The act of turning 50 years old often comes with a fair amount of reflection. The Players Championship turns 50 this week, prompting Global Golf Post’s Ron Green Jr., John Hopkins, Scott Michaux and John Steinbreder to gather for a virtual roundtable and look at the past, present and future of the PGA Tour’s premier event on its golden jubilee at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
After 50 years, does the Players Championship have enough history and stature finally to be considered a legitimate major championship?
Green: No. The Players Championship exists in a standalone category that defines the event. It sounds simplistic to say that it’s “the Players,” but that separates it. With the course and the stories that have come to life over the years, it is everything a big-time golf event should be, and it doesn’t need to be a major. When a player’s career is evaluated, having a Players Championship victory on the résumé elevates that player.
Hopkins: No. It’s the fifth most important tournament, after the four majors. It cannot become a major championship because the next major championship has to be outside the U.S., and probably in Europe, though given the involvement in future golf of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, maybe in the Middle East.
Michaux: Yes. It’s the best non-major in the world. The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass has become as familiar to many golf fans as the major championship venue up the road in Georgia. It’s a good spectator course both in person and on television and has a really terrific competitive rhythm that always seems to build to a dramatic crescendo. The fact that it doesn’t seem to favor the same kind of player every year makes it a real wild card. Back in its natural place on the calendar in March, the Players is one of those events that feels like appointment television when it rolls around every year.
Steinbreder: No. I thought it was as recently as a couple of years ago. But the defection of so many good players from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf has weakened what traditionally had been among the most formidable fields of the PGA Tour season. As a result, it no longer feels major-worthy to me.
If there were to be another major championship on the men’s schedule – after all, the seniors and the women have five apiece – which tournament other than the Players should warrant major status (keeping in mind that there are three majors in the U.S. and one in the U.K.)?
Green: There should be no more majors. Four is enough. Five is too many.
Hopkins: The BMW PGA as the DP World Tour’s flagship event. It’s the second most important tour in golf, and remember the “strategic alliance” between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. I wish I could nominate the Ryder Cup. What a terrific event that is.
Michaux: If a fifth men’s major does ever get anointed and codified into acceptance, it should be the Players based on field merit. Of course, that doesn’t address the U.S.-centric imbalance in the major landscape. I still believe the best solution for that issue would be for the PGA Championship to represent a more global PGA vision and for the PGA of America to look every other year outside of North America, in Australia, Asia, Africa, South America or continental Europe.
Steinbreder: I like the idea of the Australian Open, given the history of golf in that land, the great players who have come from Down Under, the overall quality of courses in Aussie and the ways that its golf fans embrace the game. Honorable mention to the French and South African opens for their competitive histories and very strong collection of past champions.
Since the arrival of LIV Golf, money talk has dominated the professional game. The Players offers the biggest prize fund on the PGA Tour, at $25 million, far more than the purses at the four majors and the eight “signature events.” What does that big pot of money tell us about the Players?
Green: The inflated purse is part of what has separated the Players Championship, and understandably so. The PGA Tour is justifiably proud of its biggest event, and has the dollar signs to prove it. More and more, however, the public has been numbed to the money because there is so much of it. If the Players is truly the tour’s biggest event, it needs to have the biggest purse. My guess is that Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and others will say the money is great but their name on the trophy is better.
Hopkins: It is appropriate for this event, which consistently has one of the strongest fields in golf and is the flagship event of the PGA Tour. As the venue grows, that too becomes more impressive. A proper headquarters. Money can’t buy the Players major status, though.
Michaux: It tells us that the PGA Tour really wants the Players to be considered a major and ensure that the best eligible players in the world will always show up at TPC Sawgrass every year. With its shiny new headquarters and soon-to-be-opened PGA Tour Studios adjacent to the course, the tour has got a lot invested in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida in making the Players stand out.
Steinbreder: The Players may have had the biggest purse, but no one really talked about it. To me, it has always been more about being the players’ tournament, which is what made it different: run by the players, for the players.
What’s your fondest Players memory?
Green: I have a scrapbook of memories, which helps explain why the Players matters as much as it does. Some of the moments that come to mind are Adam Scott saving par to win after hitting his approach shot into the water on the 18th hole in 2004; David Duval winning in 1999 on the same day that his father, Bob, won on the senior tour; Davis Love III shooting 64 on a cold, windy Sunday to win in 2003; and, to this day, I still think Kevin Kisner’s putt to win on the 72nd hole in 2015 is going in when I watch it again.
Hopkins: Spending an hour on the Sunday of one recent Players with a golf aficionado who talked enthusiastically about his game, what he was working on, where he had played recently. He was so relaxed that he had his feet up on the boardroom table. His name? Tim Finchem, then commissioner of the PGA Tour.
Michaux: Not just any tournament can make Craig Perks’ eventful finish in 2002 unforgettable. My favorite personal moment came in 1997 when on Sunday the duo of Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo went off well outside of contention and – covering the tournament for the first time – I chose to follow them all 18. Two weeks later, the reigning U.S. Amateur and Masters champions reprised that pairing in the first round at Augusta, and that turned out to be pretty historic. I admit I had to look up that Steve Elkington went wire-to-wire in a pretty forgettable blowout that year, but I’ll never forget that first time I followed Tiger around.
Steinbreder: So many ... “be the right club today”; Freddie’s hole-in-three; Jerry Pate tossing Pete and Deane into the drink. There is no way I can pick just one.
The island green at TPC Sawgrass’ par-3 17th: Great hole or gimmick?
Green: There is a case to be made that the 17th is the most famous golf hole in the world. Golfers know the Road Hole at St. Andrews, the 12th and 13th at Augusta and the 18th at Pebble Beach, but non-golf fans know the 17th at the Stadium Course. It asks players a simple question: Can you hit the green with a short iron? Nothing gimmicky about that.
Hopkins: Gimmick. It’s made for TV, as is the new 17th at Royal Liverpool. It’s too late in the round to recover. Darren Clarke once described it as “like waking up in the morning knowing you have root canal work in mid-afternoon.”
Michaux: Of course it’s a gimmick, and it’s certainly not a “great” hole architecturally. But it’s great fun and represents a demanding test at a critical juncture in the tournament – always looming for every player to have to get through. Coming after the gettable par-5 16th and before the intimidating par-4 18th, there’s nothing unfair about a short hole that essentially asks players not to screw up with a wedge or short iron in their hands.
Steinbreder: Great hole, and perfectly positioned in that routing. Mere golf mortals like me love watching the tour professionals practically puke over having to play that hole, especially when the title is in play for them.
So, who’s your pick to win?
Green: Billy Horschel. He might go full Jerry Pate and dive in if he wins.
Hopkins: Scottie Scheffler. He can't continue to putt as badly as he does much of the time. There has to be some improvement.
Michaux: Viktor Hovland. Now he has the short game to match the rest of his skills there.
Steinbreder: Tommy Fleetwood. I keep thinking about the 65 that he shot on Saturday in last year's Players. And the Bearded One did have a T5 and a T7 at TPC Sawgrass pre-pandemic.