Posted By:
Marc S.Any more than men belong in LPGA events. I really don't buy the argument that she has a bonafide reason to play there. Now -- if she is playing from the men's tees on the PGA tour event, could men play from the women's tees on LPGA tour events?
There are definitely time and places for mixed tournament events. It works in tennis, for example. However, I think it all unfortunately goes back to sponsors and their desires. As they were the conduit that permitted Annika to join this event, I think it is a sad development.
There needs to be limits -- and stretching the limits all the time becomes increasingly problematic. Okay, so now we have a woman in a PGA event, another professional golfer who gets to use a cart (whereas no one else does). What happens why you have the guy whose arms were lost in war/car accident/etc. who ends up with a bionic arm and can outdrive the competition?
It gets silly at one point -- and a sport can only be so accomodating while preserving its integrity. How accomodating and "diverse and open" must our society become in order to accomodate everyone supposedly displaced because of whatever reason....
Sports are a consumer-driven activity. Fans speak with their money -- and I think in the long-term, if fans don't want to see WNBA, for example, we should let the free market decide that. Enforcing open access only allows noise, confusion and bureaucracy to enter the equation when it really does not need to be there in the first place.