The Players Championship as a major an old topic at a time when the PGA Tour is looking ahead

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The PGA Tour is all about moving forward these days, especially this week. On the day before the premier championship of golf's most powerful circuit, CEO Brian Rolapp plans to share part of the vision to modernize the competition model. So it was a peculiar decision to begin the promotional campaign for The Players Championship by going back in time. "March is going to be major," was the tagline for a commercial that first aired Feb. 5. Not this again. The Players being looked upon as a major hasn't been a big topic for some 20 years. The notion seemingly was put to bed with a variety of smart comments, including this description from Tiger Woods in 2003: "The highest tournament in the world — next to the majors." Justin Leonard once was asked to compare his British Open title in 1997 with winning The Players a year later. "Apples and oranges," he said. "But this is one hell of an orange." Once the discussion abated, The Players began to flourish. It moved to May in 2007. Over the next several years, more time was spent discussing what it is (the biggest event on the biggest tour) instead of what isn't (a major). That the tour is pushing the envelope now should not be a surprise. It has the $1.5 billion investment of Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of North American sports owners whose love of golf is surpassed only by its love for a return on its investment. One look around the golf landscape was a reminder that the PGA Tour did not own the four biggest tournaments in golf (five including the Ryder Cup). The Players certainly has all the trappings of a major — a dynamic course at TPC Sawgrass since 1982, a long list of memorable shots, a roll call of winners that includes 28 major champions and a few surprises (the majors have those, too). The Players offers a five-year exemption on the tour, just like the majors. It used to be given equal credit as the majors in World Golf Hall of Fame criteria, as it should have. But it wasn't a major. "I think The Players is one of the best golf tournaments in the world. I don't think anyone disputes that," defending champion Rory McIlroy said last month. "I'm a traditionalist, I'm a historian of the game. We have four major championships." That brought to mind an observation long ago by former PGA champion Jeff Sluman: "When you go to Denny's and order the Grand Slam breakfast, they don't give you five things, do they?" The four majors date to Bobby Jones winning the U.S. Open and British Open, U.S. Amateur and British Amateur in 1930 for what was called the "impregnable quadrilateral." Arnold Palmer gave birth to the modern Grand Slam in 1960. He was playing with President Dwight D. Eisenhower at Augusta National the day after he won the Masters when Charles Bartlett of the Chicago Tribune wrote that Palmer was determined to win "a grand slam of professional golf." "I want to win those other three so much I can taste 'em," Palmer said. He got halfway there, but winning all four majors was his mission, as it was for Jack Nicklaus and everyone who followed. That was nine years before the modern PGA Tour took shape, and 14 years before The Players Championship began. "It is an amazing tournament in its own right," McIlroy said. "And I don't think it being classified a major or not a major makes it any more or any less. ... It stands on its own without a label." Golf Digest spent the last few weeks polling some two dozen players, 16 of whom did not consider it a major. Survey the other 100 players in the field and the opinions figure to vary. What likely would be unanimous is that they all hold it in high esteem, as they should. It's their championship. "It's not a major for me," FedEx Cup champion Tommy Fleetwood said. "Saying it's not a major doesn't demean it any way, and it doesn't make it any less big than what it is. It's always been The Players Championship. We've called it the fifth major forever. I think four majors sits perfectly." Thomas Bonk would agree. The retired golf writer for the Los Angeles Times once said, "There are seven dwarfs, 12 days of Christmas and four majors." History will help, of course, but there's no catching up to the four majors. The youngest of the four is the Masters (1934) and it still has 40 years on The Players. All but six tournaments on the current PGA Tour schedule (excluding opposite-field events) have been around longer than The Players. The prize money still stands out — $4.5 million to the winner from a $25 million purse. The greatness of the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is such that it doesn't favor any one style. The island green on the par-3 17th is as memorable as any hole in golf. The Players used to promote — with little argument — the strongest and deepest field in golf. But now the field has been shrunk to 120 players (123 this year because Brooks Koepka is playing), and it's not that much different from the fields in the signature events, like last week at Bay Hill. The difference is prestige and the title of "The Players Championship." No label is required. Of course, tour promoters could always borrow a slogan once used at the PGA Championship by some marketing genius who came up with, "This is major." Or they could simply carry on with running a great tournament and consider what Kevin Sutherland once said about the debate. "If you have to sell it as a major," he said, "then it's not a major." ___ On The Fringe analyzes the biggest topics in golf during the season. AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf