Winning a major is about the glory, not about the money

There is something very special about the four Majors on the PGA Tour. 

Majors are always played on very good golf courses by golfers of the highest calibre.  They mean more than any of the other tournaments and all touring professionals who play for the glory want to win majors. 

Winning majors is not about the money, it’s all about the glory. The majors are the true measure of the true champions of professional golf, not the other 40 or so events that fill the touring professional’s calendar. 

Of course, those other 40 events are great for the cash register but they do not fill up life’s treasure chest like the majors do.

Paula Creamer just won the U.S. Women’s Open at Oakmont, one of the great courses in the U.S. It meant the world to Paula to join the list of champions who have won the US Women’s Open and to join the champions who have won at Oakmont. In winning a major, the professional also joins a list of winners at very difficult golf courses.

This weekend will see a winner crowned in the Open Championship 2010 now being played at the Old Course in St. Andrew’s. Of all the famous golf courses in the world, the Old Course is the most famous.  Some say golf has been played on the Old Course for more than five hundred years, which is about as long as the world has known about America.

There is something very special about the town of St. Andrew’s. There is no question in my mind that it is indeed the centre of the golfing universe and every golfer who takes golf seriously should pay the town at least one visit. 

I had the good fortune of making my first trip to St. Andrew’s in the summer of 2007 with my son and one of my brothers. 

The weather was typically Scottish but it opened my eyes to how much of a holy grail St. Andrew’s is to the golfing world. 

For a golfer, visiting the town of St. Andrew’s is practically a religious experience. 

The R & A, the body that supervises the playing of golf for the entire world excluding the U.S. and Mexico, is located in St. Andrew’s and sits right behind the first tee of the Old Course. It is impressive to see the many historic places in St. Andrew’s and to feel the hundreds of years of history that is embedded in every part of the town.

Winning at the Old Course is universally regarded as the greatest course upon which to win a championship. 

This weekend, someone will earn the honour of being the champion golfer for 2010, of being the Open Champion.

No greater honour can be afforded to a professional golfer than to win a major on the world’s greatest golf course. All the many champions, past and present, that have won on the Old Course will be watching and making their presence felt. n