Posted on 05/19/2003 7:04:48 AM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
IRVING - We regret to inform you that Vijay Singh, your freshly crowned Byron Nelson tourney champion, will not be golfing in Fort Worth this week.
Pity.
Vijay and Nick Price would have made a grand two-man welcoming party at the Bank of America Colonial.
A committee of champions. Singh won the EDS Byron Nelson tournament Sunday, playing with unflagging focus to finish 15 under par for the four days. And Price, at age 46, finished second, putting together rounds of 66, 70, 66 and 65.
All from the men's tees, it might be catty to point out.
While the hype machine was launching blimps and quoting Susan B. Anthony for the impending arrival of Annika Sorenstam, Singh and Price were over here with the fellas, playing golf -- and putting their scorecards where their mouths were.
In recent days and weeks, both men were ingloriously quoted saying negative things about Sorenstam's historic Colonial appearance.
Yet, Singh had 21 birdies over the four days at the Nelson. Price shot 13 under par.
I don't think the bad pub is hurting their golf games. These guys can play.
If anyone deserves a more hospitable welcome mat this week, the nominee should be Price. For 20 years, he has been one of the PGA Tour's most affable ambassadors. Honest and approachable. A winner of 18 tournaments on the tour, including three majors.
He is also a two-time winner in Fort Worth and Colonial's defending champion, yet you'd have to look under a lot more rocks this week to find that.
"You said it," Price said Sunday, after a long, seemingly exasperated pause. "I mean, I have answered more questions about Annika than how I'm playing, for the last -- how long has she been invited? -- three months?
"She had, what, 41 other tournaments she could have chosen?"
Contacted in March, Price said of the invitation to Sorenstam, "It's not right. I mean, why can't we go play the ladies' tour? It's not right. That's all I can say. This just reeks of trying to find publicity. Why? What's she trying to prove?"
Of course it's about publicity. Publicity is why Bank of America spends millions of dollars to attach its name to a golf tournament.
Price also objects, however, to Sorenstam being handed one of the sponsor's exemptions. The precious few spots should go to golfers who have earned them, preferably on the same field of play.
Yet, some have cast Price's and Singh's stance on exemptions as Neanderthal. Sexist.
Some of the same people who have been calling Singh and Price names, let me suggest, belong to guilds or unions. And they would cry foul as well, if a non-card carrying plumber or flight attendant was invited to work alongside them for a week.
One infamous incident comes to mind. In 1992, Kemper Open officials thought it would be a cool idea -- good publicity? -- to invite local hero Mark Rypien, the quarterback of the local Washington Redskins, to play in their tournament on a sponsor's exemption. Rypien had been a regular hot shot on the celebrity golf tour.
At Kemper, he shot 80-91 and missed the cut by 28 strokes. More than one party involved was left with a red face.
Adding to the Kemper legend was an incident in the clubhouse where pro Neal Lancaster bellowed how he wanted to kick a few field goals for the Redskins, and he wondered aloud whether there was anyone around who might be able to arrange it.
Alas, Singh won't be in Fort Worth to fight for his share of headlines this week. He pulled out Sunday, offering the excuse, "I told my wife last week that if I won this week, I will take next week off."
Players have backed out of tournaments for lamer reasons, but at the moment, none come to mind.
"Vijay is a straight-up person," Price said Sunday. "You always know where you stand with him. I don't think he meant to say that he wants Annika to miss the cut.
"But he sure got crucified this week."
Inevitably, Singh would have been badgered this week about his comments about Sorenstam. But when he was asked if that probability figured into his decision to withdraw from Colonial, Singh let the interviewer play through.
"Not really," he said. "It was a decision not made this week. I said if I won a tournament, I would take a week off. It just came at the right time.
"Just as well."
Singh chuckled when he said that. When Price called him "straight-up," he must have been talking about Vijay's putting stance.
If he had anything to say, Singh left the impression that he and Price said it Sunday. It was there for all to read on the Nelson scoreboard.
Yes, these guys can play. And, this week, we'll see if the new girl can, too.
"I wish her the best of luck," Price said. "I really do.
"She has a big heart; I'll give her that. I don't think I would be able to do what she's going to do next week."
At the risk of painting with a broad brush, I do sense this is a cultural thing with ViJay. I don't believe he's concerned about losing to her but he's not going to play because he really doesn't believe she should play in a "men's tournament".
This past week brought us the Byron Nelson and all anyone wanted to talk about was Annika and The Colonial.... excuse me , THE BANK OF AMERICA COLONIAL.
Regardless of the side issues, B of A got the absolute most out of their soponsor's exemptions and you've got to admire their PR department (from a pure business stand point at the very least) for pulling this off.
Don't cry to me about "taking some more worthy golfer's place", part of the sponsorship package includes several exemptions for whomever that sponsor may want. In this case, B of A used one to create the most hype surrounding this tournament in it's history.
Annika may or may not make the cut, but I feel pretty certain this will wind up in a Harvard Business School text book as a case study in brilliant sports marketing.
Apply this same advice to your comment about the 5-iron and putter. What kind of score do you think your 100 buddies who need a sponsor's exemption in order to get into a PGA tournament would post through two days of playing from the championship tees on a course like Colonial? 8 under? 5 under? even par? Not likely.
From what I've heard, Annika's short game is comparable to an average player on the PGA tour, but her putting is very good. I think it will be interesting to see how she fares against the men on the tour. I guess every guy that she beats will probably think "Wow, I guess I should have just brought my 5-iron and my putter instead of all 14 clubs."
What's so historic about getting into a tournament just because you're a woman. She didn't even qualify!
Hahahahaha. That really is funny. It will be interesting to see if you see "Lady Titelist" imprinted on the @$$ of any of the PGA players next week.
The LPGA bylaws specifically exclude men.
Who would that be?
You are the one without a clue. According to my sister-in-law, who is a top executive with one of the major sponsors on the PGA, Senior PGA, and LPGA, the sponsor can hand out something like four exemptions to just about anyone they want (the other four go to active touring pros who are otherwise not qualified). In most cases, the sponsor gives the exemption to either top ranked amateurs (like Tiger before he went pro or that 16 year old kid we have seen of late) or has beens, who have served the sponsor well over the years (can you say Jack, Arnie, Lee, and Gary?).
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