Posted on 05/29/2003 12:35:36 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Annika Sorenstam, who dominates the Ladies Professional Golf Association, became the first female golfer to play in a Professional Golf Association event in 58 years.
She finished her first day one over par, but did not make the 36-hole cut because during the second day she finished with a 74, missing the cut by four shots.
During her press conference, she sounded surprisingly down, and practically conceded that she reached beyond reasonable expectations. Hey, after one try, why not give it another shot before throwing in the towel?
In any case, many fail to realize that the PGA never forbade female competitors. Indeed, Babe Didrikson Zaharias played in a PGA tournament in 1945, making the 36-hole cut, but failing to make the 54-hole cut. By contrast, the LPGA tour, by definition, confines its entrants to females.
How did Sorenstam qualify for Texas' Colonial invitational in the first place? She received a "sponsors' exemption," which allows, by any criteria, a select number of entrants to play. Some men, at first, grumbled that she failed to qualify by playing in a tournament from the women's rather than from the men's tee. She, therefore – according to the critics – entered under less trying circumstances than those required for men.
Golfer Vijay Singh, in particular, said, "I hope she misses the cut. Why? Because she doesn't belong out here." He then quickly backed up and said, "She's the best woman golfer in the world, and I want to emphasize 'woman.' We have our tour for men, and they have their tour. She's taking a spot from someone in the field." Yet, in years past, several men received sponsors' exemptions, including past "champions" no longer competitive. Thus, she did not "take a space" from a male tour golfer.
What's the harm? Last year, the 32-year-old Swede won 13 tournaments, exerting a dominance beyond that of even Tiger Woods. Fellow LPGA player Juli Inkster likens Sorenstam to Woods, "She's the Tiger Woods of our tour. If Tiger had a 'next level' to go to, I bet he would do it. I think she's one who always wants to challenge herself and see how she stacks up against the best. The men are the best."
Sorenstam simply crushes her league. She hits a ball longer than many men. She said she made no statement concerning women – not one of those I-am-woman-hear-me-roar deals, but simply sought to elevate her game by playing with the best.
Does this mean that men can now compete in an LPGA Tournament?
Years ago, a boy in New York tried out for and made the girls' high-school field-hockey team, which state regulations allowed him to do because there was no boys' field-hockey team. New York reporter Melissa Hebert summed it up precisely when she wrote, "With girls going out for boys' teams, the question is, is she good enough? When a boy goes out for a girls' team, the question often is, is he bad enough?"
One female commentator cheered on Sorenstam and called golf a "non-gender sport." If, by that, she means both sexes play the game, sure. If, however, she suggests that most professionals possess equal skills or hit the ball just as far, she fails to properly credit Annika with abilities far beyond those of most professional female golfers.
As mentioned earlier, Annika called the Colonial a one-time event, and that she did not anticipate entering into any other male events. The Colonial, say experienced golfers, while 700 yards longer than the typical LPGA setup, remains one of the shorter men's courses with only two par fives, and thus the Colonial is one where women might likely compete more effectively. Other courses, with higher pars, likely serve more problematic for female golfers, however talented.
Still, Sorenstam beat 11 other men, and displayed poise, class and a sense of humor. Hey, if a female pitcher for the New York Yankees can throw a 95-mile-an-hour fastball, imagine the attendance.
Where is Martha Burk, the woman who banged on the gates to let women into Augusta? Where is the National Organization for Women, one of whose chapter presidents disagreed with charging Scott Peterson for double homicide in the murder of his wife, Laci, and unborn son, Conner?
As a step forward for, call it, female achievement and accomplishment – especially without the supportive agitation of some civil-rights group – this seems far more historically significant. Most male golfers offered support, and, in fact, pulled for her and cheered her on. Television ratings soared, and the event drew 400 reporters, nearly four times the customary number. Meanwhile, Burk's anti-Masters protest drew about 50 attendees, many of them members of the press.
Somehow, someway, Sorenstam pulled this off without NOW's Kim Gandy or the National Council of Women's Organizations' Burk. Say it ain't so.
Obviously you were not paying attention to her. She was embarassed by her performance and she admitted that she got her butt kicked. She said "I won't be coming back. I know where my place is."
What else do you need to know?
You may say that I do not understand professional golf, but "I don't think Annika did it for publicity reasons in any way, shape or form. I think Annika wanted to find out if she could play golf with the men. I think she found out she did credibly."
The underlined part is a direct quote from a guy named Jack Nicklaus. You know, that one guy who did that one thing on the PGA Tour? ;-)
Obviously you were not paying attention to her.
I'm certain that Nicklaus was paying attention to Sorenstam.
What else do you need to know?
Maybe you should share your vast wealth of golf knowledge with the Golden Bear. I'm sure you could instruct him about a great many things relating to professional golf. </snicker>
hook, line & sinker. Try not to cough up part of your stomach lining removing the bait.
