{"id":829455,"date":"2026-03-16T11:23:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T11:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/829455\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T11:23:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T11:23:16","slug":"paul-mcginley-dismisses-players-as-fifth-major-and-suggests-another-tournament-that-rory-mcilroy-dismissed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/829455\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul McGinley dismisses Players as fifth major and suggests another tournament that Rory McIlroy dismissed"},"content":{"rendered":"

As leader Ludvig \u00c5berg was preparing for his final round at The Players Championship, Paul McGinley was relegating it from fifth in the prestige rankings.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Long considered the fifth Major by many, the event at TPC Sawgrass <\/a>is one of the highlights of the calendar and sets the tone nicely for Augusta in April.<\/p>\n

\"Tommy<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Tommy Fleetwood finished second behind Scottie Scheffler at the last OlympicsCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

McGinley didn’t make the cut in two attempts at The Players<\/a>, and thinks the Olympics<\/a> is a bigger event.<\/p>\n

“Enjoy the last day in what some consider should be a 5th Major, the Players,” wrote the Sky Sports pundit. “Although a terrific event I\u2019m not aligned on that thought yet.<\/p>\n

“I do feel if any event should be considered a 5th Major, the Olympics should be the event considered.”<\/p>\n

Tommy Fleetwood<\/a> won a silver medal<\/a> behind champion Scottie Scheffler<\/a> at Paris 2024.<\/p>\n

More on golf<\/p>\n

His pre-tournament comments suggest he may agree with McGinley’s verdict.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy generation upwards never had the Olympics as something that we would ever dream of winning,\u201d said the Englishman.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, with it not being an Olympic sport for the majority of our childhood, that’s something we would never aim for, so I think it would only be natural for us to not necessarily hold it on a pedestal just while it’s started.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think the Olympics for me is sport in its purest form \u2013 it’s the most amazing event in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last two gold medal winners in Justin and Xander were fantastic for the game \u2013 I’m pretty sure kids will start growing up dreaming a bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was to win a gold medal, it would go there alongside any other achievement I’ve ever had.<\/p>\n

\"McIlroy's<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

McIlroy’s short game let him down at SawgrassCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is special, and it is the most special sporting event in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, we just didn’t grow up with that, but I’m sure kids will from now on and it will be very high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy shrugs off back injury before Masters<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy<\/a> recorded top-five finishes in Paris and Tokyo, but missed out on medals both times.<\/p>\n

He isn’t sure if the Olympics deserves to rank alongside The Masters<\/a>, PGA Championship<\/a>, U.S. Open <\/a>and The Open Championship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“It’s hard to say [whether the Olympics will become like a major], as even this week, the way the qualification system works, not all the best players in the world are here,” said the Northern Irishman in 2024.<\/p>\n

“You’d like to think that if you’re going to win something really prestigious in the sport then you want all the best players playing and that isn’t quite happening here.<\/p>\n

\"McGinley<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

McGinley weighed in on a long-time debateCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

“It’s still very meaningful and if I were to win a medal, especially a gold medal, it would mean a lot to me.”<\/p>\n

McIlroy’s comments may ring true for The Players as well, which is missing LIV Golf<\/a> superstars like Jon Rahm<\/a> and Bryson DeChambeau, who won in Singapore over the same weekend.<\/a><\/p>\n

Defending champion McIlroy almost had to sit out himself with a back injury<\/a> but managed to compete and narrowly made the cut despite abuse from fans.<\/a><\/p>\n

The five-time Major champion eased concerns over his fitness for Augusta with a 367-yard drive to set up an eagle putt on the par-4 12th.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like my game sort of progressively got a little bit better as the week went on, even though the scores probably didn\u2019t reflect it,” he said after finishing level par for the tournament. <\/p>\n

“I hit the ball well, I just didn\u2019t make anything on the greens. Happy to come through four rounds and feel like my body held up well.\u201d <\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n

McIlroy will now rest until the first official Major begins on April 9.<\/p>\n

Stay up to date with the latest golf news across all platforms – follow our dedicated\u00a0talkSPORT USA Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0and subscribe to our\u00a0talkSPORT USA YouTube channel<\/a>\u00a0for all the news, exclusives, interviews and more.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As leader Ludvig \u00c5berg was preparing for his final round at The Players Championship, Paul McGinley was relegating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4106],"tags":[2826,5259,135786,16021,4287,79,4297,19463,24031,238166,16,15,45668],"class_list":["post-829455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-golf-majors","tag-ludvig-aberg","tag-pga-championship","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-sports","tag-the-masters","tag-the-players-championship","tag-tommy-fleetwood","tag-u-s-open-and-the-open-championship","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-uspga"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116238602066721609","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}