Question of the week [March 9-15]: Considering how men's professional golf's majors have evolved through the years, why should The Players Championship not be considered a major championship?
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I agree with Rory McIlroy on this question. The Players Championship has its own unique identity and there is no need for it to be the fifth major. The Players Championship is perfectly fine just as it is. Personally, I find it both exasperating and exhausting every March to revisit this silly question. As Rory said, how iconic is the Evian Championship on the LPGA Tour? How did that work out? Lets keep the focus on the unique golf course, fabulous fan support, a wide variety of winners, huge purse and the fact the Tour players strongly identify the tournament as theirs. There is absolutely no need to change anything about The Players Championship other than the other endless discussion about the proper calendar date to play this tournament. Let's celebrate The Players Championship as it is. Nothing needs to change.
Reid Farrill
Toronto, Ontario
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If should be.
Gary Brown
Calabash, North Carolina
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The Canadian Open used to be considered the fifth major — should be the fifth now
Jon Woolstencroft
St. Catharine, Ontario
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Because it's a solution in search of a problem. It being labeled a major would change nothing substantive. You can't go back and change lifetime major totals, because past winners won it when it wasn't a major. Going forward, you're now distorting comparisons among players who will have five annual opportunities to add a major to their resume and those who only had four annual chances. It accomplishes nothing. It solves nothing. It improves nothing. It's just the PGA Tour execrable leadership (but I repeat myself) self-aggrandizing.
Andrew Turnbull
Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
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For me and being from the old school, it’s my opinion that if the system isn’t broken, then don’t try and fix it. Change is constant, but traditions at times don’t need to be altered and adjusted, and, in this case as in many, it becomes a matter of money.
Wes Morrill
Oracle, Arizona
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It is not an open, but rather a closed. I know, so is the Masters, but the Masters has defined qualifying criteria that take from Open events, as well as key amateur events.
Dave Curley
Las Vegas, Nevada
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It should be.
Drake Batchelder
St. Augustine, Florida
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It’s just fine where it stands now. We don’t need to call it a major to enhance it. Why mess with history? Part of the legacy of golf is comparing accomplishments from different eras. This would complicate that.
Jeff Ittel
Scottsdale, Arizona
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I will have to disagree with many as I have said for years that The Players should be considered to be a major championship. For the past 10 years The Players has carried the strongest field of all major tournaments. The purse, next to the Masters, has been the largest payout. Run by the PGA Tour, this event was created for the Tour players. It is their event. Clearly it doesn’t have as much history as the others, but I guarantee The Players will have more viewers tuned in than either the PGA or the Open Championship. Who said the majors needed to be capped at four?
Paul Vicary
The Villages, Florida
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No. What would happen to the Grand Slam?
Ken Slomski
Antelope, California
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Is it truly the desire of PGA Tour events to become majors? Maybe so, but I don't see it. Remember when the current Players Championship location was a newbie, constructed out of a swamp and for many years was the event supposedly put on by the players for the players> Not to take anything away from those ideals, but was Jack Nicklaus' mission in building Muirfield or Arnold Palmer at Bay Hill really an intention to become a major? I don't think so. If you favor yes, then why now and why the Players? Because of the field, the purse and winner's check? Maybe so, but if we place any relevance on the media perspective, a fifth major must rotate locations and — best case scenario — it must travel to foreign countries. In my opinion, if that were to be the future strategy it would completely change the nature of the Players as we see it today. Would we accept those unintended consequences.. Be careful what you wish for.
Pete Croppo
Bayfield, Ontario
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Because it is not a major. In light of so many moves in golf away from traditions — equipment, LIV, etc. — we need to maintain integrity in this great game where we can. I believe the majors serve as a gauge of greatness over the generations. If we begin to add majors, then it skews the comparison charts and lowers standards of greatness.
Henny Bogan
Fripp Island, South Carolina
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It should be a major.
Joh Chapman
Viera, Florida
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They don't have more ways to qualify for the tournament.
Kent Hall
Summerville, South Carolina
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The four majors are unique to the golfdom as is the Players. Let it stand alone at the Stadium Course as is the Masters does at Augusta National.
Richard Ewert
Palm Coast, Florida
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Lack of tradition. Maybe in 10-plus years.
Tim Niles
Cary, North Carolina
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Considering how men's professional golf's majors have evolved through the years, why should The Players Championship not be considered a major championship?
It should be a major going forward.
William Riley
Fairview Heights, Illinois
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As long as it hides behind only including PGA Tour members and other sycophants, how can it seriously be considered as a major? Who cares where they come from — and let's be honest, LIV has made all these guys richer. Until the best players are playing in the Players Championship, it cannot be considered a major.
Jim Mason
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
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If I'm not mistaken, The Players was for the players, not sponsors or anybody else. The Players was there for the players only, it was their tournament. It still should be.
Earl Hochdanner
Amherst, New York
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Front: TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course.
Photo: Fran Caffrey / Golffile.