Tart Cider: Wie surrender

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July 19, 2005

Wie surrender

Colby Cosh ~~dug~~made up some 55-year-old quotes about Jackie Robinson's "abandonment" of the Negro Leagues and compared them, interestingly, to what the modern-day New York Times is saying about Michelle Wie:

…she is a female golfer's worst fear, with players on the L.P.G.A. Tour asking themselves, How can we compete with her for attention?

This is not about on-course competition or even good old jealousy. This is about women wondering if their L.P.G.A. will have the scent of chopped liver if the sport's überstar one day chooses the men's P.G.A. tour over them.

Aside from the sport, the century and the basis of segregation, there is one enormous difference between the Negro Leagues and the LPGA Tour: the majority of Negro League players would have considered themselves underpaid; no LPGA tour golfer could ever, ever make such a claim. I found this non-monetary objection interesting in that light: "Even Nancy Lopez, the gentle icon of the women's tour [ouch! –ed.]," the Times Reported, "has labeled Wie's obsession with the P.G.A. 'a little insulting' given that she hasn't won a women's tour event."

Is it insulting, or is it embarrassing? This is a tour that recently saw two amateurs with a combined age of 36 finish second and third at the most important tournament on the schedule. One of those amateurs — 17-year-old Morgan Pressel — was playing in her third US Women's Open, and it wasn't three in a row. I can't be the only one who looks at Wie's absolutely gorgeous swing, compares it to the laborious, halting monstrosities you see among much of the old guard, and wonders: hey, just what the hell have these ladies been doing for the last ten years?

Is it insulting, or is it frightening? A sudden surge of fresh talent should be a happy time for any sport, but "women's golf" isn't a sport. As I wrote way back in December 2003, it's simply a construct designed to ensure that female professional golfers get paid far more than they deserve:

Driving distance and sand saves (the ability to save par from a bunker) are the only remotely gender-neutral statistics kept by all the tours. The top ten money winners on the LPGA tour [on December 6, 2003] had a combined average drive of 258 yards and won a total of $11,009,866. The top ten money winners on the Nationwide Tour [one step down from the PGA], meanwhile, took home well less than a third of that — $3,198,390 — while hitting the ball an average 55 yards longer off the tee. Those same men got up and down from the bunker an average of 52.6 percent of the time, while the top ten ladies, playing on easier courses, managed just 43.8 percent.

If only skills counted, in other words, the lady golfers of the world would be out an awful lot of money.

I don't blame Wie (or any other superior women's golfer) for one second for taking advantage of whatever back doors she can open into PGA tournaments. In three years she could conceivably (though not likely) parlay that into a partial or full PGA tour exemption — the same trick Bill Haas unsuccessfully tried. She doesn't need the LPGA paycheques — endorsement deals will give her all the money she ever needs — so why wouldn't she try to work her way up the men's hierarchy? I don't have anything against LPGA golfers, but it's always nice to see someone fighting for equal pay for equal work, whether they realize that's what they're doing or not.

Posted by Chris Selley at July 19, 2005 11:41 PM

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Comments

I may be mistaken here, but wasn't Cosh's point that those types of quotes were not made in reference to Robinson's move to the bigs (i.e., the quotes are fake).

This doesn't, however, affect your point.

It does bring up the question of whether there should be separate men's and women's anything. Heck, next thing you know someone will start claiming that their daughter's rights are being violated by not letter her in the boy's changeroom.

Posted by: sacamano at July 20, 2005 01:23 AM

Yes, Sacamano, that was definitely Cosh's point. I didn't get it until I read the Times article, and then, giddy as I was with the opportunity to rant once again against the LPGA — which I hate so very much — I neglected to alter the post accordingly. Thanks.

Posted by: Chris Selley at July 20, 2005 09:30 AM

Kind of off-topic, but that's how Tiger Woods got on the tour - took 5 (7?) sponsor's exemptions, and then made enough money to get in the Top125, not to mention winning a tourney, which also gets you exempt.

Posted by: Matt at July 20, 2005 11:04 AM

If the LPGA wasn't an inferior and protected tour, wouldn't we see John Daly out there funding his various habits? He could be THE QUEEN of the tour, drink beer throughout his round, and make far more money than he would on the men's tour.

It would be an absolute farce if John Daly drove the green on a par 4 in a women's golf tournament, so why shouldn't Michelle Wie hold herself to a higher standard, too?

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July 19, 2005

Wie surrender

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