Capelle On Golf

In Mark Frost’s excellent book, The Match, he mentions that the Western Open was still considered a major as late as 1948, the year Ben Hogan won it and the US Open. I’m not so sure about that, but if it was still a major, then we’ve got to amend the list of major winners.

Hogan now has 11 majors, not nine. Sam Snead’s count goes from seven to nine, Byron Nelson’s from five to six. Ralph Guldahl’s total doubles to six and Walter Hagen, the biggest beneficiary of all, jumps from 11 to 16. There is a case for counting the Western Open at least up to the 1950s when you consider that most of the pros back then only played in two or three majors a year, and almost never four due to the economics of traveling overseas to the British Open.

Let’s assume for a moment, as Frost suggests, that the Western Open was a major as late as 1948. This begs the question of when did it become demajorized? There can’t be a phasing out of something like this. One year it is, and the next it isn’t. So what year did it lose its status? And under who’s authority?

Here’s another big question: If a tournament of such long standing as the Western Open can lose its status as a major, who is to say that it couldn’t happen again? After all, there is no one ruling body in charge of the majors. They are, in fact, “owned” by four different entities.

Today it is easy for us to look back at the former eras and conclude that they didn’t quite have it right, but that we do now, and that the Masters, US Open, British Open and PGA are going to be the four majors forever more. But will they be? Forever is a long time.

We’re all hoping that golf and the world will survive global warming and a possible nuclear holocaust, and to have a long and happy history. So if pro golf is still being played 50-100-200 years from now, will the people far off in the future share our respect the game’s history and its majors? Or will they come up with what they feel is a better concept and demajorize the big four as we did to the Western Open 50-75 years ago?

It’s a sobering thought. The Western lost its status. The PGA Tour is campaigning for THE PLAYERS to be recognized as the fifth major. They would like us to think that nothing is more important than their beloved FedExCup. In 2009 the European (Global) Tour is going to hold the ominously titled The Dubai World Championship, a $10 million tournament. And that’s just for starters.

At some point a super wealthy global group of visionaries just might create a global tour featuring a series of marquee events with huge prize funds, and big money interests will assume ownership of the game. I pray it never comes to that, but the seeds may have already been planted.