Long Bombers: List of all PGA Tour driving distance leaders since 1980

They’ve been keeping statistics on average mileage since 1980, and the list of names probably won’t be all that surprising. Rory McIlroy is in attendance. John Daly, of course. There’s a new name on the PGA Tour this season as youngster Aldrich Potgieter explodes all over the yard.

In 2003, Hank Kuehne achieved the record with 321.4 yards and reigned as the standard bearer for almost 20 years. During the 2019-20 season, Bryson DeChambeau broke Kuehne’s 17-year-old record. A year later, DeChambeau broke his own record.

Fast forward to 1997 and we see John Daly become the first player to average over 300 yards. Daly led the Tour in driving distance a total of 11 times.

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Just to be clear, neither Tiger Woods nor Phil Mickelson ever led the tour in driving distance.

Who is the longest driver on the PGA Tour?

This is a list of the longest running drivers from 1980 to the 2025 regular season.

Dan Paul – 1980, 1981

The first officially recognized long drive champion, Dan Paul led the PGA Tour in 1980 (274.3 yards) and again in 1981 (280.1 yards). He failed to win the Tour in both seasons. His best finish was second place at the 1980 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am. His best finish in 1981 was a solo third place at the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club.

Bill Caffee – 1982

Bill Calfee led the PGA Tour in driving in 1982 (275.3). Curfee competed in 26 events that season, receiving a DQ in one and missing out on 15 others. He went from February to mid-July without making a weekend. The closest he came to winning was a T-7 at the Texas Open.

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John McComish – 1983, 1987

John McComish led the PGA Tour in driving twice, in 1983 (277.4) and 1987 (283.9). He only played five seasons on tour. His best finish during his rookie season in 1983 was T-22 at the USF&G Classic. In 1987, his best finish was a T-9 at the Deposit Guarantee Golf Classic.

Bill Glasson – 1984

Bill Glasson led the Tour in driving in 1984 (276.5 points). Glasson made just six cuts in 19 tournaments that season. His best result was T-13 at the Buick Open. That season, he earned just $17,845.

Andy Bean – 1985

Andy Bean led the Tour in driving distance in 1985 (278.2). Beane had a really good season, finishing in the top 10 eight times and finishing 23 of 27 times. His best result was a T-3 at the PGA Championship at Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver.

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Davis Love III – 1986, 1994

Davis Love III led the Tour in driving distance twice, in 1986 (285.7) and 1994 (283.8). Love made 22 cuts in 1986 and finished T-3 at the Canadian Open in his first full season on tour. In 1994, he placed second at the United Airlines Hawaiian Open. The leader in long drives in both seasons, he was unable to get into the winner’s circle.

Steve Thomas – 1988

Steve Thomas led the Tour in driving distance in 1988 (284.6). Thomas played in 29 events, missing out on 20 and finishing in the top 10 only once, a T-8 at the Deposit Guarantee Golf Classic. He earned $22,669 in 1988.

Ed Humenich – 1989

Ed Humenick led the tour in driving distance (280.9) in 1989. In his first full season on tour, Humenik competed in 30 events but missed 19 starts and had only three top-25 finishes. His best performance was a T-14 at the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic. His season ended with 11 consecutive missed cuts.

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Tom Purzer – 1990

Tom Purzer was the PGA Tour’s first driving distance leader in the 1990s (279.6). Plutzer had three top-10 finishes and 10 top-25 finishes in 1990, but no wins.

John Daly – 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002

In 1991, John Daly began his reign as Tour’s long-drive leader. In 1997, he broke the 300-yard average barrier for the first time. He achieved this mark four more times, including in 2002, his last season as a top driver, with a driving average of 306.8 over the season. Daly was the first golfer to win in a season on tour in the driving distance category, having won three times: the 1991 PGA Championship, the 1992 BC Open, and the 1995 British Open.

Hank Kuehne – 2003, 2004

Hank Kuehne won consecutive driving distance titles. He averaged over 320 yards per pop (321.4) in 2003, becoming the first player on this list to break that barrier. His 2004 season average was 7 yards shorter (314.4 yards), but was still nearly 2 yards farther than the next longest player. In 2003, his best finish was a T-2 at the Shell Houston Open (though he did win the Franklin Templeton Shootout, an unofficial event). In 2004, he missed the cut in 15 of the 30 events he competed in. His best result was a solo fifth place at the Nissan Open.

