017 Seven men have won the Byron Nelson Award more than once (1980–2020). *9 wins **

: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 *5 wins **

: 1988, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995 *4 wins **

: 2012, 2014, 2019, 2022 *2 wins **

: 1991, 1992 **

: 2016, 2018 **

: 1981, 1982 **

: 2015, 2017

References

External links

PGA Vardon Trophy Winners
at about.com

at about.com {{Golf, state=collapsed PGA Tour Golf awards in the United States Awards established in 1937