When we consider the world of men’s golf there are four tournaments that stand head and shoulders above all the rest in terms of prestige. These are the four majors, the Open Championship played in the UK, plus the three American ones: the Masters, US Open and US PGA Championship.
Beyond these, the Players Championship has traditionally – or, at least since its inception in 1974 – been the best-of-the-rest. Sometimes referred to as the “fifth major”, the Players had the huge prize money, high-level field, world-class venue and, with the passage of time, the history and prestige, to be almost considered alongside the big four.
For many years the status of the Players as a tournament just below the majors was uncontested. However, in 1999 the first World Golf Championships (WGC) event was held and this all changed. These new events, of which there would be four a year (although just three initially, whilst a fifth event, the team-oriented WGC World Cup was added between 2000 and 2006), would offer similarly huge prize funds as the majors and, naturally enough, would attract fields of the same sort of quality.
Over the years the tournaments have changed format, venue and name, but broadly speaking there were three stroke play events and one match play. They often had sponsored names but essentially there was the WGC Match Play, plus the WGC Championship, WGC Invitational and WGC Champions.
Whilst these tournaments started in 1999, two had roots in previous events. The Invitational followed on from the World Series of Golf, dating back to the mid-1970, whilst the Match Play is the successor of the Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf, which had been a 32-player match play event inaugurated in 1995.
WGC is no More
With so much attention on the battle between the main tours and LIV in recent times, it may have escaped the casual golf fan that the WGC events have dropped off the calendar. The 2020 Match Play and Champions events were cancelled due to the global health crisis. The Champions tournament has not been played since 2019, whilst the Championship and Invitational WGC tournaments were last played in 2021.
A variety of factors combined to lead to their downfall, with the crisis certainly a big one. It was thought the Match Play would continue, given it is the only event of that nature and is popular with fans and players. However, in March 2023 Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour Commissioner – or head honcho if you prefer – said that year’s edition would be the last, for the foreseeable future at least.
| Tournament | Years Played |
|---|---|
| WGC Match Play | 1999 to 2023 |
| WGC Invitational | 1999 to 2021 |
| WGC Championship | 1999 to 2021 |
| WGC Champions | 2009 to 2019 |
| WGC World Cup | 2000 to 2006 |
He did not categorically rule out it returning at some stage in the future, but stated that so-called Designated Events were the future. Also known as Signature Events, these could be seen as the new WGC tournaments, and have limited fields and bigger purses, whilst five of the eight have no cut.
Ultimately the battle with LIV has meant things had to change and with other factors too, such as contracts for the events ending and the disruption from 2020 onwards, it is not hugely surprising that the broadly popular WGC events have been discontinued.
Tiger Top to Eternity?
Tiger Woods cannot, at the time of writing, match Jack Nicklaus’s tally of majors, and it would take a real fan of the younger man to bet on him getting there now, given his fitness issues and age. However, Woods holds many records of his own and his achievements in WGC events look unsurpassable. They will certainly prove that way if the World Golf Championships are never resurrected.
Whilst Nicklaus has won 18 majors to Tigers 15, when it comes to WGC events, it is 18-0 to Woods! Admittedly, Nicklaus has never played in a WGC event, but, Tiger has won three times as many of these “mini-majors” as the player second on the list, Dustin Johnson. Johnson has a little piece of history of his own though, being the only man to win all four of the different tournaments. However, in terms of total titles he is such a distant second that he may as well be last!
It may seem a strange anomaly that Woods never won the Champions event, but this is largely down to the fact it was first played in 2009, after his absolute peak years. His tally of wins is as follows:
- 8 Invitationals – 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2013
- 7 Championships – 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2013
- 3 Match Plays – 2003, 2004, 2008
In addition, the golfing great and modern-day GOAT won the World Cup event as part of the US team, with David Duval in 2000. His domination of these high-calibre tournaments was truly stunning, with him winning at least one every year between 1999 and 2009. In six seasons he won multiple WGC tournaments, something even more impressive given there were just three, not four, between 1999 and 2008 inclusive (and just two in 2001 due to the 9/11 attacks).
DJ A-OK at WGC
As said, Dustin Johnson is second in terms of all-time wins, with six, and is the only man to have claimed all four tournaments. DJ was at his best between 2015 and 2019, collecting five of his victories in that short period of time. He won the Championship tournament in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
Those events span when it was called the WGC-Cadillac Championship and was held at Doral, as well as its time as the WGC-Mexico Championship, when Club de Gold Chapultepec was the host. DJ also claimed glory at the 2013 Champions event, the 2016 Invitational and the 2017 Match Play, beating Jon Rahm 1 Up in the final.