“…the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930. The new definition of what is – and isn’t – a planet fills a centuries-old black hole for scientists who have labored since Copernicus without one.”

RONMON:These words echo the thoughts of many who follow professional golf, as they seem to be the beacon of light in the darkness of PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem’s period of great expansion. Bent on creating five majors for both the Champions and PGA tours, the commish has pushed his Players Championship to May, and has designated five events (one currently being played) as majors on the Champions tour.

“For now, membership will be restricted to the eight “classical” planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.”

RONMON:What if we restrict the major championship membership to the four “classical” events…US and British Opens, Masters and PGA, and ignore anything remotely labeled as a Champions Tour major? If old guys want to get together and play for lots of money, and if they can, great! Don’t pretend to draw a correllation between their big events and the true majors.

“Much-maligned Pluto doesn’t make the grade under the new rules for a planet: “a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a … nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit…Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune’s.”

RONMON: who would not agree that, no matter where you place it, the Players Championship’s oblong orbit overlaps with the other major championships? Who would not concur with the fact that three consecutive events on the Champions Tour, designated as majors, represents an even more heinous orbital overlap?

There has always been a bit of distance between events, a month at the least, between the four professional majors. There used to be lots of distance between the eight planets, too, until 1930, when Walt Disney exercised his influence and had Pluto declared a planet. A little distance goes a long way toward preserving some measure of reference for generations to measure greatness among players from different eras.

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