PGA Championship winners by player: Who has won the major the most times in golf history?

The PGA Championship is not an event that is easy for golfers to win multiple times.

Unlike the Masters, which is held annually at the same course, the PGA Championship rotates its host site every year. Though several courses are rotated over several years, it can often take as many as 15 years before a site hosts again. That means golfers are presented with new challenges each year, and it takes elite skills to win the tournament multiple times. 

It is no surprise, then, to find that two of the biggest names in the history of the sport of golf have the most wins in the PGA Championship.

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Who has won the most in history? The Sporting News dives into the numbers.

Who has the most PGA Championship wins?

Two golfers are tied for the most wins at the PGA Championship, and each came from different eras of the game.

During the tournament's match play era, Walter Hagen set the record with five victories. He won in 1921, 1924, 1925, 1926 and 1927. His streak of winning in four straight years is the longest of any golfer in the event.

The PGA switched to stroke play in 1958, and Jack Nicklaus won the first of his five titles at the event five years later. He collected his wins in 1963, 1971, 1973, 1975 and 1980 to match Hagen, never going back-to-back but putting together a dominant stretch of three victories in five years at his peak.

Other players have gone back and won a second, or even a third and fourth, PGA Championship since Nicklaus, but no one has been able to match the two golf legends' five titles.

MORE: Full list of PGA Championship winners by year

Most PGA Championship victories by player

Just 21 golfers have recorded multiple wins in the PGA Championship. Those players represent 54 of the 106 total wins.

Here's a look at all the players who have won multiple PGA Championships.

Walter Hagen, 5

Hagen was the dominant player of his era and one of the most successful golfers of all time, winning five of the first 10 PGA Championships and doing so at five different courses. 

Hagen's wins all came during the match play era, when players played a bracket-style tournament. After defeating Jim Barnes for the title in 1921, Hagen declined to enter the 1922 PGA Championship due to other engagements but entered in 1923 and lost the final round to Gene Sarazen.

Once 1924 arrived, Hagen couldn't be beaten. He rallied for four consecutive wins and had a sparkling 30-1 match record in the PGA Championship by the time he won the event for the fifth time in 1927. Hagen would compete in the PGA Championship as late as 1940, also attempting to qualify in 1942, but he never regained the excellence he found in the 1920s. 

In addition to his five PGA Championship wins, Hagen won The Open four times and the U.S. Open twice.

Jack Nicklaus, 5

Nicklaus is still the master of stroke play at the PGA Championship, as he matched Hagen's record of five wins at five different courses — albeit without ever winning back-to-back titles.

Nicklaus' wins are spread out over 18 years, as he first won the event at 23 years old in 1963, shooting a 68 in intense heat in the final round to leapfrog Bruce Crampton and Don Finsterwald on the leaderboard. 

It wasn't until 1971 that Nicklaus climbed back to the top at the PGA Championship, but he won the tournament three times in five years (1971, 1973, 1975) to pull within one victory of Hagen's record. Nicklaus won by a margin of multiple strokes in all three, including by four strokes in 1973. 

Nicklaus didn't record a single win in 1979, with age appearing to affect the legend, but he rallied for a dominant victory at the 1980 PGA Championship, finishing 6-under par to win by seven strokes. Nicklaus tied Hagen's record with the victory and would add one final major championship at the Masters in 1986. 

PGA Championship records

• Lowest 72-hole score: -21 (Xander Schauffele)
• Lowest 18-hole score: 62 (Xander Schauffele, Shane Lowry)
• Largest margin of victory: 8 strokes (Rory McIlroy)
• Most wins: 5 (Jack Nicklaus, Walter Hagen)
• Most consecutive wins: 4 (Walter Hagen)
• Youngest winner: Gene Sarazen, 20
• Oldest winner: Phil Mickelson, 50
• Most frequent host: Southern Hills (OK), 5