BTW, this is the same guy who thinks Tiger Woods would shoot 52 under par weekly on LPGA tournament tracks, and who insinuated that he could beat Annika Sorenstam if he played from the whites and she played from the tips:
presidio9: "I will take it a step further. My brother, who plays college golf, but will never qualify for the PGA Tour would probably beat her too. Again, you seem to have no idea of the level of play needed to obtain a Tour card."
presidio9: "I am a 12 handicap. I have a brother who is scratch. If I play from the men's regular tees and he plays from the blues, I kick his ass straight up."
Note to Zavien Doombringer: this is how we used to gig trolls in the days before ZOT! ;-)
Could you please source this quote?
Not only that, but he is an expert in marketing.
But, then, you don't really know very much about golf, now do you?
No, I only worked on golf courses for 4 years, played golf for 27 years and won the seasonal PGA Tour golf pool at work a couple years.
Of course, that isn't much stacked up against the golf knowledge of the guy that knows more than Jack Nicklaus, I'll admit. ;-)
Hahaha!!! Now you're a smarter guy than Jack Nicklaus, huh?
My advice to you is to stop digging.
NY Post, May 23rd:
May 24, 2003 -- FORT WORTH - The putts didn't drop, the cheers didn't stop, and the tears flowed. But after missing the cut in her historic appearance in the Bank of America Colonial golf tournament, Annika Sorenstam said her emotionally and physically draining 36-hole performance would be her one and only play-for-pay foray against men golfers.
"I wasn't as tough as I thought I was," Sorenstam said, wiping away tears after following up an opening-round 71 with a 74 to finish at 145, tying for 96th and ending up four shots off the cut. "I've got to go back to my tour where I belong." All the pent-up emotion of four months of mental and physical preparation seemed to come crashing down on Sorenstam as she walked into the Colonial clubhouse to sign her scorecard. She hugged both of her playing partners (Dean Wilson and Aaron Barber), whom she thanked for being so gracious and lifting her spirits.
But she admitted she was so nervous in the first two rounds that she never could get her touch around the greens under control. Asked whether or not a one-shot deal was really a true test of her ability and if she would try to enter another PGA Tour event, Sorenstam said: "No, I will not. This has been a great week that I've enjoyed very much. I'm glad I did it, but this is way over my head."
In the interview room later, Sorenstam was still a bit weepy but never wavered from her earlier comments.
"First of all, the tension was much more than I expected," she said. "The course was a little longer [than I'm used to playing], even though the course wasn't really a problem. I didn't perform as well as I thought I would. extremely drained."
Sorenstam said she would use the week as a learning experience that will make her an even stronger competitor on the LPGA Tour. Last year, she won 13 times and won more than $2 million, clearly separating herself from the rest of her competitors.
Although she is tired, she said she was excited about playing in the LPGA event next week in Chicago.
"I know where I belong and I'm going to go back there with all this experience," she said. "I want to set records and win tournaments. . . . But I didn't want this week to end."
Sorenstam received thunderous ovations on every hole, even when she went through a stretch yesterday in which she bogeyed five of eight holes after briefly getting back to even par with a birdie on the second hole.
The gallery seemed to appreciate her gutsy play and unwillingness to give up. Her 268-yard driving average ranked her 100th in the 113-person field, and her putting was shaky, but she persevered. And the gallery - numbering at least 10,000 - responded.
Asked why she had struck such a chord with the gallery, Sorenstam welled up with tears and said, "Because I'm living a dream that I want to live."
Then, after pausing to collect herself, she asked: "Can we go with short answers?" While Sorenstam said she had played in her last men's event, she said any woman who qualifies should be able to play the PGA Tour. Some have suggested a future star could be Michelle Wie, a 13-year-old phenom who is 6 feet tall and can belt the ball prodigious distances.
We agree for the first time. You should've stopped there.
It's interesting that it took you only minutes to come up with this article, and yet you never backed up any assertion you made on the other threads.
Strange though, that the quote you gave:
"I won't be coming back. I know where my place is."
Is nowhere to be found in the story. Are you related to Maureen Dowd? You take a few sentences and rearrange them to make a much more indicting quote.
Hint: If you use quotes, the person should have actually said it the way you wrote it.
We agree for the first time. You should've stopped there.
Heck, he's not smarter than Jack Nicklaus' dog.
Don't feel bad, it's OK. Look on the bright side. Inventing quotes is a lot better than inventing another FReeper to agree with you in your agruments. (I bet you REALLY miss Wavethatflag right about now, he could really come in handy.)
, I can always cut and past this article or hundreds of similiar ones that appeared throughout the country.
How about backing up your claim that her appearance did not benefit Bank of America? I'm still waiting for you to give me evidence for that assertion
I suspect Nicklaus' dog knows when he's been beaten, and is smart enough to stop coming back for more. Can't say the same of this guy...
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