![\"Rory](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2257355676-e1770792561561.jpg\")
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Rory McIlroy has won the Players Championship twice.<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy<\/a> begins his PGA Tour season this week, defending his title at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The Northern Irishman is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, winning four tournaments, including the Masters Tournament, which gave him the Career Grand Slam. To top it all off, he won the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.<\/p>\n Among his last year\u2019s titles was the Players Championship<\/a>, his second at this event. The golf world is currently embroiled in the debate about whether the PGA Tour\u2019s flagship tournament should be officially considered a major, and McIlroy has weighed in on the controversy.<\/p>\n Rory McIlroy on a Fifth Major: \u201cWe Have Four\u201d GettyThe Players Championship was one of three PGA Tour titles won by Rory McIlroy in 2025.<\/p>\n During a press conference on Tuesday at Pebble Beach<\/a>, McIlroy shared his views on the matter. His opinion leaned toward maintaining the major championships as they currently are.<\/p>\n \u201cI think THE PLAYERS is one of the best golf tournaments in the world,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone disputes that or argues that. I think, from a player\u2019s perspective, it\u2019s amazing. I think from an on-site fan experience, it\u2019s amazing. It\u2019s an amazing golf course, location, venue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut I don\u2019t \u2014 like again, I\u2019m a traditionalist, I\u2019m a historian of the game. We have four major championships,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n To illustrate the basis of her opinion, McIlroy used the example of her female colleagues.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to see what five major championships look like, look at the women\u2019s game. I don\u2019t know how well that went for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Origin of the Controversy<\/p>\n The question of whether or not the Players Championship should be officially considered a major resurfaced a couple of weeks ago. First, the event\u2019s official account released a video<\/a> with the subtle message that \u201cMarch is going to be major.\u201d Days later, the well-known Golf Channel commentator, Brandel Chamblee, stated that the Players<\/a> is \u201cnot just a major, it is, in my estimation, the best major.\u201d<\/p>\n Several prominent voices in the golf world have reacted to Chamblee\u2019s opinion, primarily to oppose it. Former winners of both the Players and major championships, such as Phil Mickelson<\/a>, Greg Norman<\/a>, and Steve Elkington<\/a>, have all agreed in denying the TPC Sawgrass<\/a> event major championship status, as McIlroy has now done.<\/p>\n However, none of them deny the tremendous level of the Players Championship as one of the world\u2019s premier tournaments. The Northern Irishman himself stated that \u201cit doesn\u2019t need to be anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s THE PLAYERS. Like it doesn\u2019t need to be anything else,\u201d McIlroy said during his press conference. \u201cLike, I would say it\u2019s got more of an identity than the PGA Championship does at the minute. So, like from an identity standpoint, I think THE PLAYERS has got it nailed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is an amazing tournament in its own right, and I don\u2019t think it being classified as a major or not a major makes it any more or any less. I\u2019m still very proud to have won that tournament twice, as I\u2019m sure all the other champions are. It stands on its own without the label, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n McIlroy won the Players Championship in 2019 and 2025, one of only seven players to have won it twice. Jack Nicklaus holds the record for most titles at this event, with three.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJulio Valdera<\/a> Julio Valdera is a sports writer specializing in golf coverage for Heavy Sports. He has reported on the sport across major international tours, delivering breaking news, event analysis, and player-focused storytelling. Before joining Heavy, he covered golf for Newsweek and Sportskeeda, building a reputation for clear, engaging reporting and a strong command of the game\u2019s competitive landscape. His broader journalism experience spans technology, politics, and international events. More about Julio Valdera<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Golf\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Rory McIlroy has won the Players Championship twice. Rory McIlroy begins his PGA Tour season this week,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-467832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2205541096.jpg\")
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