This is a special time in the golf and tennis world. This weekend we have the very rich Players Championship in golf and the spectacular Indian Wells Masters 1000 series tennis tournament in southern California. As these two very prestigious are taking place, there is one question that is arising in both events. Is it time to follow women’s golf lead, and have a fifth major in men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s golf?
Players Championship
The reason why there are discussions of having a fifth major in golf comes down to two reasons–economics and recognizability. The Players Championship has the biggest overall purse in men’s golf at $25 million. The winner receives $4.5 million. The prize money for the major tournaments in men’s golf have not yet been released, but last year the purse at the 2024 Masters was $20 million ($3.6 million for the winner), the purse at the 2024 PGA Championship was $18.5 million ($3.3 million for the winner), the purse at the 2024 United States Open was $21.5 million ($4.3 million for the winner), and the purse at the 2024 British Open was $17 million ($3.1 million for the winner).
Meanwhile, no hole in golf is more recognizable than the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass. The green is basically on an island surrounded by water. In the last 22 years, there have been 1029 golf balls that have landed in the water. Players hope for light winds when they get to the tee.
Indian Wells
Over the past week, I had the thrill of a lifetime and attended the first three days of the 2025 Indian Wells Masters 1000 series tennis tournament. The tournament is labeled by many as simply “Tennis Paradise.” The weather is normally extremely warm, however over the last week, the evening tournament has had rather cool temperatures and rain. The grounds around the courts are extremely beautiful, the food in Stadium 2 contains state of the art Mexican, Italian and Japanese restaurants, and Stadium 1 is in fact the second largest stadium in the world. Its capacity is 16,100. The only stadium that is larger is Arthur Ashe, with a capacity of 23,771.
The answer to my question in the headline is no. The reason is I am a traditionalist and adding a fifth major reduces the mystique and nostalgia of the previous four majors in golf and tennis.
