EarthGolf

In this context The Never Ending Debate (TNED) refers to whether or not the Players Championship should be elevated to “major” status. Does it belong along side the Masters, US Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship?

Tough question because the Players Championship is a great golf tournament - the best the PGA Tour puts on. I lean towards no - because I don’t really see the point. Elevating it to a fifth major just seems out of kilter with golf tradition. Of course, the first grand slam didn’t include the Masters or PGA Championship. They got elevated to major status and the amateurs (US and British) were removed. The modern grand slam was essentially created by Arnold Palmer in 1960.

We easily acknowledge that Bobby Jones holds a career grand slam (and is, of course, the only player to win THE grand slam of winning all four majors in the same calendar year) despite the fact he doesn’t own a Masters or PGA Championship title. Could we not make the same historical ruling if the Players Championship is elevated to major status?

The Players Championship is a great golf tournament - some of the more interesting and entertaining tournaments have taken place there. The Fuzzy Zoeller/Greg Norman duel in 1994 was a great tournament to watch. (Funny - Norman shot -24 that year and the golf tournament was exciting. Hmmm…) Of course, since they went to attempting to be a brutal golf tournament in a lame attempt to elevate itself to major status via golf torture, not only has the entertainment value diminished, so has the quality of the champion.

But the bottom line is that it is not a major. Much like the President’s Cup doesn’t seem nearly as important as the Ryder Cup, the Players, while a good tournament, just seems like a cheap ripoff of the Masters. The PGA Tour is good at that - they did the same thing with the FedEx Cup and the Nextel Cup of NASCAR. It just doesn’t feel right - but it will forever remain TNED.

Deane Beaman, who created the Players Championship, makes his case for it to be a major:

It’s the best tournament that can be put on — in every respect. From the standpoint of — the golf course and the fairness of the challenge of it, the volunteers, the organization, the field, the financial reward, the clubhouse facility — now it’s the highest standard in the world. It’s the standard by which all facilities will be judged in the future. And we can’t do anymore than that. I consider it the best tournament in the world. The moniker the press puts on up … it’s up to them. We did all we could do to make it the best event in the world. And we did it. I did that for the 21 years I was there and Tim Finchem and his crew have done a fabulous just of taking it to a new level. And that’s all you can do.

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