.png)
4 hours ago
3
Perhaps it is not the when but instead the where. Golf’s majors in present form feel far too condensed, too brief. Jon Rahm, a two‑time winner on the biggest stages, has more interest in the fact that three out of four take place in the US than their position on the calendar.
“I think it would be good for golf,” Rahm said on the proposition of an “international” major. “If you could have more golf elsewhere, I think it would be fine. As a major, you need to have that commercial value as well. I understand it. I wouldn’t know the logistics of that. I don’t know who can decide what a new major becomes or is now a major.
“It would be interesting to see a major happen in other parts of the world, in other continents. Golf being a global game and as big as it is, it’s something that could be explored for sure.
“From what I’ve seen the last few years, having a major in Australia could be very successful. Having two in Europe would also be good fun. The same in Asia. I think there would be some great places to possibly have them.”
The epitome of a US sports league, the NFL, parachutes itself into foreign lands every year. In sharp contrast, the Open this week serves as the only non‑American major. There is fresh territory planned for this event, with a stop at Portmarnock in the Republic of Ireland due in the not so distant future. The fiscal matters to which Rahm referred are the reason for that. Wonderful Open courses in the UK remain on the outside looking in.
By the time the final putt drops at Royal Birkdale on Sunday, around eight and a half months will have to pass before another major begins. This is terrific news for the Masters, which benefits from pent‑up excitement among players and fans. Does it, though, serve the sport appropriately?
The April spectacle at Augusta National precedes the US PGA Championship in May, the US Open in June and the battle for the Claret Jug in July. Fourteen weeks. Blink and you miss it. Minus a biennial Ryder Cup in September, this all feels rather feast/famine. As golf battles to command eyeballs, it has subtly introduced a truncated major run. The winners are players on a hot streak. There are losers aplenty, too.
“I’d like to see the major season spread out a little bit longer,” Rory McIlroy said. “The Masters is always going to have the buildup but I think then PGA into US Open, US Open into here, it just seems like it’s very, very quick.
“From a player perspective, if you get on a bit of a run, it’s nice to be playing well and go from one straight into the next. But for the sport as a whole and for the general interest in the game, I can see the positives in that major season being stretched out a little bit longer.”
McIlroy thinks in big‑picture terms. He smiled when asked whether he may have offered this salient point of view to golf’s powers. “No, I’m done with that,” he said. “It’s a very complex jigsaw.
“Being a part of it [player committees] for a while, there’s a lot of different constituents in the game, a lot of different governing bodies and opinions. My opinion isn’t going to change anything. I feel like I would certainly voice it, but I don’t think it’s going to really change anything.”
Which is a pity. The convoluted nature of golf’s governance can be exemplified by one element: the ball. The R&A and the USGA, supposed arbiters for the game, cannot adequately introduce specification changes – aimed at reducing driving distances – because of pushback from other parties. No wonder a lengthier major schedule seems impossible.
Albeit only a matter of weeks after the Open, the US PGA Championship had strong meaning in August as “glory’s last shot”. The May staging of the US PGA can be difficult to separate from a typical stop on the PGA Tour. Golf’s reintroduction to the Olympics partly explains the shift.
So, too, does the PGA Tour’s end‑of‑season playoff system. The DP World Tour has a similar setup later in the year plus a marquee tournament at Wentworth in September. Players are typically and understandably reluctant to focus on a post-major drop‑off as it could diminish their achievements from July onwards.
Scottie Scheffler, the world No 1, like McIlroy has no interest in dictating tournament policy. He does agree with the Northern Irishman, though. “The season for us is getting quicker and quicker,” Scheffler said. “The season is getting more condensed and things are happening a lot faster. It goes by pretty quickly. I felt like we were at the US Open a couple of weeks ago.
“Maybe there could be more of a break, but that’s one of those things that’s so far out of my control, I couldn’t even begin to think about it. All you can do is just play the tournaments when they’re set up.”
This approach has served Scheffler well. Whether that of others is doing likewise for elite golf is another matter entirely.
