Nowadays, the Harry Vardon Trophy is awarded to the player who finishes top of the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai rankings, but it goes back considerably longer than the season-long contest’s inception in 2009.
In fact, the trophy has been awarded since 1937, long before the Tour even became an independent organisation.
Between 1937 and 1979, it was typically won by the Order of Merit champion based on a points system, but in some years it was given to the player with the best average in major strokeplay events.
However, that all changed between 1980 and 2012, when the player with the highest prize money at the end of the season lifted the trophy.
In 2013, a point system was once again introduced, and that’s how the winner is determined today.
Through the years, some big names have lifted the Harry Vardon Trophy.
In its earlier days, they included four-time Open champion Bobby Locke, Peter Allis and Peter Oosterhuis. Legends of the game who won the trophy later include Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie and Ernie Els.
In more recent times, stars such as Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa and Rory McIlroy have all landed the honor.
But who has won it the most often?
One player has won the trophy more than anyone, Colin Montgomerie.
The Scot first took the honor in 1993 after two titles helped him earn the most prize money, with $613,683.
He proceeded to dominate the contest, winning for the next six years. In that spellbinding run, he won no fewer than 20 European Tour events.
He wasn’t done there, and was awarded the trophy for the eighth and final time in 2005 after claiming the most prize money that year, with $2,794,223.
Two shy of Montgomerie are two players. The first to reach six was Seve Ballesteros. He first came top of the Order of Merit in 1976 before doing it again in 1977 and 1978.
Remarkably, each of those first three years came before he’d claimed any of the five Major titles that helped him attain legendary status.
By the time he won the Harry Vardon Trophy for the fourth time, in 1986, thanks to prize money of $242,209, his legacy was already established. By that stage of his career, he had won four of his five Major titles and had been part of the winning European Ryder Cup team a year earlier.
Ballesteros made it five Order of Merit titles in 1988, the year he won his third and final Open, before claiming what was then a record sixth title in 1991, two years before Montgomerie’s first.
While Ballesteros made way for Montgomerie as the player with most wins in 1999, his was the only name in second until 2024.
At that point, he was joined by Rory McIlroy, who claimed the Harry Vardon Trophy for the sixth time in style with victory at the DP World Tour Championship, 12 years after taking the honor for the first time.
As well as 2012, when prize money of $5,519,118 handed McIlroy the title, he also won the trophy in 2014, 2015, 2022 and 2023.
With McIlroy also at the top of the Race to Dubai rankings with one tournament to play in 2025, there’s every chance that he’ll take second place on his own once the final putt drops on the DP World Tour season.
Only one player has won the Harry Vardon Trophy four times, Peter Oosterhuis, who claimed his haul in a run between 1971 and 1974.
Four players, Bernard Hunt, Bobby Locke, Sandy Lyle and Lee Westwood, have three wins, with 12 more players on two.
Most Harry Vardon Trophy Winners
Wins |
Player |
8 |
Colin Montgomerie |
6 |
Seve Ballesteros, Rory McIlroy |
4 |
Peter Oosterhuis |
3 |
Lee Westwood, Sandy Lyle, Bernard Hunt, Bobby Locke |
2 |
Henrik Stenson, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Bernhard Langer, Neil Coles, Peter Alliss, Christy O'Connor Sr, Dai Rees, Harry Weetman, Charlie Ward |
