The TPC is indeed something special. In many respects it is because of the rich traditions and respect for the event and the course itself held by players and fans alike.
Like the Kentucky Derby; it is an affair to celebrate. It is every bit as much a major as the roving US Open and the Open Championship. If those were played at Pebble Beach and Royal St. Andrews every year, the traditions and the hallowed hallways and locker rooms would have a much deeper meaning.
The US Open is a major because of the field, the combined field of professionals and dreamers and the tough ( read: sometimes ridiculous) set up provided by the USGA. But, deliver it to New York’s Bethpage with drunken “fans” taunting foreign competitors and throwing junk on the fairways and it is easy to see why The TPC is something special and a real championship of something.
See it reads even better this way.