GOLF / THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP : It’s No Minor Point: Field Is Major

The Players Championship--a golf tournament that was designed 21 years ago by the PGA Tour to be a major championship but is still awaiting full acceptance as one--begins today with a field stronger than any of the four majors.

The top 36 ranked golfers in the world will be in the 144-player field that will tee off on the Tournament Players Course at Sawgrass, headquarters of the PGA Tour.

When Deane Beman started the event in 1974 at Atlanta, his idea was to create a championship solely for tournament players, eliminating lesser-known players who clutter the field in the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA.

What gnawed at Beman, then PGA Tour commissioner, was that his organization was the strongest and most influential in golf, yet it had no control over any of the majors. The Masters is run by the Augusta National Golf Club, the U.S. Open by the U.S. Golf Assn., the British Open by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, and the PGA by the PGA of America, not to be confused with the PGA Tour.

“I think if you ask every player here, they’re going to tell you this is a major championship,” said Peter Jacobsen, this year’s only double winner. “And it has been for 10 years. The field makes it a major. There’s none like it.”

A player can shoot himself into the U.S. Open and British Open through qualifying tournaments; the Masters invites a number of amateurs, and the PGA always has a contingent of club professionals.

Only the Players Championship is limited to the world’s finest shot-makers.

Nick Price of Zimbabwe, the world’s No. 1-ranked player, won the 1993 Players Championship to go with his British Open and two PGA titles. His comments:

“It really puts a huge feather in your cap when you get this tournament (victory) under your belt. It is something a lot of players would give their eye teeth for. This . . . (is) nearly as important as a major championship because of the quality of the field and the golf course. You know, it is our championship.”

To showcase his brainchild, Beman built the first TPC course to give it a permanent home, as the Masters has at Augusta National. It was first used in 1982, but in its formative years, the players complained that it was too difficult. Then, year by year, it was trimmed and toned and watered down.

Last year, it became an embarrassment when Greg Norman shot 24 under par to win by four strokes over Fuzzy Zoeller.

“I don’t think that was a true indication of the course’s difficulty,” Jacobsen said. “Greg just had a magical week. I don’t think he missed a shot. I think he would tell you that it was one of the best rounds he ever played.”

Curiously, Norman did not agree.

“In terms of striking the ball, I played better in the (1993) British Open, but in terms of scoring, last year was an all-around combination of things,” he said. “When I missed a drive, I hit the green with my iron; when I fluffed a pitch shot, I made the putt, and when I hit a poor first putt, I knocked in the next one. Everything worked together.”

Norman, who has won two British Opens and has narrowly missed winning the other three majors, believes that four majors are enough.

“The TPC has the strongest field of the year, for sure,” Norman said, “but it’s still not a major. I consider winning the TPC a major feat, but I like the way the majors are laid out.”

The course has been tightened this year. The fairways have been narrowed, the rough has been allowed to grow closer to the greens and, with the wind blowing off the Atlantic Ocean, the greens are expected to be hard and quick.