That Golfer Has Ovaries—Love Her! (Annika has no business playing in the all-male PGA)

Cornell Review ^ | 5/25/2003 | Joseph J. Sabia

[HamiltonJay]

No, it was a sponsor invitation granted to her, which is done in EVERY tournament. Every tournament has people invited by the sponsor, I don't understand why so many people are getting so worked up over something so stupid.

[Frapster]

I don't understand why so many people are getting so worked up over something so stupid.

You seem as worked up as the rest of us. Maybe you need to give it a rest. And fwiw my clubs are in the garage.

[jwalsh07]

Golf is a game of skill, it is difficult, but it is NOT a display of great athletic prowess

Well that necessarily means that with enough trianing and experience, you too can be earning hundreds of thousands on the golf course.

Of course that's a fallacy because absent the necessary athletic ability you'll be a hacker just like 99% of golfers.

[KneelBeforeZod]

Then you need to get out more.

You could be right. Then I might meet some triatheletes who could form my opinions for me.

[jwalsh07]

OK, here's my opinion. You're either a crappy golfer rationalizing his or her ineptness or you don't golf at all in which case you're opinion is uninformed.

I'd guess B.

[HamiltonJay]

Sorry jwalsh, but if you think Golf is a display of the greatest physical athletes well then your view of the world and mine is far different. I am not intending to take anything away from pro golfers, they are the very best at what they do. Please don't tell me that a golfer will come close to the strength of other professional athletes or have the endurance of them either.

70some strokes, walking 18 holes... it is not a sport that is physically challenging on the scale of other competative sports. Hell there is a 13 year GIRL old getting 300 off the tee coming up.. you really going to sit there and try to claim a golfer is the epitomy of the consumate athlete?

[jwalsh07]

Sorry jwalsh, but if you think Golf is a display of the greatest physical athletes well then your view of the world and mine is far different

Whoa dude, your're taking liberties with the facts on the table.

"Greates physical athletes"? LOL, who siad that?

That's as whacky as saying that golf is a game of skill absent athletic ability.

Do you golf?

[KneelBeforeZod]

sorry but I do golf. At Palo Alto municipal (crummy) and Moffet Field.

Moffet Field is better which always surprises me because its "just" a navy base golf course.

And as lousy as Palo Alto is, the staff martinets are pretty rude.

I'd play at stanfUrd university, but I hate to give them any money.

People make fun of judo and TKD which I'm better at than golf but it doesn't make me start off on an unprintable tirade.

[jwalsh07]

So you are a crappy golfer? :-}

[jwalsh07]

People make fun of judo and TKD which I'm better at than golf but it doesn't make me start off on an unprintable tirade.

PS: I think both are sports but I never tried either. I do still hit the heavy bag and speed bag in my basement though. Great cardiovascular workout for humping the hills of New England with my bag on my back.

[KneelBeforeZod]

I would call myself extremely average at golf. My bag is better than my clubs so go figure.

I've been on the receiving end of enough elbows in TaeKwonDo to call it a "real" martial art.

and the big secret about judo is that it's NOT "using force against itself." If you have enough strength and minimal skills, you can whip 90% of all comers. But some "weak" guys (like the instructor's son) are so fast and so skilled they can lock up people twice their size.

[Kevin Curry]

First, the eleven guys that were beaten by a chick should turn in their manhood cards immediately and start new careers befitting their statures; maybe organizing Sex in the City fan clubs or something. Second, just because a woman scores a fluke and beats a few men does not mean that she is qualified to golf in the PGA . . .

Actually, she proved she can be competitive with the dregs of the male players on the PGA tour. Toward the end of the tour the PGA should sponsor a special tournament comprising the bottom 10 percent of the men on the tour, and allow women from the LPGA to enter as well.

That might be a competitive male-female event. I'm not sure who would watch it, but it would solve the diversity question.

[A CA Guy]

Because it was using the men's tour as a publicity stunt.

[Qwerty]

"So it was just affirmative action in the form of a wild card? "

She got an exemption to play. The PGA saw her as a way to get more viewers, and they were right.

She's a great golfer. Why is it any skin off your nose if she plays against men?

[SB00]

If a woman golfer can prove they're good enough to play on the PGA tour then I have no problem with it. And right now Annika S is the best female player in the world but she proved last weekend she's not good enough to play on the PGA tour with the men.