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Scott Hend – 2005

Scott Hend held the top spot for one season in 2005. His average of 318.9 yards was nearly two yards further than Tiger Woods’ average that year. Hendo posted a T-6 finish at the Bank of America Colonial Tournament, but missed the cut in 19 of the 28 tournaments he entered.

Bubba Watson – 2006, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2014

Bubba Watson first became a big driver in 2006 and led the mileage leaderboard three years in a row before a four-year gap. In 2006, Watson qualified T-3 at the season’s premier event, the Chrysler Classic in Tucson. In 2007, he finished T-2 at the Shell Houston Open. In 2008, he participated in the Buick Open with a T-2 finish. In 2012, he won the first of his two Masters titles. In 2014, he won the Northern Trust in February and won the green jacket again two months later. Watson leads the Tour in driving distance and is the only golfer to win multiple events in the same season.

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Robert Garrigus – 2009, 2010

Robert Garrigus has led the division twice, in 2009 (312.0) and 2010 (315.5). Garrigus was winless in 2009, but finished the 2010 season with a win at the Children’s Miracle Network Classic in November.

JB Holmes – 2011, 2016

Five years after winning his first PGA Tour title, JB Holmes led the driving distance category in 2011 (318.4 points). He did it again five years later in 2016 (314.5). In 2011, his highest finish was two T-5s. In 2016, Holmes finished solo third at the British Open and finished T-4 at the Masters.

Luke List – 2013

Luke List spent a year atop this list in 2013 (306.3). That year, he made nine of 24 cuts at the Wells Fargo Championship, posting a season-best T-16 finish.

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Dustin Johnson – 2015

Dustin Johnson is the only player to appear at the top of this list, averaging 317.7 yards in 2015. He won the WGC Cadillac Championship and had two T-2 finishes, including the U.S. Open.

Bryson DeChambeau – 2020, 2021

Bryson DeChambeau averaged 322.1 yards per drive in the 2019-20 season, breaking the 17-year-old PGA Tour driving distance mark. He achieved this one year after finishing tied for 34th in rushing yards with 302.5 yards. DeChambeau won the Rocket Mortgage Classic in 2019-20, and in 2020-21 he set a new record of 323.7 yards, nearly four and a half yards faster than second place Rory McIlroy’s 319.3 yards. DeChambeau won twice during the tour’s 2020-21 “super” season, at the U.S. Open in September and the Arnold Palmer Invitational in April.

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Rory McIlroy – 2017, 2018, 2023

Rory McIlroy spent back-to-back seasons at the top of the long drive category in 2017 (317.2 yards) and 2018 (319.7 yards), getting much closer to that 320-yard average in the second half of the season. In 2023, McIlroy won his third driving title (326.3) and became the first player to eclipse the 326-yard mark at the same time.

Cameron Champ – 2019, 2022, 2024

Cameron Champ had the longest driver (320.7 yards average) in 2024, but he only made the cut six times in 19 starts. At one point during the season, he missed the cut seven times in a row. His best finish in 2024 was T-12 at the 3M Open.

Aldrich Potgieter – 2025

In August, the 20-year-old South African rookie was on track to set a single-season record with an average driving distance of 327.6 yards. He didn’t quite get there, but he ended up averaging 325.0 points. This is the second-highest score of all time behind Rory McIlroy’s 326.3 points in 2023.

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PGA Tour Driving Distance Leader, 1980-2024

Below is a complete list of the top drivers based on average yards per drive on the PGA Tour each year since the statistic was created in 1980. Source: pgatour.com.

How the PGA Tour obtains driving data:

“Average yards per drive measured. These drives are measured on two holes per round. Care should be taken to choose two holes facing in opposite directions to counteract the effects of the wind. Drives are measured to their stop, whether they are in the fairway or not.”

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: The list of PGA Tour’s all-time longest drivers now includes Aldrich Potgieter