'It Is, In My Estimation, The Best Major' - Brandel Chamblee Makes Bold Players Championship Claim
Speaking at the WM Phoenix Open, the Golf Channel analyst claimed that The Players Championship doesn't just possess the best field in golf, but is "above all the other four Major championships"
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The 2026 golf season is starting to move into gear and, with multiple tournaments on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour played already, some wandering eyes will be looking ahead to the upcoming tournaments.
Along with the Signature Events and Major championships, there's also The Players Championship, which takes place March 12-15th and is dubbed the 'fifth Major.'
🚨🗣️😳 #WATCH — Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee has made a bold claim: “The Players, to me, stands alone and above the other four major championships as not just a major, it is in my estimation, the best major.” (Via: @JoshACarpenter) pic.twitter.com/ZSizvrfqtTFebruary 7, 2026
Speaking at the WM Phoenix Open, Chamblee discussed various topics around the PGA Tour's Flagship Event, with the PGA Tour winner making a bold call on the matter of it being the fifth Major.
"First of all, we do ‘Live Froms’ from Major championships. We’ve been doing a ‘Live From The Players Championship’ since 2004, since I first started working at the Golf Channel. Just by that mere fact, we give it the attention of a Major championship, we give it that prestige.
"So when you say, should it be a Major championship, what constitutes a Major championship? Of course, it’s history and tradition and reverence and all those things, but at the core, these are hard events to win.
"They’re meant to be harder events to win, because of the pressure, because of the setup, because, you know, everything’s right on the line. So they’ve got to be hard events to win.
"They’ve got to be great fields. They’ve got to produce indelible champions, and indelible moments. When you look at The Players Championship, with all due respect to the other four Major championships, it is the best field in golf. It is the deepest field in golf.
"By virtue of the fact that only one person in its 50 year history has managed to successfully defend it, I would argue that it is the hardest Major championship to win."
McIlroy claimed his second Players Championship via a playoff at the 2025 event
Chamblee wasn't done there as, following his explanation, he added "especially since it moved (The Players Championship) to TPC Sawgrass, which, in my estimation, save one hole, is perhaps arguably the best golf course that they play a Major championship on from a shot value perspective.
"You can talk about aesthetics all you want, risk-reward holes, certainly, but I’m talking about a shot value standpoint. You can't touch TPC Sawgrass.
"So in every single way that a metric could be used to measure whether something is a Major, The Players, to me, stands alone and above all the other four Major championships as not just a Major. It is in my estimation, the best Major."
Do you agree with Chamblee, and that The Players Championship should be the men's fifth Major? Let us know in the comments below...
Scottie Scheffler secured victory in 2023 and 2024, making him the only player to defend the title
First played in 1974 and made up of a 144-man field, players can qualify for The Players Championship in numerous ways and, throughout its history, only Scottie Scheffler has ever defended the title.
Although it possesses strong fields, arguably the strongest in golf, it doesn't possess Major-status like The Open Championship, US Open, PGA Championship and The Masters.
Players like Lee Trevino have called for the tournament to become the men's fifth Major but, like every PGA Tour event, those from the LIV Golf League are unable to participate due to being banned from the circuit.
It has created many memorable moments in golf and has been won by the likes of Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson and several World Golf Hall of Famers.
What's more, just recently, The Players Championship posted a video to their social media promoting the event and, in the final half of the video, the tagline "March is going to be a Major" is seen across the screen.
The main likelihood is that the statement and video is solely a marketing ploy, but time will tell with what happens in terms of The Players Championship and its fifth Major tag.
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