Each year in golf there are four grand slam events, as there are in tennis. They are known as the four major championships. And there have been for 60 years or more. The question is should there be another, a fifth? Has The Players Championship done enough to join the Masters, the US Open and US PGA and the oldest of all, the Open, as one of the officially recognised blue riband events in the game?

It is an open secret that the PGA Tour in the US would like nothing more than for its flagship event to be upgraded to the status of the Masters, say. Down the years many millions of dollars have been spent on improving the course, the clubhouse and the prize money - $60 million in the past year alone.

Major championships don't have pro-ams. Nor does The Players. The Masters has a reduced number of advertisements each hour during its telecasts. So does The Players as of this year - and they're all in high definition. Moving The Players Championship from March to May as happened this year is designed to give the event its own identity. Hitherto it has been overshadowed by the Masters, which came two weeks later. Now there is a real rhythm to the season, a major championship or the next best thing, every month starting in April and finishing in August.

"To me it feels like the fifth most important event in the year" Phil Mickelson said. Words like those from the world's third ranked golfer are music to the ears of Tim Finchem, the commissioner of the PGA Tour in the US.

But, though Finchem is one of the most powerful men in golf, his powers do not include being able to grant The Players Championship, his baby, the status of a major championship. A clarion call has to arise from within the game - from journalists, from senior players, administrators, fans - and to arise naturally. So far no such call has arisen. But it may not be far away now.