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It is obviously a tournament that all players want to win, has a big prize pot, and Jordan Spieth says it is harder to win than a couple of majors. But while the American consortium that ploughed $1.5billion (about \u00a31.1billion) into the PGA Tour would no doubt like it to have its own major, conveniently next to the organisation\u2019s HQ on Ponte Vedra Beach, there is no sensible reason for an upgrade.<\/p>\n
Over the past few weeks, players have routinely been asked a well-worn question about whether the Players should be a major. Some do, more don\u2019t, but there are numerous reasons why the Players should be left as it is.<\/p>\n
For a start, it lacks history. It has only been played since 1974. In golf, where the pace of change is a semi-arthritic shuffle, that is the day before yesterday. If you did make it the fifth major now, it would make historical comparisons irrelevant. There is also the question of whether you would retrospectively crown all past winners, thus making Jack Nicklaus a 21-times major champion?<\/p>\n
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Spieth believes that Players Championship is harder to win than some of the majors<\/p>\n
JARED C TILTON\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n
Last month Brandel Chamblee, the Golf Channel analyst and occasional provocateur, posited that not only was it the fifth major, but it was the best one. \u201cI would argue that it is the hardest major championship to win,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The strength of the field is always presented as evidence supporting the major case, but there is an elephant in that room, or at least in Saudi Arabia. Four of the top 41 players are not in Florida this week because of their LIV Golf associations. Brooks Koepka<\/a>, once of LIV, is in the field but he is now the world No221. The PGA Tour\u2019s bar on LIV players, ruling out the 2022 winner Cameron Smith, undoes much of the marketing blarney. And lest we forget, 99 of the top 100 were at the US PGA Championship<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n The 17th hole at Sawgrass has become one of the most iconic on the PGA Tour<\/p>\n JAMES GILBERT\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n There are two other things to acknowledge. The first is that four majors is the right number. Adding another would obviously dilute the kudos of winning one. The \u201cscarcity\u201d argument is part of PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp\u2019s thinking in streamlining the regular schedule, so he should at least appreciate that. The rhythm of the season is wrong, but that is because the US PGA Championship was moved to May in 2019, which means \u201cmajor season\u201d is now too short. You can sort that out by moving it back to later in the year. <\/p>\n The other, more important point is that golf needs to look outside the United States. Three majors in the US is enough and probably one too many. You can make a better argument for dropping the US PGA and having a major in Australia, or moving it around national Open venues, than giving the Players extra status.<\/p>\n In 2011 Rory McIlroy<\/a> and Lee Westwood, the world No1 at the time, skipped the Players. That did not go down well. The NBC commentator Johnny Miller said: \u201cIt\u2019s an affront to the championship.\u201d Even Phil Mickelson, then a PGA Tour<\/a> stalwart, expressed his disdain, exacerbated when McIlroy went on Twitter and flippantly asked Westwood if he fancied a game that weekend. <\/p>\n McIlroy won the Players last year, but there are concerns he will not be able to defend his title after he withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational<\/p>\n COREY PERRINE\/REUTERS<\/p>\n McIlroy learnt to love Sawgrass, winning in 2019 and again last year. His participation this week is in doubt, though, after he pulled out of last week\u2019s Arnold Palmer Invitational after two rounds because he was suffering back spasms. He has also delayed travelling to Sawgrass to get more treatment. <\/p>\n The loss of McIlroy would be a blow after all the concerted effort to drum up major talk, but the bigger picture is his defence at the Masters. It is only 29 days until the opening shots at Augusta, and McIlroy will not want to jeopardise a real major for a pretend one. The five-times major winner has been in decent if not top form this season, finishing in a tie for 14th at Pebble Beach and second at the Genesis, but if he failed to finish this week alarm bells would ring.<\/p>\n![\"THE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/\/0fad7bd6-863f-43da-b255-d41fe2119dc5.jpg\")
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