Written by Stephen Moloney (www.twitter.com/TheCheeky9)
Six months from now we’ll all be a few days removed from the 2020 Masters. And whilst the latest owner of a green jacket (hopefully someone with the first name ‘Rory’ and surname ‘McIlroy’) embarks on the whistle-stop press tour that follows triumphing at Augusta National, the rest of us will already be turning at least one sneaky eye towards May when the PGA Championship rolls into San Francisco’s TPC Harding Park.
And why will we be doing that? Because, let’s be honest with ourselves, the Majors (along with the Ryder Cup) are the marquee events which 99.9% of us most look forward to watching. They have the most history; the most pressure; and, because of that pressure, they generally offer the best chance of us getting the ‘dramatic Sunday back nines’ we all yearn for.
As we all know, however, thanks to changes brought in this year, the Majors now run consecutively over the course of four straight months from April to July, meaning, once the Open acts as the curtain call for the ‘Major Season’, we’re left facing into eight long months without a Major to satiate our thirst for #drama.
And the thing is, this isn’t me complaining or moaning about the new schedule for the Majors – far from it. I think what the various governing bodies have done with the Major schedule is a fantastic idea. It’s neater. It builds a nice feeling of momentum over the course of the four months. And it means prestigious tournaments like the Players, the Wells Fargo, the Memorial, the Irish Open and the Scottish Open become even more important because they now serve as vital tune-ups and confidence builders for the game’s top stars as they head into each of the Majors – gold stars all round.
What I am saying, though, is that what if, next year, once the sun sets over Royal St. George’s and the winner of the Claret Jug is busy filling it with, to quote Tiger Woods, their favourite “libation” – to quote myself, “get absolutely scuttered” – instead of us coming to terms with the fact that we’re now officially the furthest away we’re going to be from rolling back down Magnolia Lane the following April, we were actually looking forward to another Major in August.
That’s right … a fifth one.
Now, the idea of “creating” another Major Championship is, undoubtedly, a controversial topic. Traditionalists might see it as trying to manufacture history and something that could possibly devalue the prestige of the four existing Majors; whilst cynics would most definitely see it as nothing more than golf’s “powers-that-be” looking to line their already hefty wallets with the cash cow that would be adding another Major to the golfing calendar. And you know what? Those are perfectly fair and perfectly legitimate concerns. They are. But, for now, let’s just take those points, put them gently down over here (See? They’re ok, they’re not going anywhere) and, for a second, just indulge our imaginations by considering what a fifth Major could possibly look like.
Now, some of you might be thinking that if the decision was made to turn the quartet of Majors into a quintet, then, chances are, the Players Championship would probably just get the call-up to join the existing four Majors at the ‘big boys table’ – and I think you’re probably right. I mean, it’s long been pushed as “The Fifth Major”; it’s played at the same course every year; it now has an instantly recognisable trophy; it already boasts a “Major calibre” field; and, given it would be the “Players’ Major”, it would neatly round out how all the most powerful organisations in golf would have their very own Major Championship – Augusta National with the Masters; the USGA with the U.S. Open; the R&A with the Open; and the PGA with … well, the PGA.
I mean, it would certainly be nice and neat – literally requiring no more than just for all the top organisations to openly state that the Players is a Major Championship now.
Yeah. I think job done – let’s break for lunch.
But … well, wouldn’t that be just a touch boring? I mean, if you had the chance to create a brand new Major championship, why wouldn’t you at least consider making it just that – brand new.
So, that’s what I did. I decided to try and come up with an idea for an entirely new Major Championship.
See, in a previous life, I was, essentially, a professional “Ideas Man”; meaning I came up with and fleshed out ideas for films and television series’, and then pitched said ideas to production companies. What doing that job for the best part of six years did do for me, however, is that it taught me that a successful idea – i.e. one that a production company is willing to pay you for or to write – is one that is innovative, yet not so radical that it alienates the intended audience for said idea.
So, bearing that notion very much in mind, when it came to trying to come up with a brand new Major Championship that might actually come to fruition if this hypothetical scenario were to suddenly become a reality, I wanted to come up with something ‘new’, sure, but I wanted to do that whilst honouring what golf fans have come to expect from and like about Majors.
And here’s what I came up with.
“My vision for a fifth and final Major championship of the year, is one in which, come August, the best players in the world battle it out for “The Pennant” – the first truly global Major championship. With its inaugural outing being played out over 72 holes of stroke play on the historic links of golf’s ancestral home, the Old Course at St. Andrews, whomever is crowned champion come Sunday evening will receive the folded ceremonial ‘Pennant’ – a specially commissioned flag housed inside a solid silver display case – along with the honour of knowing, not only are they now a Major champion, but also that next year’s Pennant will be staged in their home country. And if anyone wants to have that Pennant flying over a course where they’re from? Well, it’s simple … they just have to go get it.”
Now, obviously, one of the biggest potential stumbling blocks in this pitch would be the idea that the winner gets to stage the following year’s tournament at a course in their home country, because, as we all know, not every country on the planet has a golf course capable of hosting a Major – but, luckily, that’s where the magic of common sense would kick in.
For example, if, at the very first staging of the Pennant, a golfer from Greenland won it by one shot after a stunning final round 58, would that mean next year’s Pennant would be hosted by Nuuk Golf Club and its nine-hole course near the airport? No, of course not. Logic would dictate that you host it in Denmark or perhaps somewhere that means a lot to the Greenland Golfing God who got a hole-in-one on the ‘Road Hole’ with a putter. The point is you’d adapt accordingly – as humans, that’s kinda been our thing, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
But imagine what it would be like to have the honour of bringing a Major Championship back to your home country? I mean, take Ireland, for example. Now, obviously, there was a Major held here back in July, but still, just picture the buzz of having the likes of Rory McIlroy or Shane Lowry winning the Pennant, raising it above a course like Adare Manor and then knowing that, in a year’s time, a Major Championship will be played out before our very eyes – it would be a guaranteed sellout.
Plus, in terms of “growing the game”, you couldn’t really get a better medium through which to do that; like, to have the best players in the world descending on a country where golf isn’t necessarily an overly popular sport and battling it out for a Major? Priceless.
Ultimately, though, will “The Pennant” ever have you glued to your televisions in the middle of August as Jim Nantz softly narrates with that silky smooth voice of his? No. Will there ever even be a fifth Major Championship in the men’s game? Realistically, probably not, no – but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to imagine what one could look like.
Still, though … “The Pennant” sure does have a nice ring to it.