As diplomatically as possible, Rory McIlroy on Tuesday pushed back on the idea that the Players Championship should be considered a major championship.
And he also advocated for the PGA Championship to return to August.
The five-time major champion who completed the Grand Slam last year when he won the Masters joked that he’d love to have seven major titles instead of five—because he has two Players wins—but isn’t in favor of changing what has basically been in place for 75 years.
“I think the Players is one of the best golf tournaments in the world,” said McIlroy, who is defending his title this week at Pebble Beach, where he makes his 2026 PGA Tour debut. “I don’t think anyone disputes that or argues that. I think from a player perspective it’s amazing. I think from an on-site fan experience it’s amazing. It’s an amazing golf course, location, venue.
“But I’m a traditionalist, I’m a historian of the game. We have four major championships. If you want to see what five major championships looks like, look at the women’s game. I don’t know how well that’s went for them (the LPGA has five majors). But it’s the Players. Like it doesn’t need to be anything else.”
McIlroy said he believes the tournament has more of an identity than the PGA Championship, which he won in 2012 and 2014.
Asked how the PGA could change its idea, McIlroy simply used one of its own marketing slogans: “Glory’s last shot. I think it needs to go back to August.”
The PGA Tour goes on the offensive with branding the Players
Last week, the PGA Tour unveiled a marketing campaign designed to elevate the status of its flagship tournament by promoting the event and saying that “March is going to be major.”
The idea is to spark discussion about the annual tournament played at PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, being given equal status as the accepted four major championships: the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and British Open.
Last year, McIlroy became just the sixth player in history to win all four in a career, joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Jordan Spieth can join them with a win at the PGA and Scottie Scheffler can do so by winning the U.S. Open.
Sarazen and Hogan never had the opportunity to play in a Players and Player never won it. Nicklaus won the event three times including the inaugural tournament in 1974 at Atlanta Country Club. He won it at three different venues before it settled at TPC Sawgrass in 1982.
Woods won it in 2001 and 2013 while McIlroy won the event last year and also in 2019.
That was the year that the PGA Championship for the first time moved off its longtime scheduled date in August to March to help the PGA Tour accommodate its FedEx Cup playoffs.
In doing so, it moved the Players Championship from May back to March, where it has been contested through 2006.
“I like it from an identity standpoint, I think the Players has got it nailed,” McIlroy said. “I think the Players ... it is an amazing tournament in its own right and I don’t think it being classified a major or not a major makes it any more or any less. I’m still very proud to have won that tournament twice as I’m sure all the other champions are. It stands on its own without the label, I guess.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Rory McIlroy Has a Bold Suggestion for Golf’s Major Calendar.
