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Pleading the Fifth
The famous, and devilish, 17th
This week is, of course, THE PLAYERS Championship. Much will be said and written about this event as the elusive “Fifth Major,” so I thought I would take a look at elements that make up golf’s undisputable four Majors (in my opinion).
The first criteria, is age. The world’s oldest Major is the Open Championship, which started at Prestwick in 1860, the U.S. Open began at the Newport Country Club in 1895, the PGA Championship in 1916 and the Masters in 1934, back when it was known as the Augusta National Invitational.
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The next criterion is sponsoring body credibility. The Open Championship is administered by the R & A, the body that governs the game outside of the U.S.A and Mexico, the U.S. Open is the USGA, and the PGA Championship is the PGA of America. The Masters is unique in that it is govern by Augusta National, but when one considers that Augusta National and the Masters were founded by Bobby Jones, the game’s revered icon, its lineage becomes clear.
The third, to my way of thinking, is the players have to embrace the events as important and their lists of champions are a reflection of this.
The Fourth is venue. Augusta National was recently named by Golf Digest as the best course in the United States as further evidence of its merits, and as for the other three Majors, they rotate courses and I think it is safe to say that none have been less than deserving of the honor of hosting a Major.
Finally, I think the fans have to care. Their interest, enthusiasm and willingness to embrace the event has to go beyond the parochial engagement of local and regional support of galleries and media, but truly be worthy of a much, much broader stage.
Measured against this formula, here is how THE PLAYERS Championship shapes up.
THE PLAYERS Championship was started in 1974. This is the chief knock against the event as a Major, it seems. Trailing the youngest of the four recognized Majors by 40 years suggests that the PLAYERS may have to wait for its place at the table.
As for sponsoring body credibility, THE PLAYERS Championship belongs to the PGA Tour and that alone speaks for itself. In fact, many people not familiar with the history of the development of the sport are shocked to learn that the PGA Tour does not already control any of the four existing Majors. But for THE PLAYERS Championship, it is the PGA Tour that is firmly at the wheel.
There is little question about how the best golfers in the world embrace THE PLAYERS Championship. Consider this:
96 of the Top 100 in the 2008 FEDEX Cup Rankings are in the field
10 of the Top 10 in the World Golf Ranking are in the field
24 of the Top 25 in the World Golf Rankings are entered, only Alvaro Quiros of Spain is missing, and a total of 47 of the Top 50 in the World Golf Rankings are playing.
102 players in the field have WON on the PGA Tour, including 20 Major Championship winners with a collective 43 Major titles
The criterion of venue, is consummate at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course. This Pete Dye classic made its debut in 1982. Coupled with the tournament’s move to a date in May and recent refinements to the course, the Stadium Course creates a test of golf worthy of the deepest field in the game, demanding that the eventual winner display a well rounded, complete game and triumph over arguably the best risk/reward finish in all of golf.
As to fan interest, the mere fact that millions and millions of golf fans around the world will be playing cyber-hooky from work matters to watch tee shots on PGATour.com at the exciting Par 3, 17th Hole, may be all the evidence necessary. What’s more, golfers will be getting their fill of THE PLAYERS Championship via the PGA Tour Network, the Golf Channel and NBC. When you consider it, in this electronic world we live in, there is virtually no way to be out of touch with the most recent events of THE PLAYERS Championship and those options simply would not be there if there was not massive interest and demand.
In conclusion, it is clear that THE PLAYERS Championship satisfies all of the criteria to make it golf’s “Fifth Major,” except of the line-item of time. So to the question of whether THE PLAYERS Championship is or is not golf’s “Fifth Major,” as the clique goes, “Only time will tell.”