The debate of the fifth major has taken yet another turn. And this time it leads to the most iconic course in Georgia. With Brian Rolapp pushing the narrative of The PLAYERS Championship to be the fifth major, the Masters Tournament might lose its prestige.

Golfweek‘s Joel Beall says, “Beneath all of it sits Augusta National. Not as an obstacle exactly, but as a gravitational force the tour has no interest in disturbing. The unspoken compact is that the Masters is the sport’s new year, the event that tells the casual fan the season has truly begun. A March Players doesn’t directly threaten that. But a March major might.”

Making the PLAYERS a major is not as simple as changing its status. The TPC Sawgrass event will need to be switched from its March schedule. Ever since the Masters Tournament was first played in 1934, it has been the first major of the season. Only twice has it not been the first major of the year, in 1971 and 2020.

However, that has not been the case for the chronology of the other majors. That’s probably where The PLAYERS Championship will fit in.

“The Players would eventually need to move back to May, requiring the PGA of America to shift the PGA Championship to August, a calendar surgery that seemed unthinkable until you remember it was only 2019 when the PGA moved in the first place. If there is ever a moment to restructure, a full schedule overhaul is it.”

The PGA Championship is one major that has moved around the seasonal calendar often. In 1934, it was played as the last major of the season after the U.S. Open and the Open Championship. In 1947, the tournament was held between the U.S. Open and the British Open. In 1971 and 2020, the PGA Championship was the season-opening major.

However, until 2018, the Wanamaker Trophy was contested in August. With the Masters in April, the Players in May, the U.S. Open in June, and the Open Championship in July, the majors season can end with the PGA Championship in August.

But it won’t be easy to convince all the entities involved to change the schedule.

Brian Rolapp might struggle to make the majors’ leaders accept the terms

The proposal might seem exciting. But it won’t be easy to convince the leading bodies of the majors to accept it.

As stated in the report, “It requires coordination between organizations that are not, at the moment, coordinating especially well. The difference now is that no single personality or entity commands that kind of authority.”

“For the Players to become a major, the bodies that run the existing four would have to consent. As previously noted, the relationship between the tour and those bodies, while not broken, is unsettled. Things are not harmonious. And it is into that specific climate that Rolapp is now trying to introduce the most self-serving request the tour has ever made of its partners.”

The unrest between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf was evident to the governing bodies of the majors. Yet they gave the Saudi-based league’s players a gateway to qualify for the events. The R&A and Augusta National specifically opened the doors for them after Scott O’Neil’s arrival as the new CEO.

So Brian Rolapp might find it difficult to suggest a proposal to promote the PGA Tour’s flagship event as a major. Especially if it creates a conflict with a major hosted by Augusta National.