'Traditionist' McIlory dismisses 'major' talk
Rory thinks the Players is fine as it is, but has a suggestion for the PGA; Stray Shots
Rory McIlroy says to get that major talk out of here (Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy showed up on the Monterey Peninsula for his 2026 PGA Tour debut, and it didn’t take him long to start stirring the pot.
Always unafraid to share his opinion, the reigning Players champion weighed in on the sudden re-emergence of the debate regarding the Players Championship as a major championship.
And like past Players champions Phil Mickelson and Steve Elkington, McIlroy doesn’t believe his two Players trophies should be added to his career major tally.
“I think the Players is one of the best golf tournaments in the world,” said McIlroy on Tuesday at Pebble Beach, where he will defend his signature-event win last year. “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 (the LPGA). But it’s the Players. Like it doesn’t need to be anything else.”
A debate that had mercifully gone away swelled up again last well when the PGA Tour put out a hype video claiming “March is going to be Major.” That went viral when Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee didn’t just endorse the Players as a major but as “the best major” over the established men’s majors — the Masters, U.S. and British Opens and PGA Championship.
That riled things up. Major and Players winners Mickelson and Elkington both responded to Chamblee’s audacious claim but simply saying “it’s not.”
While McIlroy said he would love to increase his career major haul from five to seven majors, he’s not in favor of simply altering an order that has worked well for more than 75 years. Last April, McIlroy became only the sixth player in history to win the career slam, joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as winners of all four men’s professional majors.
If the Players was suddenly declared a major, that list of career-slammers would be reduced retroactively to just Nicklaus, Woods and McIlroy. Sarazen and Hogan never had the opportunity to play in a Players and Gary 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 the 2001 Players in the middle of his Tiger Slam and McIlroy has won it twice.
Rory’s fine with counting it for what it is — a special victory in the best event in the world that’s not a major championship.
“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.”
McIlroy did have thoughts about another major — the PGA Championship. He’d like to see the only major he’s won twice return to its former place on the calendar in August instead of its current place in May. McIlroy believes the Players has developed more of an identity than the PGA, which lost one of its most distinguishing features when it moved into the second spot in the major rotation in 2019 and the Players moved back to its original March date a month ahead of the Masters.
Asked how the PGA could bolster its own identity: “Glory’s last shot,” McIlroy said, citing the PGA’s former slogan. “I think it needs to go back to August.”
