One writer’s hare-brained plan to create a thrilling finish to the major championship season.
Let me say, for starters — I was thrilled for Jason Dufner this weekend. By all accounts, Dufner is as terrific a guy as he is a golfer, well-liked by his peers and cheered by golf fans. In fact, the measurement of just how well-liked Dufner is can be calculated by the width of Keegan Bradley’s smile and the strength of the embrace Bradley gave Dufner on the 18th green following the latter’s win on Sunday. It was a scene reminiscent of Bubba Watson’s win at The Masters in 2012, when fellow players Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan were among the first to congratulate their fellow “golf boy.”
As happy I was for Dufner, though, I couldn’t shake the feeling that golf’s fourth major is just that — the “fourth” major. Ask any golf fan to rank the four majors in order of preference, and I’d be willing to bet that 90 percent or more will rank the PGA Championship No. 4, with The Masters, U.S. Open and British Open roughly evenly distributed across the top three spots.
The truth is, the PGA Championship is missing something unique, something that sets it apart from the tournaments we see each weekend. The U.S. Open has its reputation as the toughest golf tournament in the world; the British Open has its unique setting among the long grasses and windswept fairways of the British Isles; and The Masters, of course, has Augusta National and the green jacket. Besides the major exemption and the oversized trophy, though, there’s little to set the PGA Championship apart from, say, the Shell Houston Open or the Travelers Championship.
But there is a way that golf’s fourth major could be just as exciting, and just as unique, as the other three. It would combine the mental test of the U.S. Open with the shotmaking opportunities we’ve come to expect from the PGA Championship. It would incorporate an aspect of the game that is common to every golfing culture worldwide, yet completely ignored by golf’s traditional majors. And you wouldn’t have to gimmick up the course or do anything that hasn’t been a part of the game for centuries.
I’m talking about match play.
Match play is one of the most commonly played formats in the world, yet has no place in golf’s majors. It’s a stern mental test, requiring golfers to maintain their focus at all times — one bad day, and you’re out. Yet, it allows for the same (read: more birdie-friendly) setup as is currently common at PGA Championship courses, with no change in the current course rotation necessary. I mean, what would have been more exciting to watch this weekend — the 5-6 golfers who had a realistic shot to win trading birdies and bogeys throughout the Saturday and Sunday rounds, or a 36-hole Saturday featuring the round of 16 and quarterfinals of Dufner vs. Stricker, Furyk vs. Stenson, Kuchar vs. Garrigus and, in matchup of two 2013 major winners, Scott vs. Rose; followed by an 18-hole semifinal and final on Sunday.
The Accenture World Match Play Championship, held each February, is one of the most exciting events of the year — a 64-player event held over five days, concluding with 36 holes of semi-final and championship-round action on Sunday. This year’s championship started off with the surprising upset of World No. 1 Rory McIlroy in the first round, and concluded with a final four of Jason Day, Hunter Mahan, Ian Poulter and Matt Kuchar — none of whom would seem out of place on a list of golf’s major champions. Indeed, all four seem destined to win one before long.
I say, either make the Accenture the year’s first major, move it to August, or just remold the PGA Championship in its image. I’d expand the field to 96 (the Accenture features 64 players) and keep the qualifying spots for PGA professionals nationwide — the chance for Joe Five-Iron from your local club to tee it up alongside Phil and the big boys at a major is one of the best things about the PGA Championship, and I don’t want to lose that. The top 32 seeds would have a first-round bye, with the remaining 64 players on the course on Wedndesday. The second round, also with 64, would take place Thursday, followed by the Round of 32 Friday, and back-to-back 36-hole bonanzas on the weekend — the Round of 16 and quarterfinal matches on Saturday, followed by the semi-final and final matches on Sunday. Goodness, that would make for some must-see TV!
Furthermore, it would inject some excitement back into the year’s fourth major, and would set it apart from the other three. In fact, it might make it hard to figure out just which one the “fourth” major is, after all.
