PGA Tour Golfers Who Went the Longest Time Between Wins

Elsewhere, we've told you about those golfers with the longest time between their first and last wins on the PGA Tour. In this article, we're talking about the biggest gap between consecutive wins: Which golfers won a tournament, then won another tournament, and had the longest gap between those two wins?

In PGA Tour history, there are six golfers who won a tournament and then didn't get their next victory for more than 13-and-a-half years. That's a long time to wait for your next win ... but at least they all got another win.

The Record-Holder: Robert Gamez

Since we're talking about the amount of time passed, the golfer who holds the record for longest gap between wins in Robert Gamez. In 1990, Gamez won the Arnold Palmer Invitational (then called the Nestle Invitational). It was his rookie year on tour, and it was his second win of the season following the Tucson Open. He was named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.

Then 15 years passed before Gamez won again. Finally, at the 2005 Valero Texas Open, Gamez got his next victory. Fifteen years and six months was the specific gap between those two wins, and that is the PGA Tour record. Gamez broke, by about a month, the record previously held by Butch Baird, whose second win also happened at the Texas Open (see list below).

Gamez had multiple runner-up finishes over the years, including a playoff loss to Fred Couples in the 1993 Honda Classic. Then there was a car accident in 1998 that caused back problems that plagued him for the rest of his career. But he had more second-place showings after that. It just took 15 years, six months for Gamez to finally get that next win.

The List: Longest Gap Between Wins on the PGA Tour

• 15 years, 6 months: Robert Gamez won the 1990 Nestle Invitational on March 25, 1990; next win was 2005 Valero Texas Open on Sept. 25, 2005
• 15 years, 5 months, 10 days: Butch Baird won the 1961 Waco Turner Open Invitational on May 7, 1961; next win was 1976 San Antonio Texas Open on Oct. 17, 1976
• 14 years, 8 months, 2 days: Ed Fiori won the 1982 Bob Hope Desert Classic on Jan. 17, 1982; next win 1996 Quad City Classic on Sept. 15, 1996
• 13 years, 8 months: Joey Sindelar won the 1990 Hardee's Golf Classic on Sept. 9, 1990; next win was 2004 Wachovia Championship on May 9, 2004
• 13 years, 8 months: Tommy Armour III won the 1990 Phoenix Open on Jan. 28, 1990; next win was 2003 Valero Texas Open on Sept. 28, 2003
• 13 years, 6 months, 20 days: Gene Sauers won the 1989 Hawaiian Open on Feb. 12, 1989; next win was 2002 Air Canada Championship on Sept. 1, 2002

Note that we have organized this ranking by time in years and months between wins. If you wanted to know which golfer went the most starts from one win to his next, that is Ed Fiori. Fiori had 409 starts between the two wins in the list above; Gamez is next with 396 starts between his two wins listed above.