Don’t Take the 5th
Comparison is the thief of joy. And so why is so much of life spent doing just that? Bigger house, bigger car, bigger job, longer off the tee and so on. It’s a constant and what do we derive from all the comparisons other than envy and resentment? It’s not totally unhealthy or unconstructive to find measuring sticks because they can also serve to motivate and inspire. But the sports talk “gasbaggery” that permeates our world is continually and constantly polluted with comparisons of not just now, but of all time. These discussions parse everything down to who did what and where. The where is central to the weight of the discussion.
Since the Players Championship was born in 1974, and subsequently more so since it moved to its permanent home at the Stadium Course at the home of the PGA Tour, the event has grown in scope, size, purse, and stature. It’s a massive event and its enormity is only matched by a few events in the sport. But for many, it’s not enough. Some players, some media and some fans want it to be a major. It’s not, and that’s more than ok. It’s the crown jewel of the best tour in the world boasting a massive global reach across television and streaming audiences. It has an astronomical purse which outpaces the four majors by millions of dollars. It resides at a time on the calendar where the NBA season is crawling to its merciful regular season finish and is still almost three months from crowning a champion. Additionally, college basketball does not hold the place it once did with the sporting public other than the constant fever for legalized wagering. And finally, it is played on a golf course that is recognizable, that elicits opinion on its merits, and is home to one of the most provocative holes in golf, let alone championship golf, in the 17th. Add in the strength of field, which is void of qualifiers and amateurs, and it’s the sternest examination of global championship field depth in tournament golf. Despite all that, some want more. They want the MAJOR title.
The evolution of what we now consider the grand slam of golf took decades to be established. Amateur golf was the standard in the game and golf’s professional game didn’t become firmly entrenched until after Bobby Jones retirement in 1930. It took time for the Masters tournament to ascend from the perception of regal fellowship to a colossal achievement upon in winning.
As Brandel Chamblee expertly and snidely said a few years ago on his own podcast about Gene Sarazen completing the career grand slam at Augusta National in 1935, “What he won at that time was the equivalent of winning the Hero World Challenge”… the end of year boondoggle for less than 20 players put on by Tiger Woods. The four men’s majors have comfortably held that status for roughly 75 years and up until recently the advancement, albeit modest, to include the Players as a major was from only a handful of media members. The kingmakers of American sports journalism could share opinion, help drive initiatives and without arm-wrestling readers help them form their own thoughts on what was and wasn’t of real value in sports. The notion of bestowing major championship status on any event in golf, specifically the Players Championship, faces a brutally more demanding evaluation than it would have even ten years ago. The mass proliferation of digital media and the behemoth that is social media at large has given every solitary fan of golf their own digital voice for consent or dissent. And no, the idea of a fifth major is not only insulting, it’s harmful to the brand. Sports have fundamental and romantic connections to numerical value and distinction. The Grand Slam is FOUR yesterday, today and always.
The whataboutisms to senior golf and women’s golf are a waste of time. Senior golf is highly competitive, and they also drive carts. Women’s golf has faced countless challenges with far more majors that had the status and then didn’t exist, plus the decision to create a fifth major was to placate a sponsor. A couple years ago, in a joint meeting with the PGA Tour and management, production and on-air staff for Golf Channel, I asked Jay Monahan if he liked people in the golf industry advancing the idea of the Players as the fifth major. He said at that time it wasn’t something he could control but did I have a point with the question. I did. Why would anyone want to strive to be recognized as fifth in anything especially with the notion you are equal to the other four. You would either be a major or you would not be a major. It’s already established that people rank the weight of the four majors and inevitably the PGA Championship comes in fourth (except for winners of only the PGA and their families) but they are firmly entrenched at the table. Moreover, nobody looks at the total majors won by Nicklaus, Woods and Hogan and does anything other than count the total. Trying to shoehorn the Players into major championship status will never come at the expense of the existing majors. The riptide of opposition to the declaration of major status whether by a television partner of the tour, media members or by the tour itself would be so self-defeating it’s not worth the advancement. Many things have certainly changed in men’s professional golf in the last seven decades but the four biggest events in the game as the bedrock of historical achievement have not. Finally, the existence of LIV Golf has separated the majors from the rest of the men’s game as the last four locales where the very best players in the world compete. LIV is not going anywhere, and the absence, starting with the defending champion, in addition to a dozen, at minimum, players capable of contending makes the Players less in potential depth of field than it was only last year.
There has been too much of the diminishing of achievement in elite sports. I’ve always appreciated and found division titles, conference titles and accomplishments less than the ultimate trophy as bold type on anyone’s resume. Winning a Players Championship is a massive accomplishment. Bullying the general public into accepting that it is more than that is counter-productive and a fool’s errand. Golf’s newer wave of independent thinkers and content creators are bright and righteous, and they hold the attention of a wide swath of the viewing audience. Pushing the major agenda only distracts and decays the event on the platforms that are also earnestly invested in covering it. Let it be what is. It’s the best win of all the events the best tour runs. That’s pretty major without ever being a major.