Should there be another major outside the U.S.?

[jamo]

Outside the UK, the tournament is generally called the "British Open " , in part to distinguish the tournament from another of the four majors that has an 'open' format, the U.S. Open , but mainly because other nations with similar 'open' format golf events refer to their own nation's open event as "the open." The PGA Tour refers to the tournament as the British Open, ^{[ 15 ]} as do many media outlets in the United States, ^{[ 16 ] [ 17 ]} though U.S. TV rights-holder ESPN has taken to referring to it as The Open Championship"

I don't think I've ever heard Americans call the U.S. Open "The Open."

[sean_miller]

It's because you're a pup. Even through the 80s it was often referred to as "The Open". I have a few back issues of Golf Magazine which certainly did. I still sometimes read quotes from people (e.g. players, organizers, and volunteers) involved with both national amateur and national open championships (like the USGA and Golf Canada) where the national open is referred to as "The Open". But then maybe those people still remember stymies and the gutta percha?!?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Outside the UK, the tournament is generally called the "British Open", in part to distinguish the tournament from another of the four majors that has an 'open' format, the U.S. Open, but mainly because other nations with similar 'open' format golf events refer to their own nation's open event as "the open." The PGA Tour refers to the tournament as the British Open,[15] as do many media outlets in the United States,[16][17] though U.S. TV rights-holder ESPN has taken to referring to it as The Open Championship"

I don't think I've ever heard Americans call the U.S. Open "The Open."

[iacas]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

"Tournament name

Additionally, even the R&A; called it the "British Open" publicly until they felt it had regained enough clout to go with the snobbier "Open" title.

I will also point out that the U.S. Open has the words "Open Championship" on it (IIRC) but the Claret Jug does not.

Originally Posted by jamo

I don't think I've ever heard Americans call the U.S. Open "The Open."

I have. I still call it that sometimes. I think Roy McAvoy calls it "the Open" in Tin Cup and I think someone famously says "My God I've won the Open!" after winning it. Venturi, perhaps? I'm not sure.

[LankyLefty]

I dont think you really ever add or subtract majors they just happen... The PGA seems to be on the way out... maybe something new can replace it but you dont just decide to add a major and have it work the players has proved that.

[Shorty]

Originally Posted by jamo

I don't think I've ever heard Americans call the U.S. Open "The Open."

It's really strange. In Australia we have a tournament called The Australian Masters. In recent years it has attracted better fields than the Australian Open and is a very big event.

On Australian golf forums, many people refer to it as "The Masters" which I find really odd.  I don't know why they don't call it the Australian Masters.

I would never assume that anyone was talking about anything other than The Masters at Augusta. In the same way that even though there are several other "Masters" tournaments, they don't need to say "U.S. Masters".  So.....a newcomer to the game hears that Greg Norman won The Masters six times and gets a little confused.

People say "Who is going to The Masters this year?" and I assume they mean what you think I would assume - and it ain't a tournament in Australia. But they mean the Australian Masters. Strange.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by LankyLefty

I dont think you really ever add or subtract majors they just happen... The PGA seems to be on the way out... maybe something new can replace it but you dont just decide to add a major and have it work the players has proved that.

I don't think the PGA is on its way out. It still has the strongest field of the four majors, and that's with 20 club pros.

[ghalfaire]

Well as I said earlier I would personally vote against a fifth major if ask to vote, but won't be except here.  I would add I'm old enough to remember when "The Open" was called "The British Open", even by the British, and there was not such thing as a web site but we did have TV.  I would think a fifth major would tend to cheapen the existing four.   Will there be an asterisk on the record when someone (not likely Tiger) breaks Jack's record for most major wins?  But I'm not hard over on this and would watch a fifth major just like I watch the Australian Masters (it fact it would be a good candidate for the fifth major).  But to me if there is to be fifth major it should be in the Southern Hemisphere so we can escape the "silly season" up here.  The Northern Hemisphere already is full for the Summer with four majors and I'd bet you'll get a lot of resistance from advertisers/sponsors for any idea to dilute the viewing audience of the existing four.