Re: Miss Wie qualifying and playing PGA Events

The other tour is the Nationwide tour + any number of mini tours. The course length is 6900 to 7400 yards. LPGA events are about 6100 to 6300 yards. the length advantage would be too great for men at LPGA events. There are only a handful of women in the world who could think of being competitive at PGA events. Notice the PGA tour is not the MPGA (mens professional golf association). So, if a women could compete on this length course, more power to her.

Re: Miss Wie qualifying and playing PGA Events

In understand your argument, xix, and to a large degree I agree - a woman is now taking the place of another male golfer who would have otherwise had a chance to make the cut (I realise this is just a golf-centralised version of the sexual revolution). On the other hand, I get msklar92's POV... there wouldn't be too many women on the LPGA once men decided to play their events (in theory). They'd have to adopt a 'female content' rule à la the Canadian Football League (which states that 25% of players must be Canadian), but it does certainly smack of discrimination.

Obviously the answer is to have a UPGA (universal), or single APGA (american), and let the boys and girls compete at the same level - Men from the back tees, and Women from the middle.

As it stands, if a woman wants to compete in a PGA event, from the same tees as the men, go ahead. I do, however, feel bad for rookie Joe Golfer that may miss an opportunity to play the tournament because of it.

Re: Miss Wie qualifying and playing PGA Events


I thought the reason for having an LPGA was so that the best women golfers could compete against each other with a fair chance of winning, on the assumption that most or all of the best women golfers do not have much chance of winning against the best male golfers. That is, the LPGA exists to provide an opportunity to women that they otherwise wouldn't have. The underlying premise is that men have a natural advantage when it comes to distance, and at the top levels of the game that advantage is enough to keep them from doing well most of the time.

If all of that is correct, then any woman who chooses to compete against men is accepting the disadvantage of hitting with less distance than most of their competitors. If a woman chooses to compete under those conditions, I can't see any reason not to allow it.

But the converse doesn't hold. A man choosing to play on the LPGA tour would have an unfair advantage over the rest of the field, by being able to hit the ball farther than most of the other competitors. The advantage is allegedly unfair because the man possesses it not by greater skill and training, but simply by being born with a man's physical power.

Of course, segregating the sexes is not a perfect way to achieve fairness in competition, because it's not the case that men always hit longer than women. Fred Funk and Corey Pavin are two of the shortest hitters on the PGA tour, averaging 270 and 260 yards, respectively. In the LPGA, Brittany Linicome is averaging 270 and Annika Sorenstam is at 264. Michelle Wie seems to be averaging around 270. She's 16 and may well get a little stronger over the next few years.

This only shows that the longest hitters among the women are comparable to the shortest hitters on the men's tour. But the short end of the LPGA, in terms of driving distance, is down around 235 yards. No one on the men's tour is that short. I don't think it would be unfair for Funk and Pavin to compete against the women on the LPGA tour. Funk,at 10th place in the PGA money leaders, might not want to. Pavin, at 99th place, just might.

So one way to go might be to have two distance classes, and forget gender. The trouble with this idea is that the longer distance class would be dominated by men, but the shorter distance class would also tend to be dominated by men, because while only a few women can hit a ball more than 260, plenty of men can. I doubt this is what anyone wants to see. So the current system may be the best compromise, and if a few women choose to play "uphill" against the men's field they do it knowing they are going against the odds. I don't see a problem.

Re: Miss Wie qualifying and playing PGA Events

I other thought. It is not just driving distance but more critically iron distance. Shorter irons into the green are much more accurate.

Re: Miss Wie qualifying and playing PGA Events

No male golfer with any self-respect whatsoever would even dream of playing on the LPGA tour. What would be the glory for a man winning the women's 100-meter dash in the Olympics? None.

I understand the idea of speaking in hypotheticals, but c'mon...

Re: Miss Wie qualifying and playing PGA Events

agree with above.

Re: Miss Wie qualifying and playing PGA Events

My personal bias is that younger golfers should play as amateurs through college, focus on getting an education and then if they feel so inclined try to qualify for the pros. I know some phenoms are entering the pros in all different sports at early ages as they are lured by the dollars and have the ability to compete at that level. It is almost understandable in some sports when the injury factor looms large. However, I think this is much less of consideration in golf.

Re: Miss Wie qualifying and playing PGA Events

I'm with you, msklar92. There's so much to be picked up when you play through college - from your coach and from life and competition, that I think young kids miss. Why do you think Kobe Bryant is labelled 'uncoachable'? Because he never had to play in a system where the coach called all the shots. Sure, Jackson is a tough coach, but Jerry West will be damned before their franchise player rides pine to 'learn a lesson'.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I think Wie should have WON some events (ie learned to win) before making this choice. And I'll follow again that I would have turned pro for $10 million dollars at 16, too.

Re: Miss Wie qualifying and playing PGA Events

And remember what happened to Ty Tryon.

Re: Miss Wie qualifying and playing PGA Events

The LPGA tour needs Michelle Wie, end of story. They need a young audience and to attract them they need a superstar at that age. The pressure to turn pro was too great. Nike needed a foothold in the womens game and she was the only one that wasnt already spoken for that would give them the exposure they crave. Even if it all collapses they will make their 10mil back in a couple of seasons on the back of sales of their womens range of golf wear and clubs. How long before a set of Michelle Wie irons and a Nike One Pink???

As some of us have lamented before the game has fallen into the clutches of the corporations. I for one will avoid all forms of Nike gear until such time as their equipment passes muster (which only their copycat blades do at the moment). I tried the Nike One and the only thing I could think to say about it was that it wasnt as bad as the HX Tour.....

D.

Re: Miss Wie qualifying and playing PGA Events

It's a testament to Wie's amazing abilities that she's made finishing near mid-pack in a PGA Tour event look "easy." You mentioned Tiger Woods at age 16. At age 16, Tiger played in his first PGA Tour event and missed the cut by 4 or 5. He was, in fact, to miss his first seven cuts on the PGA Tour (from ages 16 to 19), usually by much larger margins than Wie has. It also took Tiger 23 rounds before he scored a round in the 60s on the PGA Tour. It took Wie all of 2 rounds...at age 14.

Also note that Wie qualified and played in the "men's" US Amateur Public Links this year, perhaps the second strongest men's amateur event in the US, and one that hitherto had never seen a female player of any age. She was the youngest player to advance to the quarterfinals of matchplay and she lost to the eventual champion. There were no 15 year-old boys who could keep up with her and there was only one player even close to her age to get that far, Anthony Kim, a member of the US Walker Cup Team who was one or two years older.

Re: Miss Wie qualifying and playing PGA Events

Excuse me if I digress, I would like some discussion on Michelle Wies recent disqualification.I think it was handled very badly and does not reflect very well on the guy that blew the whistle or the rules officials.

Re: Miss Wie qualifying and playing PGA Events

This thread is straying too far off topic from my original question which was :-

"If Michelle Wie is allowed to qualify for PGA events ,should males be allowed to qualify for LPGA events and ,if not, is this discriminatory?"

Re: Miss Wie qualifying and playing PGA Events

Crank up a new thread, Auldyn.