World Golf Championships

Golf tournaments The World Golf Championships (WGC) were a group of annual professional golf tournaments played from 1999 through 2023 created by the International Federation of PGA Tours as a means of gathering the best players in the world together more frequently than the pre-existing four major championships. All WGC tournaments were official money events on the PGA Tour and the European Tour, and officially sanctioned by the Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, Sunshine Tour, and PGA Tour of Australasia. The WGC came in four main events: the Championship, the Match Play, the Invitational, and the Champions. The WGC tournaments offered comparable prize money to the major championships. In the pantheon of golf events, the WGCs ranked below the major championships and above most other competitions, although The Players Championship, promoted by the PGA Tour as the "fifth major", may also claim such status. The World Golf Championships came to an end as the PGA Tour announced the 2023 WGC Match Play would be the last WGC tournament. The COVID-19 pandemic severely hampered the WGCs, as several tournaments were moved and the WGC-HSBC Champions in China was never played again once the pandem