PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Rory McIlroy, a two-time winner of the Players Championship, believes the PGA Tour’s flagship event is one of the best tournaments in the world — just not the fifth major.
While speaking to reporters Tuesday ahead of this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, McIlroy was asked where The Players stacks up with the other majors (Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and The Open) after he completed the career Grand Slam by capturing a green jacket at the Masters last season.
“Look, I’d love to have seven majors instead of five, that sounds great,” McIlroy said. “I think The Players is one of the best golf tournaments in the world. 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, [and] venue.
“But I’m a traditionalist. I’m a historian of the game. We have four major championships. You know, if you want to see what five major championships look like, look at the women’s game. I don’t know how well that’s [gone] for them.”
The LPGA includes five majors on its schedule each season: Chevron Championship, U.S. Women’s Open, Women’s PGA Championship, Amundi Evian Championship and the Women’s Open.
McIlroy believes competing for the four traditional majors is enough for the men’s professional game.
“But it’s The Players — it doesn’t need to be anything else,” said McIlroy, who defeated J.J. Spaun in a three-hole aggregate playoff at last year’s Players. “Like I would say it’s got more of an identity than the PGA Championship does at the minute. So like from an identity standpoint, I think The Players has got it nailed. It is an amazing tournament in its own rite, and I don’t think it being classified [as] a major or not a major makes it any more or any less.”
As for the PGA Championship, McIlroy believes the tournament needs to move back to August as the final major, when it was “glory’s last shot” each season. It’s currently played in May as the season’s second major.
The debate about whether The Players should be considered the fifth major heated up again in recent weeks after the PGA Tour launched a trailer ahead of next month’s event that included the motto, “March is going to be major.”
LIV Golf League captain Phil Mickelson, the 2007 Players Championship winner, pushed back, writing on his X account: “I’ve won it. It’s not.”
The Players has long been considered one of the most difficult tournaments to win because of its deep field — world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the only back-to-back champion, in 2023 and 2024, in the 51-year history of the event.
Mickelson argued on X that since LIV Golf stars like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm aren’t allowed to compete in the event, the PGA Tour can no longer make that argument.
“I’m still very proud to have won that tournament twice, as I’m sure all the other champions are,” McIlroy said. “It stands on its own without the label, I guess.”