It's that time of year again when we sit back with a bag of popcorn and watch with car-crash fascination the number of golf balls dunked into the water at TPC Sawgrass' 17th hole. The island par three is probably the most recognisable hole of all to the casual golf viewer, given the attention it receives at The Players Championship.

Since 2003, when such records began, an average of 48 balls per tournament have found the water from the tee. Last year it was below average, with 'only' 38 balls lost over the four rounds. And a reminder, the hole is 137 yards (125m), and these are the world's elite professionals.

As the great Jack Nicklaus said: 'You knew you were in trouble when you got on the tee. No matter what – you knew sooner or later it was going to get you.'

Again though, the topic of whether the 'unofficial fifth men's Major' should become an official Major is up for debate. The players themselves love the tournament, the course and the timing in the schedule – not to mention the prize money – but there's more opposition to the idea than support.

Rory McIlroy, who last year became the sixth men's golfer to complete the Grand Slam, argues that it's 'fine as it is'. He then takes aim at the women's game by saying: 'The women introduced a fifth Major and look where that got them'.

There's no disputing that the professional women's game plays second fiddle to the men's, and the majority of casual golf fans would be hard pressed to name all five women's Majors, but have no trouble rattling off the men's four. Equally, the majority will know that Nicklaus has most men's (18), with Tiger Woods on 15. How many know that the women's leaders are Patty Berg (15) and Mickey Wright (13)?

The beef with the men's Major programme is the PGA Championship, widely considered the weak link of the quartet. It's regarded in low esteem because it's not played on an iconic course, it doesn't have a settled spot in the calendar, and it generally doesn't have the gravitas of the Masters, US Open and The Open Championship. However, it regularly has the strongest field assembled of the entire year.

Golf, despite the changes in the sport, remains steeped in tradition and history, and you don't want to be changing history. For instance, if the Players was to become the fifth Major, it would remove Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan and Gary Player from the list of Grand Slam winners, leaving only Nicklaus, Woods and McIlroy. Nicklaus won the first Tournament Players Championship in 1974 before it was changed to The Players Championship in 1988.

But, if a Major was added to the men's schedule, why would it be in the USA, where there are already three of the four. What about Africa's Major? Asia's? The answer, simply, is eyeballs. In the USA last year, The Open was only the fifth most viewed.

The greatness of a golfer is measured by the number of Majors they have won, but the real currency is how they stood out against their own generation. Nicklaus and Woods lead on both counts. Of the current crop, McIlroy and Brooks Koepka have won five Majors and Scottie Scheffler four. Do any of those figure in the mythical list of top 10 all-time best by any additional metrics? Probably not.

I'm with those who say leave things as they are, despite this topic becoming a rinse and repeat saga every year. It's largely centred on the 17th hole drama, that postage stamp green from 125 metres away. In fact, when we analyse TV viewership figures in the United States, last year's The Players final round attracted 4-million viewers. The Masters topped the charts with a 12m average final-round viewership, followed by the US Open (5.4m), PGA Championship (4.7m), Tour Championship (4.4m), RBC Heritage (4.3m) and The Open (4.1m).

Read more on THE MAIN EVENT here.

Gary Lemke