Know every detail & every stat with a little help from Shawn Childs' weekly fantasy football rankings & projections. Part of The Players' problem is its identity crisis. Latest news ahead of the 2020 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. The PGA Tour's broadcasting partners devote more and more airtime to the event, and do the same "extras" (such as on-site studio shows) for the Players as they do for the four majors. “They” in the above sentence refers to the PGA Tour and Golf Channel, who have engaged in a regrettably effective campaign to brainwash us into believing that the Players might be a major championship. This, too, is valid. Build your custom FanSided Daily email newsletter with news and analysis on All Golf and all your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and more. The majors are the majors because the golf world, for reasons historical and political and practical, have agreed to consider them majors. There's been a concerted effort to market the Players as a major championship. The tournament awards the same number of FedEx Cup points as a major and counts the same as the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, and Open Championship when it comes to Hall of Fame consideration. But can it ever officially become a major? Coming off the back of all the excitement of Sergio Garcia’s win at The Players Championships at Sawgrass, there have been repeated calls to acknowledge this event as the 5th major. 2. Should the Players Championship become a major? The USGA runs the U.S. Open; the R&A runs the British Open; the PGA of America runs the PGA Championship; Augusta National runs The Masters. Granting The Players major status would rewrite history, which would be tricky. Also, Jack Nicklaus won the event three times, and Woods has won it twice. “Even in 2018 when I had a big lead, I really didn’t feel comfortable until I hit it on the green on 17.”. With warmer, dryer temperatures in Florida during the month of May, the course started looking a little more brown than green. It's not going to happen. And with golf's other governing bodies (plus Augusta) staging their own majors, the PGA Tour wants one, too. The Tour itself always pushes the idea (sometimes subtly) that the Players deserves major status. Each tournament has significant historical context. Please check your email for a confirmation. It was only natural for touring pros to consider it an event of great importance. And the PGA Tour itself has been pushing the idea for some time that The Players Championship deserves major status. The Players has only been held since 1974, 40 years after the Masters came into existence. It brings to mind an all-time line from an all-time movie (Mean Girls), in which Regina George yells at Gretchen Wieners: “Stop trying to make fetch happen! Trending. That nugget speaks for itself. For a long time, the event was hosted in March as a sort of metal awakening into the new season in front of the Masters. It boasts one of the strongest fields on the golfing calendar, with 55 of the top 60 players in the world rankings teeing off on Thursday in Ponte Vedra Beach. Or only those winners of the event after it has achieved "official" status as a major? The reason the Tour and its members (the golfers) are so committed to The Players Championship is because it's their tournament. All former PGA Champions. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, Regina George yells at Gretchen Wieners: “Stop trying to make fetch happen! Amateur). They weren't playing for a major championship at the time of their victory, so it could underplay the accomplishment of actual major winners. The LPGA and the PGA Tour Champions each have five majors and both suffer for the fact. And the Western Open was replaced as a major by an upstart tournament staged at Augusta National. • Not every tournament can be called a major. Amateur and Western Open were considered major championships until they weren’t. No, the Players Championship is not the fifth major. The Western Open was once considered a major. Over the last 16 years, 16 different players have won, with Tiger Woods the only player to have won twice since 2000. The Players Championship, played every year at the TPC Sawgrass with its famous island-green No. Subsequently, they would likely feel pretty hard-done by should others get crowned as major champions for winning The Players, while they remained majorless. Has this tournament's importance grown to the point where it will become known as a major itself? Should it? It's a money grab, and golf fans shouldn't fall for it. Is the winner from 1977 or 1983 now considered a major champion? That there is a need to write this article means they’ve kind of already won. The PGA Championship will move from August to May, giving the Tour key events from March through the FedEx Cup Playoffs in August. Such an impactful change should be saved for cases of genuine necessity. • The number of and identity of the majors on the Champions Tour and LPGA Tour have changed through the years, and those tours survived the changes just fine. Williams was suspended two games for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. Of […] TPC Sawgrass is a great course, one players take great pride in conquering to win, but making The Players a major is ultimately too messy. This week's The Players Championship has long been considered golf's unofficial fifth major. With a full slate of rivalry games on schedule for Thanksgiving weekend, there have been several matchups postponed or canceled. Stadium golf comes to life every year at TPC Sawgrass, where hundreds of fans line the island-green par-3 17th hoping to soak up some drama. Earlier this week, Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee and award-winning author John Feinstein got into a heated debate about this topic in an article for Golf.com. Majors aren’t anointed via a checklist of what we think constitutes a great golf tournament. 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Here’s David Duval discussing how Brooks Koepka should be more focused week-in, week-out, not just for the…cringe…five majors. • If The Players Championship becomes the fifth major, then how long will it be before another tournament starts clamoring to be the sixth major? If that were the case, you could make similar arguments for the World Golf Championships or the Memorial or the Arnold Palmer Invitational or the Tour Championship. But there are also some people who believe The Players Championship should officially be recognized as the fifth major, joining The Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship as major championships. "It has the major feel, obviously one of the best fields we play all year, on a tough golf course.". 7 Cincinnati made College Football Playoff Committee history as the highest rank for a non-P5 team. Separate yourself from the pack! No, the Players Championship Is Not a Major. TPC Sawgrass is a wonderful test of golf—with arguably the world’s most famous hole, the island-green 17th—and its greatness should only be amplified by this move back from May to March. The other three majors are more than a century old. Callum Smith to fight 'Canelo' Alvarez. The intricacies of the course don’t particularly give any player an advantage, and here is another oddity of the tournament: no player has ever successfully defended his title. ', Bielsa, Klopp shortlisted for FIFA men's coach of the year, Lampard: That's why I want Giroud to stay, Ferdinand abused over anti-racism documentary, Barca through without Messi; Ronaldo helps Juve advance, Zlatan, Bale want probe into FIFA game using their image. It boasts a rich (if relatively brief, as the Players only started in 1974) history. The PGA Tour's flagship event is regularly referred to as golf's unofficial 'fifth major', with a star-studded field and iconic venue making for a special week in the golfing calendar. 17, is called by some golf's "unofficial fifth major.". ", Others disagree, however. The momentum seemed to be slow a bit as the decade of the 2000s turned into the 2010s. Rory McIlroy will get his chance this week and sees the challenge of winning back-to-back as a question of dealing with the course. It’s most noteworthy feature is a gimmick, the par-three 17th Island Green surrounded by a man-made lake. The Players Championship isn’t a major, and it should be just fine with that PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA - MARCH 10: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays his …