Fifth of Four Majors Watch

Last year, this site commenced on the 1st annual "fifth of four majors" watch, where our  radar searched for the inevitable Players Championship stories that,

A) Proclaim the 72-holes of swamp golf to be Golf's Fifth Major (sometimes capitalized)

B) Said the Players is deserving of "fifth major status," whatever that means...it could be ninth major too if it wants!

C) Or quite simply, called it a major because the Players displays major-like tendencies (the worst of which is an uncanny tendency to mimic the best attributes of the other four majors...well, the other three in the U.S., which explains the azaleas, the rough, and the blinding white sand).

This annual rite of spring, which has become a fallback column or Wednesday story, has even earned The Players a mention in a golf glossary under "fifth major."

Contending stories in our "watch" inevitably include mentions of the field being the greatest ever assembled, the course the finest of its kind, the PGA Tour deserving of its own major, and the list of champions incredibly diverse. (After all, how else do you deal with Jimmy Roberts' favorite, the Craig Perks win?)

PGATour.com references do not qualify. 

Amazingly, none of the credentialed scribes filed a genuine fifth-of-four majors story last year, though we did get several fifth-of-four references, and even a few "so-called" fifth major mentions (those cynical European writers).

Yet here we are on the eve of the Players, no one has even had a chance to get bored sitting around the press room in search of a story, and we have 2006's potential Grand Prize winner!

Let the mundane stories begin!