Should PGA Championship be removed from major status?

The PGA Championship is one of golf’s four major tournaments, yet it often finds itself overshadowed by the Masters, U.S. Open, and The Open Championship. With calls from critics and professionals to reevaluate its relevance, this blog takes a closer look at whether the PGA Championship still deserves its place among golf’s elite events or if it’s time for a reshuffle.

The PGA Championship is normally considered to be one of the four Grand Slams in golf. However, it has recently been overshadowed by the Masters, U.S. Open, and Open Championship. Now, criticism has reached a point where people are demanding its relevance be reevaluated.

Here, we will look to evaluate all the reasons why the PGA Championship deserves to be ranked alongside the other Grand Slam events. As the days go by, many are calling for a time to reshuffle.

A Major in Identity Crisis?

The PGA Championship has always been considered one of the biggest tournaments on the golf calendar, but its reputation has died out slowly but surely. As it no longer has a stable venue and a recognizable identity, it has been unable to stand out with respect to other Grand Slam events.

If you look at the other Grand Slam events, the Masters has Augusta, the Open has links tradition, and the US Open has notoriously brutal steps. However, the PGA Championship just feels like a high-profile PGA event with a new name.

The 2025 edition at Quail Hollow only added fuel to the criticism. For much of the event, it failed to give a vibe of a Grand Slam event. The intensity and the excitement only started coming until late Saturday or early Sunday, and both of these situations were around World No.1 and eventual champion Scottie Scheffler. His win over Jon Rahm was a roller coaster. He was on the front foot on Saturday, opening up a three-shot lead. Although his lead got cancelled in the early rounds of Sunday, he regained control on the back nine. Consequently, he cruised to a five-stroke win to land his third Grand Slam title.

Despite the historic win for Sheffler, this win felt more like another golf event rather than something to remember. There was hardly any signature experience expected from a major. Many viewers and commentators were underwhelmed with the 2025 edition, casting doubts on whether the PGA Championship has become the weakest out of the four majors.

Rising Doubts: Time for a Replacement?

The biggest problem regarding the PGA Championship is the lack of proper venues. This year’s Quail Hollow is not a venue that has been famous on the PGA Tour. The familiarity gave a vibe of a Groundhog Day with the PGA Championship, with no sense of excitement in the early days.

The venue didn’t create excitement, and the Grand Slam didn’t do it either. English pro Eddie Pepperell was amongst the most prominent critics of this year’s PGA Championship. Although he credited the event for its global potential, he believes that it doesn’t have the pedigree that it once had. The most astonishing thing is that he wanted the Players Championship to be given major status instead.

This event is held at TPC Sawgrass and is already considered the “unofficial fifth major,”. Although it is still a relatively new event, it has pedigree, prestige, and distinctiveness that the PGA Championship had back in the day.

The talks of replacing the PGA Championships with the Player’s Championships seems to be a huge and an unrealistic task. But the fact that we are even talking about it shows the discontent amongst the top players. The Grand Slam events are supposed to bring drama and excitement, and the PGA Championships didn’t tick any of those boxes.

The Case for Keeping the PGA

Despite the criticism, it is not ideal to completely write off the PGA Championships. It has one of the strongest golf fields with a rich and varied history going back to the previous century. Everyone remembers the drama when Phil Mickelson won the title in 2021, aged 50.

To bring back those exciting editions, there should be reforms made. If the venues can be rotated to some challenging and unique locations, the PGA Championships may gain the attractions that it seems to be losing.

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