Some Thoughts on the Majors Debate

Let me say this upfront: I'm not suggesting that this post will settle the debate. But I thought it might help to at least get all the facts out front.

Of route, the controversy is whether or not Inbee Park's Open win on Sunday gives her a "career Grand Slam" or not. There have been a number of voices speakme up and I simply desired to outline where the issues lie. You can locate plenty of the information I'm the usage of in those Wikipedia articles on guys's majors and girls's majors. Wikipedia isn't always the very last word but the data in those articles does seem to in shape the records I've amassed from quite a few other resources... And it's a heck of loads simpler to reference articles in place of a dozen!

THE MEN'S APPROACH ISN'T AS CLEAR AS IS OFTEN PORTRAYED

First of all, there's a faulty belief that the men's major rota is set in stone. It hasn't always been so.

As a standard rule, maximum hint the "Grand Slam" to a discussion between Arnold Palmer and (I agree with) reporter Bob Drum in 1960. This discussion named the Masters, US Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship as the "Big four." In time the most important labels have been made retroactive so, for instance, Horton Smith's win at the authentic Augusta National Invitational is now taken into consideration a Masters win.

In truth, Horton is credited with majors however both are ANI victories in 1934 and 1936. Do you need to argue that they may be on a par with Jordan Spieth's two majors this yr? Clearly all majors aren't created identical, whether or not they are "slammed" or now not.

Likewise, there have been other occasions that have been considered "majors" but are now not counted as such. The Western Open (which was the 0.33 oldest match after the Open Championship and US Open, now called the BMW Championship) and the North and South Open in America, and the British PGA Matchplay Championship in the UK are 3 that when claimed that identify.

And just to muddy the waters, endure in mind that players inclusive of Harry Vardon, who received the Open Championship six instances and the USA Open once, had pretty much run the route of his profession earlier than the PGA Championship or Masters have been even created, yet he isn't credited with a career Grand Slam. And Willie Park Sr. Won 4 Opens while that became the only recreation around, but he is not taken into consideration a profession slammer either.

KARRIE WEBB IS IN A UNIQUE SITUATION

The LPGA at least recognizes the events which were originally majors. Two which you may not be aware of are the Women's Western Open and the original Titleholders Championship, both of which were no longer being played by the early 1970s. But there were periods of LPGA history when there were only two or three majors, and players in these times -- as with the PGA -- are not recognized as having career slams.

Karrie Webb is the player whose career began the confusion. There were four majors during the early part of Karrie's career -- the Dinah Shore (now the ANA Inspiration), the US Women's Open, the LPGA Championship (now the KPMG PGA Women's Championship) and the du Maurier Classic. The du Maurier ceased to be a major in 2000 due to sponsor problems; that event continues as the Canadian Women's Open and is no longer a major. The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier in 2001... but there were still only four women's majors.

As a result, Karrie's du Maurier win become given the equal weight as the British Open that replaced it. Karrie had received the British Open earlier than it have become an LPGA fundamental; that win wasn't counted retroactively. However, Karrie received the British once more in 2002 after it had become a major. Since she had gained both the unique most important and its alternative, it changed into dubbed the Super Career Slam. That seems honest to me, since the overall wide variety of majors to be had at any given time hadn't modified.

EVIAN, THE BACKUP MAJOR

When the Kraft Nabisco (aka the Dinah) was in danger of being lost, Michael Whan took preparatory action to make sure the LPGA still had four majors -- hence, the deal with Evian. Evian would have become the new fourth major, beginning the year after the Kraft sponsorship contract ran out. However, because of Whan's amazing turnaround of the LPGA and his determination to save a long-running major, ANA agreed to become the new sponsor. As a result we now have five LPGA majors... and a problem.

THE ISSUES WITH CAREER SLAMS

For one thing, there's a fairness issue. Is it fair to say Karrie Webb now needs to win Evian as a major to have a career slam? Tacking on a new major late in an established player's career after they've won all the majors that were available during the meat of their career simply isn't right.

Then we additionally must remember that the women's game is honestly global now, with numerous excursions. What, for instance, can we do with the JLPGA which has -- relying on who you ask -- four majors of its very own?

• World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup
• Japan LPGA Championship Konica Minolta Cup
• Japan Women's Open Golf Championship
• Japan LPGA Tour Championship Ricoh Cup

We should also note that both the Women's British Open and the Evian were considered majors on the LET long before they were recognized by the LPGA.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

One possibility is to label a slam by its region -- for example, Inbee Park has the American Career Slam but not the European or Japanese versions.

The Wikipedia article referenced above breaks the LPGA's principal records into 4 eras, even though those do not assist a lot while a player's profession overlaps or more.

At this factor in time we might be high-quality served to focus on a "Traditional Career Slam" (TCS), basing the LPGA majors at the PGA majors. There is an inexpensive correlation:

• The ANA Inspiration is a good counterpart to the Masters, being based on a single golfing personality (Dinah Shore was as important to women's golf as Bobby Jones was to the men's) and held on the same course each year.
• The US Women's Open is obviously the USGA counterpart to the men's US Open.
• The RICOH Women's British Open is likewise comparable to the Open Championship.
• The KPMG PGA Women's Championship is the PGA of America's counterpart to the PGA Championship.

By this measure Inbee Park would have a TCS. Laura Davies, whose last major win was in 1996 (when the du Maurier was in place, and which the LPGA has established as equal to the British because of Karrie) would achieve the TCS with a win at the ANA. (Laura already has a US Open, a du Maurier, and two Women's PGAs.) And major winners from previous eras when there were no more than four majors at any time would have a TCS if they won all four of the majors available during their career.

Yeah, I know it's not a perfect device however at least it is clean to apprehend. Besides, Inbee will probable win the Evian as a major within the next few years (or months!) after which this won't even be an issue anymore.

BTW, if Karrie wins Evian as a first-rate, I vote for calling it the MegaSlam.