Tim Finchem may consider the Players Championship to be golf's fifth major, but for me, that honor goes to this week's NCAA Northeast Regional at Galloway National Golf Club in New Jersey, near Atlantic City. That's because my alma mater, Columbia, is in the field.
Granted, they are the 13th seed in a 14-team field, and has as much chance of advancing to the finals at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, as Cornell did of reaching the Sweet 16 in the NCAA basketball championships.
But just reaching this level is a huge achievement for a golf program at a school in the middle of the biggest city in the country, where the nearest course, Van Cortlandt, is located 14 stops away on the 1 line. (Believe me, a crowded subway car is no place for a golf bag.)
