How did The Masters become a major?

[Garland Bayley]

So to repeat my earlier question, is there an official designation as a major? Jay's post above seems to imply not...?

No there is not. If there were, the four strongest tournaments would be the majors. The Open, The US Open, The Players, and The PGA.

However, many of us have opined that this is not good enough. The Players should be a world wide located event sponsored by an umbrella tour organization. The PGA could perhaps make a similar move.

[Jay Flemma]

no way...I think sawgrass MAKES the players. IMHO it should also be a major because then the public would have a major course they could play that hosts a major every year.  but that's just my 2 cents.

[JC Jones]

no way...I think sawgrass MAKES the players. IMHO it should also be a major because then the public would have a major course they could play that hosts a major every year.  but that's just my 2 cents.

I thought that was the new mission of the USGA....

[Jay Flemma]

no what I mean is...a major venue that has the tournament in the same place every year...a public augusta...which to some...is what sawgrass is.

Watson:  he took augusta's greens and miniaturized them!
Dye:  thank you.   always thought augusta's greens were too big.

[Robert Kimball]

I can't remember the attribution off the top of my head:

"The Masters became a major by not giving a damn whether it became one or not."

It's probably Dan Jenkins (sounds like something he would say/write), but again, I can't remember right now.

-- Rob

[Greg Clark]

Certainly Augusta National and Eisenhower benefitted from the relationship, but Ike sure as heck didn't need a club to make him.

[Garland Bayley]

Certainly Augusta National and Eisenhower benefitted from the relationship, but Ike sure as heck didn't need a club to make him.

He didn't need a club to make him as a General. He needed the club to make him President. Roberts and the club essentially were his political trainers and defacto campaign committee.

I hope this puts and end to the thread hijack. My apologies for taking the thread astray.

[Tim_Cronin]

Let's not forget Mark McCormack in the major department. As Palmer's agent, he suggested to Palmer that he play in the Open in 1960, when Palmer was off to England on an endorsement trip at the same time. A slight rearrangement of the schedule allowed Palmer to qualify (!) and then almost win.

The Drummer may have written about it, but McCormack, the marketing genius, really created the modern grand slam. Funny thing was, he was a native Chicagoan and even played in the Western Amateur once upon a time. But he forgot about the Western Open, a major from 1899 to you-pick-the-date, when it came to exploiting Palmer's heroics.

[Garland Bayley]

Tim,

Thanks for that information.

Marketing, I should have known.

[Jim Nugent]

Another question.  Should we count "major" wins retroactively, or by what mattered at the time.  Back in the day they counted the Western as  a major.  Shouldn't that count now for golfers of those eras, just as we count the U.S. and British Ams as major wins for Bobby Jones?  Why does the Masters count as a major win in the early days, if the golf world did not consider it a major then? 

[Doug Ralston]

Because history is retold, revised, and rewritten everyday, by those who can.

No? Watch politics!

The power to rewrite history is the power to self-propagate ....... a basic social desire. What it lacks in 'truth' it makes up for in good story telling.

Think I will stick to psychology; history is too intangible for me.

Doug