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Reader's Forum Question: Last week, 13-year-old Michelle Wie competed in the Monday qualifier for the PGA Tour's Sony Open in Hawaii. Playing from the championship tees with the men, she shot a 1-over 73 but failed to earn a spot in the tournament. Should PGA Tour fields be open to anyone who can qualify, or should they have age and/or gender restrictions? Your Responses: PGA Tour Fields should have gender restrictions and age restrictions only on the Champions tour. M. Grottoli All of the tours should be open to anyone who wants to play including the LPGA. That would soon make the LPGA known as the former "Nationwide tour". Which is about as ridiculous as having ladies play on the Men's tour. The only reason for this "push" to have women play on the men's tour is MEDIA. It makes for headlines and stirs up conversation. The same applies to the Masters - Martha Burk controversy. The press can only hurt the Masters and help Martha Burk's cause. Every comment I have heard or read any by Mrs. Burk always includes about 5 or 6 'I am,' 'I'll,' 'I will,' 'My,' 'I' -- It is all about her and her organization and nothing else. G. Hetzler I feel that any person regardless of gender that can play from the same tees as the men and qualify should be able to play or compete in that tour. R. Hamilton If there was no female option from a Tour standpoint, then perhaps I would have a different perspective, but since there is an LPGA tour, have her try for that. By the way, I'm fairly sure that if her name was Michael, and she was a he, he would not be allowed to try and qualify for an LPGA event. And, also by the way, that shouldn't be allowed. S. Mohr Male and Female by age. A. Benton There is a limit to diversity. We can not be all things to all people. There is a men's golf tour and a women's golf tour and there is women's basketball and men's basketball, need I go on to all of the other sports. Yes it is interesting to see some one from another sex or age difference competing with the regulars but on an ongoing basis it will diminish the importance of the event and it will be come a spectacle rather than a competition and its importance will be lost. J. Pudvin If the person will play from the same set of tees they should be able to compete. Let the best man (person) win. N. Silver Qualifying is about talent and skills, not age or gender. J. Myrick Why do we have the different tours any way if this is to be? What would everyone think if Tiger decided to take on the Women's Tour? Would that be allowed? What an uproar that would cause.... I also believe that Private Clubs should be allowed to make their own rules for membership. Is anyone stopping a group of women to have their own Private Club? GLDUN Open means Open. How do we know it will hurt the LPGA? As the saying goes any press is good press. Golf cannot afford to be any more elitist than it already is. S. Nilson I believe she just trying to make a name for herself and get endorsements. She can't keep with the men. Pure distance will keep her from every winning on the men's tour. Sure they could do what they did up in New England and put the tees up (and what does the word equal mean to women in New England) 10 percent shorter tees??????? The worse thing coming out of all this is, it can only hurt the LPGA, and I watch more LPGA on TV than the Woods golf tour. K. Grubb Didn't something like this happen a decade or two ago when men who were struggling on the men's tour, thought it a good idea to try to qualify for spots in the LPGA events? Even secondary men could have a comparatively easy time of making a living on the ladies tour. H.J. Munck I for one feel that PGA Tour should be open to anyone who can make the cut! R. Bruening I think it is a great idea for the PGA to permit ladies (??) to play on the men's tour but to be fair and make Ms. Burk happy the LPGA must permit MEN to play on the ladies tour. This is the only fair solution in my humble opinion. Then the question would have to be addressed again when MEN win all the cash on the LPGA and the ladies go broke trying to win on the PGA. Let's let the ladies play in the Masters, again to make Ms. Burk happy, and let the men play in the majors on the LPGA. If women want to be treated as equals; let's make them equal and just combine the two tours and all play by the same rules and TEES. H. Tracy PGA Tour fields should definitely be open to anyone who qualifies. If Wie or a 5 year old can post the scores required for the tournament then just let it be. It's sad that we have to question whether a "female" or someone who is "young" in terms of qualifying. If they shoot low enough, they deserve it. It's that simple. If we are truly a just and free society, we open up opportunities for everyone and allow them to compete. Changing the rules for a specific gender or age or what have you makes it no longer sport...just an exclusive club for whoever deems appropriate to allow within their club. B. Na I think we should take the Martha Burk approach. Women should be allowed to try to qualify for all male events. Men should not be allowed to qualify for LPGA events, for fear of women in sports becoming extinct. B. Malone I feel that open qualifying should be open to anybody. All players should play under the same conditions, and course setup. The competitions I have been part of are set up based on players in somewhat similar ability from the same set of tees. I don't know how you could conduct a competition using dissimilar criteria. B. Watts
Opinions expressed in Reader's Forum are those of the individual letter writers and not of The Wire, its staff or its editorial board. Letters are edited to remove spelling and grammatical errors where possible, and The Wire staff reserves the right to edit for space. |