Annika Meets the Boys at Colonial [Finishes Day +1]

CBS Sports/USA Network and PGA.com ^ | May 22, 2003 | Jim Nantz

[ewing]

LPGA player Annika Sorenstam will be teeing off shortly in a men's PGA event at the Colonial Country Club [the first time in 60 years this has happened]

Live shot for shot coverage as long as she is in contention to make the cut on USA Networks, PGA Radio is free today for those cubicle bound and wanting live update (link included)

[cschroe]

Wait a minute, that's contrary to what the USGA Handicapping manual says.....

 b. Same Tees: Men vs. Women 

Men and women playing from the same set of tees will have different USGA Course Ratings. Since the women’s Course Rating usually will be higher, women receive additional strokes equal to the difference between the USGA Course Ratings, with .5 or greater rounded upward.

Example: If women playing from the middle tees where the women’s Course Rating is 77.3 compete against men playing from the middle tees where the men’s Course Rating is 70.9, the women will add six strokes (77.3 - 70.9 = 6.4 rounded to 6 strokes) to their Course Handicaps.

The adjustment shall be added to the players’ Course Handicaps even if it causes a Course Handicap to exceed the maximum possible for the Slope Rating of the set of tees being played.

[puroresu]

Basically, this whole thing is a stunt. The truth is, in most sports there are a few top tier females who could perform at a decent level against the males. Not a winning level, but a decent level. You can take the very best females in most sports, put them in against the males, and the very upper tier of females will perform at what most would call a passable level. They might outperform some of the lower tier males. They might even outperform a few higher level males who are having an off day. But they would never be a championship threat, and their presence would merely underscore the fact that the very best women in most sports are only about as good as a lower tier male, or on occasion an upper tier male who is in a slump.

Just see what would happen if Tiger Woods demanded the right to play in the LPGA. There would be outrage and hysteria from the feminists, who would call him a bully. He'd be universally derided as a coward for "picking on the girls" instead of playing against his fellow males. If he played in an LPGA tourney and won, which he almost certainly would, it would be derided as a cheap win and he'd be treated as a thief who unfairly "stole" the ladies' winning purse money.

Men are simply stronger than women. That's why we have different leagues for them. Men are expected to respect the women's leagues, but it's considered "cute" and even "progressive" when the women try to invade the men's tourneys. It's the same deal as when men's colleges like VMI are forced to sexually integrate, while women's colleges are sacred turf where women retain the right to exclude men.

I have nothing against women's sports. It's great if women have their own golf leagues, or basketball leagues, or whatever. But it's silly to glorify a top tier female athlete for performing at a barely adequate level when she invades the male leagues.

[You Dirty Rats]

Under your proposal, there would be no women's scholarships in most sports since women cannot compete with men in most sports. A rather jaundiced view of "fairness" IMHO.

[ewing]

I think Westchester was the tournament before the US Open for many years exactly for that reason.

[dwilli]

If your son had played his first PGA event today and shot a one-over, You'd be down to see your lending officer with him as collateral.

[Bob J]

It sounds like she was playing not to lose.

[OldFriend]

As a woman I am unamused at women insisting they be allowed into every man's club, sport, facility, etc.

The tennis women demand equal pay for less work. Ridiculous and IMHO demeaning. But then, I'm sure my opinion counts for nothing to the elitists.

[kevkrom]

Whoops. I was going from memory and did not realize that a course could have different ratings from the same tees.

[ewing]

Interesting point, the crucial fact is that Annika was playing her very best 'not to lose' and to make pars like the Men's US Open while everyone else in the field was attempting to fire at the flags all day long.

Huge difference...

[over3Owithabrain]

Well put, perhaps you'll get flamed less than I because of your eloquence. It's funny, equal treatment is demanded, but when it's given, everyone freaks. If Annika was a man considered to be a top pro, we'd be talking about how poorly or mediocre she played, and how far off the lead she is. But because the "poor woman" didn't play horribly and beat 1/10 of the men she's to be lauded. How is that equality?

[proud_2_B_texasgal]

><> If your son had played his first PGA event today and shot a one-over, You'd be down to see your lending officer with him as collateral. <><

LOLOL .. GREAT point! It's all PERSPECTIVE, isn't it??

[presidio9]

9 out of 10 times on the PGA tour if you play the low risk game that Annika did today, a player will be going home on the weekend.

Which is what happened to a lot of the players she is in front of. Scott McCarrom is three behind Sorenstam because he triple-bogeyed 15. He's trying to win some money to put food on the table, not "prove" some vague point. Somebody mentioned Lee Janzen. Lee has struggled for a few years now, and had fallen to, like, 75th on the money list. But he shot 1-over because he had 4 bogeys to go with his three birdies. Golf is a risk-reward sport. Today he payed. Annika had, what, 4 putts for birdie today? Five?

[Bob J]

"A lot" would have to be defined. I'm sure she's better than some, probably some of the new kids. Anna has more experience.

[pegleg]

It's also true that Annika Sorenstam is probably as good or better than a lot of the men on the PGA tour.

If Annika had to make a living competing on the PGA Tour she would loose her tour card after the first year. That’s assuming she could earn it in the first place.

[Thommas]

Name one sport where the best women would beat the best men any more than once in a hundred. Archery, curling, bowling, darts, skeet shooting...

Archery with a 100# draw bow? Hehe.. I didn't think so. Oh, and yes I can use the 100# draw and hit the pie plate at 50 yds., thank-you.

[ewing]

[1Old Pro]

9 out of 10 times on the PGA tour if you play the low risk game that Annika did today, a player will be going home on the weekend.

Yep, playing par or one over will make you go broke on the PGA tour.

[presidio9]

I play Quaker Ridge all the time. Colonial is a muni course compared to Quaker.

[Bob J]

I believe the Colonial halves the field for Saturday.

[over3Owithabrain]

The difference is Annika is at her peak, the hypothetical son you refer to would presumably be just starting out and not yet at his best. This was the greatest current woman golfer doing well by not stinking it up. She can't play a whole lot better than today, save for a few putts. Not meant to insult.