In short, it’s not. But it’s that time of the year where The Players Championship is upon us, and with it comes all the mentions of it being the ‘Fifth Major’ among men’s golf tournaments. It restarts a long standing debate on whether it should be recognized as such or just remain ‘unofficial’.

A major is one of the most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf. A tournament cannot be considered a major tournament, just because it’s played every year in one of golf’s elite courses, brings together arguably the best field of players and offers the biggest purse in all of golf. It’s not that simple.

Wait, what else does a tournament has to do to become a major tournament? In reality is not that easy.

Opinion is divided among the players and fans alike. The Players is called by some golf's "unofficial fifth major", but there are also some people who believe it should officially be recognized as the fifth major, joining The Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship as a major championship.

One thing every member of the PGA Tour agrees on is that The Players is the most important tournament outside of the four majors. And the PGA Tour itself has been pushing the idea for some time that The Players deserves major status.

But it currently is not considered an official major and faces an uphill battle of issues to overcome.

One argument is that America doesn’t need any more majors. Of the current four, three are held in the U.S. With the globalization of golf, many consider a fifth major must come from either Australia or a country like South Korea in Asia.

The Australian Open, being the national championship of a golf-minded country and with so many great golfers that have come out of it could be the home for it. People are golf crazy on South Korea and the growth has been exponential there; they could also claim to hold golf’s official fifth major.

Another argument is the existence of the four annual World Golf Championships (WGC) tournaments. Three of the four WGC events exceed the major championships in prize money, while the HSBC Champions (promoted to WGC status in 2009) has a top prize comparable to that of the majors.

There is also a debate on the ones who consider them just below the major championships and above all other competitions. But there is the other school that preaches The Players is above the WGC events.

Another thing to consider is possible scheduling conflicts it would create for the pros. Right now the calendar flows, and with four majors, four WGCs, the four on the FedEx Cup playoffs and The Players becoming a fifth major, from a player’s point of view is a clogging nightmare.

There is also the ones who defend tradition. They argue it should stay the way it is with the current four majors and there is no need to add a fifth. I would argue that you cannot call winning all four in one year a ‘Grand Slam’; maybe it would be known as the ‘Grand Pentagon’.

But anything can happen, especially if the PGA keeps blowing in everyone’s ears that The Players is golf’s ‘fifth major’. When you repeat something enough, it would catch up. Thing is, it has already been 38 years.

One thing that could influentiate men’s golf to make a move is the LPGA. The LPGA Tour made its fifth major official, elevating the stature, beginning this year, of the Evian Championship, its event in Évian-les-Bains, France.

The LPGA tour doesn’t have a full schedule yet, but believes adding a fifth major is a step in the right direction, and it may have a point. Will the men one day follow the women’s lead? Only time will tell.

Whichever the future outcome on whether The Players Championship becomes the PGA Tour’s fifth major over coming all the obstacles; it’s always a great tournament to watch and follow. Seeing the arguably the year’s best players’ field playing championship golf over a stadium course, it’s already worthy of some major watching.