Annika’s Equity in Equality
From the Cheap Seats
by Chris Hahn
Annika Sorenstam is going to play in the Colonial, a PGA Tour event. And for all the nonsense that has gone on with golf and gender topics recently, I have just two words: Thumbs up!
Over the past year (and in the months to come culminating with The Masters in April) the game of golf has had to deal with gender issues at Augusta, regional qualifying tournaments, and sponsor’s exemptions. While most of them have been ridiculous wastes of time and sporting news space, I’m glad to see the enthusiasm and reasonableness that has surrounded Annika’s admission into a men’s event.
Unless you’ve been roaming the rough looking for an errant tee shot the past year, you’ve heard about Martha Burk and her planned protests for The Masters in a couple months. The private club refuses to admit a female member just because she said it should, so Burk has spent unfathomable time and energy in making a story about it. The whole concept and right of a private club is that the members have the right to admit who they do and don’t want…regardless of anyone else’s opinion. Would it be the morally ