Fifth of Four Majors Watch: All Hell Breaks Loose Edition

Okay, would Tiger do this at a major? I don't think so.

And then John Huggan gets all cynical in the East Lothian Shopper On Sunday, dismantling many of the romantic notions we had fostered this week (well before the Kenny G announcement). 

Real majors have their own identity, they don't copy other majors. They don't start off being the Tournament Players Championship, switch to the Players Championship, then again to the Players, in a feeble effort to sound more like the Masters. Real majors don't have pro-ams, as the Players used to before the PGA Tour noticed that the Masters, US Open and Open manage to get by without shamelessly dipping into the deep corporate pockets of people who can't break 100 on their best days. Real majors don't change their dates because everyone pitches up thinking about the Masters. Only wannabe majors do those things.

And...

Real majors are not run by organisations that claim to have given over $1bn to charity when the reality is that they have done no such thing. Just so you know, it is the tournaments on the PGA Tour that do so much good for those in need, not the Tour itself, a subtle but important distinction.

Oh, one more thing, real majors really don't care how many Fed-Ex Cup points are available for a victory. Or who led the week in the "bounce-back" statistical category. Or who missed most fairways on the right.

10 The bottom line? The Players just isn't a real major. As that master of succinctness, US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, said last week: "It is not a career-defining win." Enough said. Now, can we move on please?

But it was reader JT who had to throw wrench in the whole thing by noticing the subtitle of John Feinstein's new book, where he writes about the fifth major. Only it's Q-School he's calling the fifth of four majors!