Elliott Heath
The Players Championship is about as big a golf tournament as there is outside of the four Major championships, but what does it need to add to become the fifth men's Major?
Every time the PGA Tour's cream of the crop tee it up at TPC Sawgrass the question is posed about whether the Players Championship should be the fifth Major in men's pro golf.
It has a top-class field, an iconic host course and bags of history and prestige, but are there still a few tweaks they could make to truly elevate The Players to Major status?
The Majors are all different of course, the Open and US Open have plenty of wide-ranging qualifying opportunities, the Masters has a smaller, elite, international invitational field and the PGA Championship caters for those working pros across the USA.
A whopping $4.5m first prize means the Players Championship has Major prize money, a Major golf course and a Major field, so with just a few tweaks here and there it could really become the fifth Major in men's pro golf one day.
Here are seven tweaks we'd love to see to take The Players to the next level...
Past champion playing privileges
One of the perks of winning The Players Championship is that past champions get a five-year exemption into the event...but that pales in comparison to the Majors.
The US Open is the stingiest as the champion's exemption is just a decade, while winners of the Claret Jug can play in The Open until they're 55.
Both The Masters and the PGA Championship offer lifetime exemptions for their champions, and what that does is bring the nostalgia to the event when these former champions would return to tee it up back at Sawgrass.
Yes, it will swell the field but adding a tradition like that will really give the event that Major feel.
As with all these qualifying criteria through Majors, if you also include LIV golf players, such as Cameron Smith, that again will only add to the intrigue and interest around the event, but being the PGA Tour's flagship could make that tricky.
Champions dinner
They do it at the PGA Championship and more famously at Augusta National, so why not at The Players as well?
Anything that brings back former winners and creates stories of famous old Players Championship victories only helps to ensure the event gets held in even higher esteem.
The Players already has that edge of being held on the same course each year, which helps with creating iconic moments - this would just add to that.
Qualification from performance & Majors
What can elevate an event is ensuring that just getting into it is an achievement, a reward for good play, so players who get a top five in a Major could win a spot in the following Players.
It's similar to what the other big four do, such as the top four at the PGA get into The Masters, so why not follow suit and make getting into The Players a big reward.
You could also hand places to the top 10 finishers in the previous year at Sawgrass, another qualifying route seen in Majors, so they know that a top 10 will automatically mean they're coming back next year. Again, the PGA Championship's top-four finishers all earn spots at Augusta, so this is definitely an area where The Players falls behind.
Major exemptions for top finishers at TPC Sawgrass
Winning The Players bags a brilliant three-year exemption into all the Majors, but what about rewarding those who go close as well?
If you finish top five at The Players you are likely a good player and in the Majors already, but the way of the modern world means that's by no means certain.
That's especially the case with The Masters, so getting an invite into this year's Majors would be a great reward for a top five at Sawgrass.
PGA Tour University
The Open, US Open and Masters all have great traditions in amateurs taking part, and rewarding the top amateurs that make it into their fields.
And the Players could go the same way in inviting Amateur Championship winners, US Amateur winners or World No.1 amateurs, but what about taking a slightly different route?
It is the PGA Tour's flagship event after all, so what about using it to showcase the best college golf has to offer with the top five PGA Tour University players gaining access to The Players?
Perhaps stick the PGA Tour U no.1 out with the defending champion to give them more exposure and a great experience, similar to what Augusta does where the US Amateur champion is always paired with the defending champion for the first two days.
Ludvig Aberg has come storming into pro golf through PGA Tour U and Luke Clanton has just earned his card via the accelerated system, so the talent is there, and it would be a rather cool way of introducing the young guns from college golf to the world - and also show how the PGA Tour U system is working.
The better these kids play on the biggest stage of all, the better it is for the PGA Tour, who could unearth the next big star via this method.
Go global with invites
The Masters and The Open do a good job on this already, and The Players could go global by getting creative with worldwide invites.
The top players from the major golf tours around the world could all get an invite, perhaps via winning their respective circuit's Order of Merit, which would not only be great for those players in those regions, but also drum up international interest in events at Sawgrass.
It's a win-win as media and fans from around the world tune in and also make the trip to see their local heroes take on the PGA Tour's finest. Now that feels like a Major.
Allow LIV Golfers
If a deal does or doesn't get done, The Players needs to add LIV Golf's best players to its field to attract even more interest.
It doesn't even necessarily need a specific LIV Golf route - perhaps its individual champion can qualify - but even if it allows all past champions, Major winners from the last five years and players inside the world's top 50, LIV players like Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson, Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Tyrrell Hatton, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Martin Kaymer would qualify automatically.
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