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Does the PGA Championship Lack Identity?

JB

JB

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The Masters has the allure of Augusta National and is the most famous golf tournament in my opinion.
The British and US Open are open championships.
The PGA seems like it lacks identity. Do you agree? And if not, what is the identity and if so, what should it be or how would you fix it?
 
Yea.

In fact, my fiance who has been getting very into professional golf with me this past year, just because I have it on and she's watched all the full swings doesn't get it at all. She just doesn't understand the PGA Championship and why it's a major at all haha.

She's like I don't get it, so LIV can play in the PGA championship, but not PGA events? Why is this bigger than the FedEx championship if that's the last event of the year and the championship for the PGA.

And I really just don't have a strong answer...yes, yes I get PGA of America vs. PGA Tour, but it's still interesting to hear an outsider perspective that doesn't have the history and such.
 
Yes, it does. Some years it is hard, some it is easy, some at a big-name course, others at a course only die-hard fans would know about. Field is full of guys who have zero chance of winning, diluting the product (I get why, doesn't make it not true in modern golf). It may be the 4th major (grandfathered in) but it is only the 5th best tournament of the year, if that (certainly behind The Players).
 
They should move it back to after the Open. At least then it would be the final major.
 
It feels like “just another tournament” right now.
 
Yeah. I almost feel they should set up the course as the birdie fest major.





This made me laugh though.

 
I think you summed it up well in the OP.

There has to be a fourth, and the PGA is it. I wouldn’t fix it, as there’s nothing really wrong with it.

Edit: back to the original question. I think the PGA has an identity, with the 20 PGA club pros, and the “top 200” mentality it has with its entry criteria, it’s just the 4th most compelling identity.
 
I actually think this is a really good way of putting it, maybe not locking total identity, but definitely lacking one that resonates.
 
The PGA championship definitely lacks identity. Not sure if there is a solution for it. It gets to the point where I don't even care to watch on Thursday or Friday, but every other major I want to watch every second.

As much as Michael Block gets clowned and in some ways rightfully so, I think he has provided the most identity this tournament has seen in the past few decades. It in fact is the tournament where the working PGA pros get to play. Those storylines usually get tossed to the wayside because they generally never are competitive, but his run was awesome in the moment.

I also kind of view it as a stepping stone major. The major people can win before they are truly ready for the "big stage". Lots of players tend to win their first major here.
 
I thought the PGA Champ identity was 'the worst major' haha
 
Raiderboost said:
They should move it back to after the Open. At least then it would be the final major.
Click to expand...
I can agree with this a lot. That final major identity would be something the tournament really lacks
 
Moving it back to August would certainly help its profile. It was already " the 4th major" in terms of prestige, but having it be "the 4th major" chronologically at least gave it a place and kept it from being looked over completely with the two Opens still looming close on the horizon.
 
As stated above, I think the identity is the 20 pga “club pros”.
Although I’m not sure how many of them, if any, are actually working a pro shop, but I guess that’s a different discussion.
It also doesn’t have any amateurs. And somehow, they proclaim this is the deepest major w 99 of the top 100 there this year.
 
I think the PGA needs to pick a course with history and stick with it. The US and Open can survive with the rotation, but the PGA needs something to be consistent with it so people know its coming. otherwise I don't see what is really that different than say the players or anything in that kind of second tier.
 
It doesn’t. And it was made worse by jamming it between the masters and us open.
 
Maybe they should just combine the PGA and the players, play it at Sawgrass and be done. It totally lacks identity IMO
 
It is the only major that is kind of just like the other PGA Tour events. They go to similar courses and have very similar setups to the week in week out Tour courses. I guess that is it's identity so maybe I might say it doesn't have a unique or especially appealing identity like the other 3 majors do.
 
ShortCoursePro said:
I think you summed it up well in the OP.

There has to be a fourth, and the PGA is it. I wouldn’t fix it, as there’s nothing really wrong with it.

Edit: back to the original question. I think the PGA has an identity, with the 20 PGA club pros, and the “top 200” mentality it has with its entry criteria, it’s just the 4th most compelling identity.
Click to expand...
I actually think at one time the PGA Pro thing was a good idea.
Gone are the days that any of these are local teaching pros. They are training year round.
 
Templet0n said:
It doesn’t. And it was made worse by jamming it between the masters and us open.
Click to expand...

Agreed, it used to be "Glory's last shot" at least.

Now it's Glory's second shot. A bit less panache there.

It's still a major but I can't imagine it's not 4th out of 4 for every golfer
 
MtlJeff said:
Agreed, it used to be "Glory's last shot" at least.

Now it's Glory's second shot. A bit less panache there.

It's still a major but I can't imagine it's not 4th out of 4 for every golfer
Click to expand...
The cry baby tour pros didn’t like the summer heat. So it got moved..
 
Yes, it lacks an identity. The PGA pro thing is ... who cares? None of those guys matters in tour golf, probably never will. It is very "inside baseball" and an odd justification for making a tournament a major. There is no reason to think of this tournament as a Major except someone tells us it is one.
 
Yeah, I definitely think it lacks an identity. It was a bit better when it was the last major of the year as you could claim it as the "Last shot at Glory" for the year, but now with the new place in the schedule it's missing that, and I'm not sure that having the 20 PGA pros is really good anymore.

They could definitely benefit from keeping it at 1 strong course vs moving it around.
 
I reckon it used to be a dark horse thing? John Daly 9th alternate comes to mind.
 
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