podon my french it is the dog bollocks of all the majors!!

I think the guy sums it up with “but The Open Championship simply has an indefinable something that can’t be replicated by contrivance or money”

Agreed – it is the ONLY major I would stay up to watch. I reckon we piss off the PGA and replace it with the Euro Open.

1 major in each continent and the Masters in Augusta.

That Carnoustie course this year was fantastic, as are most of the Open rotator courses.

All elements of the game tested & imagination to boot.

US PGA feels a bit too regular Tour event sometimes with some of the courses they use, though Southern Hills was quite good this year.

Shame Australia is so far away & in the wrong time zone, the Aussie Open would be as good as any other tournament because of our quality of courses if it had the best in the world playing.

Virge, I totally agree. You could keep the Open as is and the Masters, I would even let the US Open stay but I think the PGA major should go worldwide, maybe a different venue each year that is not in US or Britain….dream on….

Back to the point, those two closing holes at the Open this year were perfect, what drama!! Especially when Garcia walked past Harrington on the 17th after his ball went for a swim.

the open is by far the best major. the pga doesn’t feel like a major, they should have ditched it decades ago and made the aus open the 4th major, then we could have had all our big tournaments around it. we would have all the big names out here playing tournaments leading up too the aus open.

The masters is unique as it is played at a spectacular golf course (created by one of golfs greatest champions in bobby jones and one of the games great architects in dr mackenzie) every year. Parts of the course are named after past champions and this adds to the alure of not only the golf course but the tournament. IMO this tournament is the second most impotant tournament played each year

The us open and us pga are both played on a rotation of courses that include the same golf courses. these courses are traditionally set up similar each year and therefore make both these tournaments indistinguishable. IMO one of these tournaments should be considered a major and the other should be played as a regular pga tour event given similar weight as the tour players championship.

the brittish open quite simply is the open. played on a rotation of courses that includes the home of golf st. andrews old course, where it all started. different skills are needed to win this event as the elements dictate how each of the courses is played. unlike almost all things golf these days that are americanized, the open has maintained its integrity for over a hundred years and is the event players all around the world aspire to win. IMO this tournament is the most important played every year.

By dropping either the us open or us pga, a fourth ‘world’ major could be created and played in different courses throughout australasia, africa and europe. when i say ‘world’ major i dont mean anything like the wgc events that are held predominantley in the us. these are basically uspga tour events with big budgets (the americans like to consider themselves as the world ie. major league baseball champions win the world series that is only contested in the us). qualifying events could be run b4 the world major begins giving locals and amateurs the opportunity to qualify ie. rory mcilroy at this years open. a rotation of top quality course could be established, such as royal melbourne,paraparumu beach, valderama, fancourt etc offering different layouts that will give different golfers a better opportunity to become major winners. currently 3 of the majors, all played in the us, are played on similar style courses giving the us pga tour players an advantage when it comes to winning a major.

About the only way the current four majors setup is going to change is one person with deep pockets is going to have a revolution like Kerry Packer did with one day cricket. And it has to be the US PGA that gets taken on as the others are probably just too big and have too much prestige. Here’s how I imagine it happening:

1. It comes from China. It’s only logical that China will continue it’s push for greater legitimacy in the world, and especially in world sport.

2. Perhaps at Mission Hills, perhaps at a newer specially developed course, but one big cashed up Chinese businessman (probably with significant media interests) decides that he wants to take on the golf establishment. I suggest Mission Hills as it has a large number of courses with designs by golfs superstars, so already has something familiar about it.

3. It gets funded for a couple of years right from the get go so it’s not just a one off, or a novelty.

4. The purse is BIG. So big that every starter knows they’ll walk away with a decent payout even if they miss the cut. Only then would they consider it. And everyone knows that it’s all about the dollar. For all the players talk about liking this course or that, or liking this tournament of that, they all want a crack at the FedEx Cup because it’s got lots of cash up for grabs!

5. Schedule it in the same week as the US PGA.

6. Then the organisers send out invites to the top 100 golfers on each of the US, European, Nationwide and Asian Tours and see what response they get. I guarantee they’ll get plenty of starters, from the following groups: a. Those who weren’t going to get a start in the PGA anyway. b. those who are eligible for the PGA but would be keen to see a move away from the US domination of world golf. This would probably be a small group first time around but it would only take a bit of momentum. c. those who recognise that in the next 20 years with the growth of golf in China and India, it’s inevitable that the Asian tour will expand and have greater influence. d. those who want a guaranteed payday. (even if they might have missed the cut at this event or at the PGA)

It could be billed as the World Major if it moved from continent to continent every year, but then it becomes harder to find a single business backer. Perhaps someone like Greg Norman gets on board with his fortune (if he still has it after his divorce) and resurrects the World Tour concept.