What PGA Tour staff used to urge golfers to tell the media about The Players Championship

Johnson Wagner has revealed some of the lengths the PGA Tour would go to in their attempts to have The Players Championship recognised as a major.

The debate over whether The Players is worthy of major championship status has started up again after the PGA Tour unveiled a trailer for the event earlier this year.

The trailer included the tagline: ‘March is going to be major’. With Brian Rolapp coming in as CEO last year, it is no surprise that the PGA Tour does appear to be determined to maximise the potential of their flagship event.

Johnson Wagner comments on whether The Players should be considered a major

There is no official moment where the four biggest events of the year became recognised as majors. It is remarkable to think that American players rarely played in The Open Championship before Arnold Palmer’s stance began to change that.

So the PGA Tour may sense that they have an opportunity. But most involved in the game appear to be sceptical that they will have any luck in convincing others that The Players is a major.

Speaking on CBS, Johnson Wagner suggested that this push is nothing new.

Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images

“It’s the same thing every year. I remember my first Players Championship was 2008. And anybody from the PGA Tour player relations staff said to all the players that were playing, ‘if the media ask you if this is a major, you say yes’. And we’re all like, ‘we can’t say that’. So this has been going on for probably way longer than that,” he said.

“I remember when they changed the trophy from the beautiful crystal trophy to the golden swing man. They wanted that to be the thing that put them over the top of becoming a major. The tour has been pushing this for as long as I can remember. It is not a major, but it’s darn close. It is a wonderful event, probably one of my favourite events I’ve ever played in.

“I just wish they would be happy with where it is and quit trying to make it something that it’s not, because if it was a major, I believe that we’d have Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and a few other guys, maybe Patrick Reed would be playing this event because they’re top 50 players in the world.”

The PGA Tour stars who recently put The Players on a major level

It was significant when Justin Thomas dismissed a question about the tagline during his press conference this week ahead of Thursday’s opening round at TPC Sawgrass.

But some players have put The Players on that top level.

Billy Horschel told Trey Wingo last month that he would consider himself a major champion if he ever won at TPC Sawgrass.

Meanwhile, Russell Henley described it as a major in his press conference ahead of last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Nevertheless, the general consensus appears to be that The Players is strong enough without being recognised as a major.

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