06does the may date work?
the players, the fifth major, moved to may because the poor, beleaguered fifth month of the
year didn’t have a suitable event between the
masters in april and the u.s. open in June. never
mind that the switch brought it uncomfortably
close to two of europe’s biggest fifth majors, the
volvo world match play and the bmw pga. regardless of the reason for the absence of rory mc-ilroy and lee westwood (shown), all the world’s
players had less motivation to skip the players
when it was in march. there are those who think
the tpc sawgrass is a far better test when it can
be firm and fast in may. that might even be true
if may wasn’t so hot and humid and afternoon
thunderstorms were the exception rather than the
rule. our opinion? the players was more interesting when it was part of the build-up to the masters rather than a placeholder between augusta
and the u.s. open. the weather in march may
have been wetter and more unpredictable, but the
island 17th in a march wind is a torture test made
for tv. this was a case of fixing something that
wasn’t broken. —Jim Moriarty
andre w redington/getty images
cover // contents // 10 things // pga tour // rank and file // european tour //equipment // tim rosaforte
