Those who have 20 PGA Tour victories are considered the crème de la crème of the sport with that amount of success, and as such, they are in possession of special privileges not awarded to others.
The most important thing a 20-win player has is a lifetime exemption on the PGA Tour, but no one mentioned it in Scottie Scheffler’s press conference at The American Express. Probably it wasn’t top of mind, or the people there simply didn’t know. After all, it doesn’t come up very often.
Like most golfers, Scheffler was not concerned with any measuring sticks last Sunday. He just wanted to get to the winner’s circle again.
“I don't spend too much time thinking about the milestones or anything like that,” Scheffler said after the victory. “When the tournament ends it's kind of like, okay, it's almost like more of a relief now that the day's over and I'm able to win the tournament."
20 wins, 151 career starts ... not too shabby 🫡 pic.twitter.com/Qxz1mayS4z
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 26, 2026
One of the most recent times a 20-win career came up was six seasons ago, before Dustin Johnson left the PGA Tour for LIV. He got to 20 with a victory at the 2019 WGC-Mexico, where he beat Rory McIlroy by five strokes. Johnson went on to win four more PGA Tour events, the last one being The Masters in the fall of 2020, during the pandemic. He ended his PGA Tour run with 24 victories, the same as Gary Player. Now he’s doing whatever LIV players are doing, which includes going to the bank a lot.
Speaking of McIlroy, who notched his 20th in October 2021 at the CJ Cup, he has already won a stunning 29 times on the PGA Tour, the same as Lee Trevino and Gene Littler.
McIlroy shows no signs of giving up winning, so, while it’s unlikely he will tie Tiger Woods and Sam Snead with 82 victories, he has a good chance to catch Tom Watson at 39. Should he reach that mark, his next target might be Phil Mickelson, with 45. McIlroy’s stated goal is to be the best player ever from Europe, and, while he’s already there, maybe he wants to pile on and pad the numbers a bit.
But back to Scheffler. By turning the number 20 on his victory clock, that lifetime exemption means that should Scheffler somehow miss the top 100 four years from now, after his exemptions for winning the PGA and British Open have expired on the PGA Tour, he could still contact tournaments and ask to play and be allowed to.
Maybe it's something he doesn't need for another 10 years, when he's 39 instead of 29. Now, the lifetime exemption would not count for special tourneys like the Signature Events, if they are still on the schedule then, that is.
And it would not count for the U.S. Open, where he would still have to qualify some other way. The Masters, PGA, and British Open all accord past champs the ability to play for much longer, well into their 60s. He would already be in those.
Who else is in Scheffler’s category with 20? Hale Irwin, Greg Norman, Doug Sanders, Willie Macfarlane, and Johnny Revolta. Scheffler is the only one active.
Scheffler will be surprised to discover that he has already surpassed the PGA Tour careers of Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, Ernie Els, Doug Ford, and Bill Melhorn, who won 19 times each.
When he gets to 21 wins, which most believe he will by June, if not sooner, he will tie Lanny Wadkins, Craig Wood, and Davis Love III. If he gets to 22, he joins Raymond Floyd, Johnny Farrell, and Jim Barnes.
In actuality, most believe that Scheffler will win whenever he tees it up next, which is likely to be the WM Phoenix Open, a tournament in which he earned his very first PGA Tour win in 2022. The reason Scheffler has convinced people that he is a winning machine is simply that he wins so often, and he makes it look effortless. It's not, but it seems that way.
The only crack in his game showed itself on Sunday at The American Express when, knowing he had the victory in hand, he hit a loose shot. His concentration took a momentary holiday. He hit a tee ball in the water on the island 17th. It wasn't even a near miss. It was way off line. That shows just how difficult it is to keep it going for a week of play, never mind a season. But most bet Scheffler will continue his march, at least as long as he loves playing.
“Being in the arena, being in contention is a lot of fun, just because it's something that we practice and work so hard for, so when you get in those moments you're prepared and you're able to enjoy the competition,” he said following his most recent victory. “This is something that is fun for me, but it can be really hard when things don't go your way. It's a lot more fun winning than losing.”
As Scheffler continues his path to goodness knows how many titles, it will be interesting to see how far he goes, how many victories are enough for him. He’s the kind of golfer who doesn’t play for money. He plays for fun and the thrill of competition. That kind of player is hard to stop.