Will there be a fifth major in men's golf?
The announcement of a fifth major by the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) has given a new impetus to the age old debate of having a fifth major in the men’s golf. At the culmination of the Ladies US Open at Colorado Springs, the officials at the
LPGA promulgated the Evian Masters as the fifth major of the circuit primarily because of the fact that the event has the largest purse in all the LPGA and Ladies European Tour (LET) championships played round the year.
Both the European Tour and the PGA Tour are littered with events throughout the calendar, while events like the Players Championship already has the biggest purse than any of the four majors. The BMW PGA Championship, on the other side of the Atlantic, is
also touted by the Europeans as the fifth major of the sport.
Golf critics have long discussed the possibility of turning the Players Championship as the fifth major, citing the fact that the event has been held in continuation for several years on one of the most scenic and revered golf courses, the TPC Sawgrass.
But will the Europeans agree to another major on mainland US, is a topic which is bound to incite a thorny debate.
Lee Westwood and Luke Donald are currently dominating the sport by being at the top of the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) and have time and again showed their liking for the BMW PGA Championship to be designated as the fifth major rather than the Players
Championship. Westwood and Rory McIlroy did not participate in this year’s event at Sawgrass, which amply declared their disliking for the celebrated position the event has gathered in all this time.
One important aspect, however, which cannot be ignored, is the fact that many of the top ranking contemporary players are neither from the US or Europe. K.J Choi and Y.E Yang have done well from South Korea among other young stars like Seung-Yul Noh and
many of the Asian stars are rising to turn the sport into a truly international affair.
The Australian Open, on the other hand, is also one of the oldest golf events in the history and has been held for the last 100 years in continuation. The championship boosts of many of the sport's giants who have played and won the Australian Open, including
the likes of Gene Sarazen, Jim Ferrier, Norman Von Nida, Peter Thomson (5 British Opens), Kel Nagle, Bruce Devlin, Gary Player (6 times), Jack Nicklaus (5 times), Arnold Palmer, David Graham, Bill Rogers, Peter Fowler, Tom Watson, Peter Senior, Steve Elkington,
Greg Norman (4 times), Lee Westwood, Tim Clark, apart from many of the home grown stars like Adam Scott and Geof Ogilvy.
Australian Open also sits well in the calendar and at a time when none of the major championships are going on and the large strength of high profile players will be available for the event if it is ever turned into a fifth major.
There are other strong reasons to nominate the Players Championship as the fifth major given its venue and the finances it normally attracts, but while the debate was hot in the 90’s to turn it into a fifth major, it did not yield any results and Players
Championship is likely to maintain its status quo for the moment.
While the arguments will be hurled from both sides of the Atlantic in this long raging debate, the sport is most likely to remain confined to the four majors for the moment.
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