It takes a real golf nerd to start arguing about the definition of a major championship. As a member of the CDGA and a reader of this magazine, I’m going to presume you have at least a passing interest in the topic, and so we’ll hereby wade into the “major” controversy, if nothing else, as a conversation starter in the grillroom during this month’s Masters. (Please note: The Masters is a major).
The “What-is-a-major?” subject has come up again because the PGA Tour is back to promoting The Players Championship as the game’s fifth major to go along with the four other modern majors, as defined by Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer: the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship. Former Commissioner Tim Finchem’s regime was notorious for pushing the Players narrative when he was leading the Tour, but things died down under Jay Monahan’s watch, during which time The Players actually seemed to get more respect from golf media and fans. (It’s truly an outstanding event.) This happens when you are not making a kid eat their vegetables. By the way, could The Players really be a major if I received emails the week before the tournament telling me, basically, “plenty of tickets still available?” I think not. You don’t have to peddle tickets to the Masters, Wimbeldon or the Super Bowl. The Players is a great tournament with an evolving history that someday might present itself as a major. But not now, IMO.
If the world – not just the Tour and its PR department – ever began regarding The Players as a major, a mess would ensue. If The Players is a major, does that mean Tiger, a three-time Players champion, would have 18 total majors instead of 15? Would Jack, twice a Players champion, now have 20 majors? With two Players, does Scottie Sche ler now have six majors? Who knows? What if Sche ler’s Players wins count as majors, but Tiger’s and Jack’s don’t simply because they came in a somewhat “bygone” era? It boggles the mind.
The last example is not unlike the dilemma of the Western Open (or, as we know it now in its truncated form, the BMW Championship). The Western was a major going back to when it started in 1899, when the Western Golf Association (WGA) and the United States Golf Association (U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur) were the only major golf organizations outside the British Isles conducting national tournaments. The PGA Championship started in 1916. The Masters didn’t exist until 1934. So, what about a player like the great Walter Hagen? Hagen won two U.S. Opens, four British Opens and five PGAs – and today is credited with 11 majors. But he also won five Western Opens, which arguably should give him 16 majors! I once asked Byron Nelson whether the Western Open was considered a major in his pre-1945 playing days and he said, yes, without a doubt. “Why?” I said. “It had the best players and a higher purse. And you got paid a bonus from the equipment companies whose clubs you used and other sponsors.”
And yet everyone who won the Western back then had his major wiped out because by the 1950s, the Masters – in the person of the great Bobby Jones – began to overshadow the Western.
Then you have Chris Gotterup, 26, who has won twice this year on the PGA Tour and four times overall. A few weeks ago, he was asked which tournament he regarded as his “fifth major.”
“John Deere’s a special place for me,” he said. “That was one of the sponsor exemptions I got and I came in fourth. They have been super helpful in my growth and getting me to where I am.”
Hopefully, Gotterup didn’t have to go through PGA Tour Re-Education Camp to learn that, in fact, The Players is everyone’s fifth major.
We always try to give our April issue a Masters focus and you can’t do better than having someone from the Chicago District in the field. Check out the story of how Central Illinois real estate man Brandon Holtz wound up with an invitation to the Masters, written beautifully and informatively by Randy Kindred, longtime (now retired) sportswriter for the Bloomington Pantagraph. Speaking of Augusta National, our frequent and much-treasured correspondent Tim Cronin examines the stress of competing in the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals, with interviews of a couple of past champions.
Some parents help their children with their golf; others stress out their kids and make them quit the game. Brendan O’Brien, a former correspondent for the Thomson-Reuters wire service who now coaches golf, provides insight for those who want their kids to grow up loving the greatest game of all.
If you can’t play golf – and even if you can – it never hurts to look great on the links. Lauren Withrow (@lolowithrow), an excellent writer and reporter who excels on TV and Instagram and probably other platforms I’ve never heard of, profiles Susan Hess, founder of clothing brand Golftini. Lotta fun reading this one.
