Over the past week, the debate on whether The Players Championship should become a major or not has resurfaced with players, pundits, and fans weighing in their opinions.
The latest round of the longstanding debate was sparked after The Players official X account released a promo video of the upcoming tournament taking place between 10-15 March. To many this felt like a bit of a subliminal message hinting at something bigger with regards to the future of the event. The video concludes with a tagline saying, “MARCH IS GOING TO BE MAJOR”. The messaging seemed anything but subtle.
Unofficially, The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida has been regarded as golf’s fifth major for some time already. First held in 1974, it is the PGA TOUR’s flagship event on the calendar and holds a lot of prestige with the likes of Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, and Rory McIlroy as previous champions. It features arguably the best field of any event outside of The Open, the Masters, the PGA Championship, and the U.S. Open, and is held at one of the most iconic golf courses around with TPC Sawgrass known around the world for its famous island green on the par-3 17th.
Commenting on their promo for this year’s event, a PGA TOUR spokesperson told Golf Digest: “Fans and players have long discussed The Players Championship’s status as a major. We understand that is not for us to decide. Ultimately it is up to our sport and its fans to recognize what the professionals who play the game already know.”
“the best major”
Well, the debate within the last week has been interesting to say the least. Golf Channel broadcaster Brandel Chamblee has firmly backed The Players believing it ‘stands alone and above’ the majors.
“When you look at the Players Championship — with all due respect to the other four major championships — it is the best field in golf. It is the deepest field in golf,” Chamblee said speaking at the WM Phoenix Open.
“Especially since it moved to TPC Sawgrass, which in my estimation, save for one hole, is perhaps, arguably the best golf course that they play a major championship on from a shot-value perspective. You can talk about aesthetics all you want, risk, reward holes, certainly, but from a shot value standpoint, you cannot touch TPC Sawgrass.
“So, in every single way that a metric could be used to measure whether something is a major, the Players, to me, stands alone and above the other four major championships as not just a major. It is, in my estimation, the best major.”
Chamblee’s opinion went viral on X and saw six-time major winner Phil Mickelson respond to the clip with a simple: “I’ve won it. It’s not.”
Former World No. 1 and LIV Golf’s Lee Westwood also took a jab at the clip by simply responding with laughing emoji’s then further questioning the true meaning of the video released.
“I wonder why they’re pushing this narrative hard again Josh,” said Westwood in respond to another post. “It’s almost like they’re worried. And why would you be worried if you’re doing so well and never been in a better place? 4/5 majors in the US doesn’t sound very good for the growth of golf in the rest of the world does it?”
McIlroy’s View
Ahead of this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am, Grand Slam winner Rory McIlroy gave his opinion.
“I think the Players is one of the best golf tournaments in the world,” said the Northern Irishman, who collected The Players title in 2019 and 2025. “I don’t think anyone disputes that or argues that. I think from a player perspective it’s amazing. I think from an on-site fan experience it’s amazing. It’s an amazing golf course, location, venue.
“But I’m a traditionalist, I’m a historian of the game. We have four major championships. If you want to see what five major championships looks like, look at the women’s game. I don’t know how well that’s went for them.”
McIlroy references the decision taken by the LPGA to expand the number of majors on the circuit to five a decade ago, a decision which in many people’s eyes has since watered down the importance of events on the calendar.
Landscape
The four majors have been in place for a very long time. The Masters first started at Augusta in 1934, the USPGA Championship dates back to 1916, the U.S. Open debuted in 1895 and The Open Championship’s rich history began in 1860. Does The Players hold the same level of prestige as the rest? Probably not as much. Including the event alongside the others at this stage will likely ruffle some feathers.
In addition, none of those are controlled by the PGA TOUR. As a result, some some think this could be the work of new CEO Brian Rolapp and the Future Competitions Committee trying to promote the idea further as they continue to make significant adjustments, the most recent and notable being the Returning Members Program which allowed American Brooks Koepka to make an immediate return to the PGA TOUR after departing from LIV Golf.
It’s likely we will hear from more pros on their opinions ahead of this March as the debate rumbles on. We may even hear from Rolapp himself. And with significant shifts already reshaping the landscape this year, the notion of The Players Championship officially earning recognition as the sport’s fifth major no longer feels far-fetched—it feels increasingly plausible.