Whether or not you believe the Players Championship should be deemed a major, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp is certain of one thing: the Tour’s marketing department nailed the assignment.
“I will say the one thing I learned is our marketing department’s really effective,” Rolapp said on Wednesday at PGA Tour headquarters ahead of the Players Championship. “They made one commercial spot, and we’re all having this conversation, which is really interesting. Kudos to them.”
The commercial he was referencing was for this year’s Players Championship and included the tagline: “March is going to be major.”
That ad re-ignited an old debate about whether the PGA Tour’s flagship tournament at TPC Sawgrass should be elevated to major status alongside the Masters, U.S. Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship. It’s a conversation that seemingly comes around every year or so, blown into the golf ecosystem by the north winds that frustrate players at TPC Sawgrass in March before quickly dissipating until the following year. Everyone has their reasons for being for or against elevating the Players. But it’s Rolapp — who is spearheading a change to the PGA Tour’s schedule and structure — whose opinion would carry significant weight should he decide to push for it.
On Wednesday, when Rolapp gave his state of the PGA Tour address, he chose to leave that debate to others.
“We take a lot of pride in the Players, and with all the major talk, some may say even too much pride,” Rolapp said. “Ultimately, that is not for us to decide.
“The talk on if this should be a major, should it not be a major, I’ve learned a lot,” Rolapp said later. “I’m not entirely sure how majors become majors; the history is really interesting to study. There used to be more majors. There’s fewer majors. I think what’s important is that’s not for us to decide. What is important is that this is a pretty special event, and I think among the best events in golf.”
The Players “major” debate has been a hot topic this week at TPC Sawgrass. But among top players, the feeling is mostly unanimous: the majors are the majors, and the Players is the Players. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
“As the Players Championship, that’s what I view it as,” Brooks Koepka said on Tuesday. “I think you’ve got to have one big event on the PGA TOUR, and it’s their staple, and I think it’s a good thing. … I know what you’re trying to bait me into saying, but listen, it’s the Players Championship. Everybody knows it’s a tournament you want to win. It’s a tournament that’s, like I said earlier, the kickoff of the big season of golf, and that’s what makes this fun.”
Added two-time major winner Collin Morikawa: “I know this whole debate on major, not a major, I think, you ask any collegiate golfer, ask any junior golfer, like they obviously want to win the four majors, but you want to win the Players. Look, I want to finish off my career and look back one day and say I won the Players Championship. It’s a tournament you want to win.”
Elevating the Players to major status would also alter the history books and legacy of countless golfers. Jack Nicklaus would have 21 majors, Tiger Woods 17, Rory McIlroy seven, Scottie Scheffler six and Rickie Fowler would no longer be in the “no major wins” club.
But even McIlroy doesn’t see the need to make the change. To him, the Players Championship has a brand and an identity that doesn’t need major status to elevate it.
“I’d love to have seven majors instead of five, that sounds great,” McIlroy joked at Pebble Beach. “But I’m a traditionalist, I’m a historian of the game. We have four major championships.
“It’s the Players, it doesn’t need to be anything else,” McIlroy said. “I would say it’s got more of an identity than the PGA Championship does at the minute. So, from an identity standpoint, I think the Players has got it nailed. It’s an amazing tournament in its own right, and I don’t think it being classified a major or not a major makes it any more or any less. I’m still very proud to have won that tournament twice, as I’m sure all the other champions are. It stands on its own without the label.”
The majors, as we know them, were crystallized in the 1960s by Arnold Palmer and sportswriter Bob Drum. Before the 1960s, the Western Open, Canadian Open, Met Open, U.S. Amateur and British Amateur were all, at times, considered “majors.” So things can change. Maybe one day they will again. Maybe they won’t.
McIlroy likes the way things are. The Players is the Players and that’s good enough.
For now, Brian Rolapp seems to agree.