Rory McIlroy’s insistence that The Players Championship does not need to be given major status is likely to have upset many at the PGA Tour.
There has been plenty of debate surrounding The Players Championship over the years. Many would already be prepared to put the event at TPC Sawgrass at the very top of the list of those that are not majors. But the PGA Tour looked to take things a step further earlier this month.
What do you make of Brandel Chamblee’s comments on The Players Championship?
Chamblee raised some eyebrows with his comments on The Players…
“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 all the other four major championships as not just a major. It is in my estimation, the best major.“
The tour released a trailer for The Players Championship with the tagline: ‘March is going to be major’. It was a controversial move, with Rory McIlroy among those who would have opted for a different slogan.
The PGA Tour will be upset with Rory McIlroy’s comments about The Players Championship
Speaking ahead of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this week, McIlroy insisted The Players does not need to be a major.
And speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Ryan Lavner believes that the PGA Tour’s push to promote The Players may be over before it has really got off the ground.
“Everyone, in my opinion, should be viewing this campaign very sceptically of why this year are we declaring it a major when last year it was not? The PGA Tour does not have the authority to make it one because no one does,” he said.
“There is no organising body that can just rubber stamp it and be like, ‘yeah, good argument, we’re going to make this a major championship’. You mentioned that it’s going to be the players who decide, and I do agree with that to some extent.
“I do think they’re trying to use the media as well to bolster the reputation, to get this discourse going, see if there can be some sort of group consensus, group think, where ultimately: ‘okay, you’re right, we’ve heard enough and we’re just going to elevate The Players Championship into a major’. It’s the same idea with sports-washing and what LIV Golf was trying to do. Now they’re just trying to do major-washing, and just force-feed to you until you eventually just relent and just be like, ‘okay, let’s call it a major’.
“I do think from Rory’s perspective, it was very interesting where you have no worse than the second most important player on the PGA Tour saying, ‘no, I’m not going to follow along. I’m the defending champion of this tournament, and yet I don’t think having won the Career Grand Slam that it still matches up to that level’.
“I think that was an astonishing admission, and if you’re PGA Tour HQ, that’s a full facepalm moment like, ‘we have some serious work to do if at worst our second most important player feels this way’.”
Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson look to be in agreement over The Players Championship
There do not appear to be many issues in the current game that unite McIlroy and Phil Mickelson. Obviously, Mickelson has damaged his legacy in the eyes of many with his move to LIV Golf.
But after Brandel Chamblee said The Players is ‘the best major’, Mickelson hit back at the statement. Like McIlroy, he has a win at TPC Sawgrass on his resume.
Chamblee’s claim did not appear to make a lot of sense. While there is a debate to be had over the identity of the PGA Championship, you would struggle to find anyone who would rather watch The Players over The Masters or The Open Championship.
Ultimately, the large majority of golf fans would not complain if the PGA Tour’s flagship event remained exactly that.
On the other hand, it would clearly upset many if those at Ponte Vedra relentlessly pushed the narrative that The Players Championship is worthy of major status.
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