Getty Images

Look, can we just cool it with the “fifth major” stuff?

There are a couple things that have become a little overplayed in the past few months. The world rankings, the power struggle between the major tours and most pertinent, the title of one of any five tournaments as the “fifth major.”

Talking to EuropeanTour.com world No. 1 Lee Westwood took another jab at Tim Finchem and the PGA Tour calling the BMW PGA Championship the true fifth major in his mind.

“The BMW PGA Championship is the biggest title that I play for outside of the Majors. It’s bigger than the World Golf Championships because of what the tournament represents for us as The European Tour,” said Westwood.

“It’s the Tour’s showcase event and obviously I’d love to win  – it is always a great event to play in and it would be nice to win a BMW tournament for the first time and it is certainly a high priority for me in any season.”

The well-documented turning down of PGA Tour cards by Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer, three of the top six players in the world, have fueled a media-inspired Cold War between the European and PGA Tours.

As a result, the top players from Europe, including Westwood and McIlroy, are skipping the PGA Tour’s flagship event, The Players Championship next week. The decision to skip the event can be construed any number of ways.

Some see it as a proverbial middle finger to the PGA Tour, while the players themselves rationalize it as simply a choice based on scheduling.

McIlroy said this week that entering the Players would mean he’s playing six times in a seven week stretch and that’s too much if he wants to be relevant in the US Open next month.

“It is a year-on-year thing,” McIlroy said. “If I played the Players, the US Open would be my sixth week in seven. That would be a lot of golf for me.

“I have said I don’t want to play more than three in a row. It is too much golf for me. I get a little lazy and lethargic if I play more than three in a row. I want to prepare well for the US Open so I had to get rid of an event and it is the Players, simple as that.”

Depending on who you ask, the Players Championship can be the fifth most important tournament or even the ninth or tenth behind the World Golf Championships and other tournaments certain players hold in high esteem.

The fact of the matter is that there is no fifth major. Sure, this is the PGA Tour’s attempt at gaining a place on the Mount Rushmore of golf tournaments, but it’s not going to happen. It would alter history too much if it were to be included as a major. Nicklaus would have 21 major titles and Tiger 15, Greg Norman would have won a major on American soil and Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott would no longer be the biggest disappointments as far as talent without a major.

In the grand scheme of golfing history, we are pretty much set in our ways as far as majors are concerned, everything else are just quality fields.

So what is Westwood and McIlroy aren’t going to play in The Players. There will still be eight of the top 10 players in the world teeing it up, assuming a healthy Tiger shows up.

Let the guys do what they want. Golfers have long been an individual contractors and if they feel snubbed or want to snub someone else, let them.

The Players is going to happen next week whether or not Lee Westwood or Rory McIlroy shows up. Let’s just enjoy the players who do.