There has been a lot of recent talk that The Players Championship is a major, even without the official status. That comes on the back of the event’s social media pages sharing a teaser video with the caption “March is going to be major”. Since then, several PGA pros and critics alike have claimed that it should be a major, although Rory McIlroy played that down. However, now, Russell Henley has made the case for the other side.

The World No. 7 put it forward for The Players to be considered a major because of its history. Not only that, Henley believes that the tricky nature of the course makes it a major in his eyes. That follows the majority view, as organizers promote The Players as a major and fans have unofficially dubbed it the fifth major.

“You look at the past champions and nobody is really… it hasn’t really favored any one player,” Henley said as per Cameron Jourdan. “Um, n- and people typically don’t win it back to back unless you’re Scottie. But it’s, yeah, it’s a tournament I always look forward to. I love the challenge of it and, uh, it’s one of the, you know… I, I consider it a major.”

The American won his fifth PGA Tour title last year with a victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and will defend his crown on March 8. However, his comments go completely against what McIlroy said in February.  The five-time major champion touched upon the fact that he would love to have “seven majors instead of five”, which would include his wins in The Players.

He went on to praise the event and more. McIlroy even pointed to the fact that the women’s game now has five major championships. The LPGA added the Evian Championship as a major in 2013, and critics have frequently criticized it ever since.

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“So, from an identity standpoint, I think The Players has got it nailed,” McIlroy said in an interview. “It’s an amazing tournament in its own right, and I don’t think it being classified a major or not a major makes it any more or any less. I’m still very proud to have won that tournament twice, as I’m sure all the other champions are.”

Brandel Chamblee makes the argument that the Players should be a major

All this started after analyst Brandel Chamblee made the argument that The Players should be a major. The one-time PGA winner had a lot to say about the event, using history as the main crutch for his argument. Founded in 1974, the event has never quite been able to reach the top tier of professional golf events.

But while on air, Chamblee touched upon those points as his main argument and then added that the move to TPC Sawgrass changed it’s perspective on the basis of shot-values. The analyst argued that that fact alone makes it a major-worthy tournament, but he did not stop there.

“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 the other four major championships — not just as a major,” Chamblee said on air at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. “It is, in my estimation, the best major.”

While many fans and analysts consider The Players the unofficial fifth major, Chamblee’s opinion ranks as a hot take. However, only time will tell if its status as a non-major tournament changes in the near future.