[mgjordan]

Originally Posted by mgjordan

If women are allowed to compete with men, it should go equally the other way as well. I don't see why Michelle Wie, who hits it longer than some PGA Tour players, is still allowed to compete with women. Does she not have the same advantage over them that the shorter hitting men would have? If you are going to argue "physical advantage", then you really should stick to physical advantage, not gender. If you are going to allow intergender competition, you have to change the criteria. Strength or clubhead speed should be the factor, not sex.

Look at the stats. #1 for the women was 270 yds. That would put her at about 170th on the men, just between those PGA giants Dean Wilson and Dick Mast. It would be unfair for a "weak" hitting male golfer to try to compete on LPGA. Because those male golfers hitting only 270 are hitting a very high percentage of fairways (see Fred Funk). Then they'd hit a PW when a female member is hitting an 8 or even 7 iron?

Lisa Leslie being able to dunk a basketball doesn't mean she should play for the NBA. Or more to the point, doesn't mean Allen Iverson should play in the WNBA.

When you have Michelle Wie outdriving the men she plays with on Tour, how can you not say that she has an "unfair" advantage over the women when she plays on the LPGA? What about her advantage is different from the advantage of men who hit it the same distance? I agree that in general (95% of the time) women can't compete with the men as far as distance, but what about that other 5%. I haven't checked, but I will take you word for it that Dean Wilson and Dick Mast are the only 2 men shorter than the longerst woman. Why should Dean Wilson and Dick Mast not have the opportunity to play with the women? Their disadvantage puts them in a position where they don't have much chance to win on Tour, so why not let them compete where they have a chance? A penis is not the advantage a man has over a woman. His strength and clubhead speed are. So, if you have a man who doesn't have a strength and clubhead speed advantage over the women then there is no reason he shouldn't be able to play with them other than sexism. On that same note, when you have a woman who does have a strength and clubhead speed advantage over the majority of the women she competes against and decided to take it to the next level and play with the men, why does the LPGA Tour let her back on? What about her physical advantages?

I personally don't really care. I don't think women will ever realistically be able to compete with the men. I just don't like double standards and lies. If you are going to say something, I like you to come out and say it. If the LPGA would just say "We are sexist and don't want men on our Tour, but we want to be able to have women on both Tours so we can market better and get exposure", I would have been fine with everything, but they feel the need to sugarcoat the issue and say "Men have physical advantages". Their "reason" has holes in it and isn't always valid. The LPGA Tour wants to have their cake and eat it too.