Is The Players Championship still the ‘unofficial fifth Major’?

This year’s Players Championship was just as notable for its absentees as it was for those who did tee it up in the PGA Tour’s flagship event at TPC Sawgrass. Long heralded as the male game’s unofficial ‘fifth Major’ due to the strength of field it attracts, there can be no doubt the 2023 edition was weaker for its lack of LIV Golf stars, who remain exiled from the traditional American circuit.

That list included, quite remarkably, the top three finishers of 2022 but, most poignantly, defending champion Cameron Smith, among a great many others who would otherwise have taken up one of the 144 spots. At Smith’s coronation little over 12 months ago, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said the Aussie would “receive a hero’s welcome” anytime he wanted to make the small trip from his house to the Florida venue. Understandably, the fact he wasn’t even allowed to defend his title was the talk of this year’s build-up.

“Cameron Smith had a great performance in

2022,” Monahan said. “He was a deserved champion. As I look to this week, the field that we have here and the strength from top to bottom, I think when we leave on Sunday night we’re going to crown another deserving champion.

“Yes, it’s awkward. But you know, ultimately that’s a decision he made, and we’ve got an unbelievable field here this week and a history and tradition that one of these 144 is going to go seek to get.”

In the end, Scottie Scheffler won convincingly, which would have pleased Monahan, but does his victory mean as much as Players successes of years gone by?

The voting was close on this one, but it’s hard not to side with the small majority. Even looking beyond Smith, the likes of Dustin Johnson, Bryson Dechambeau and two past champions in Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia were all missing.

No matter where your allegiance lies, there is no denying that’s a lot of star power. Time to drop the ‘fifth Major’ moniker then? I think so.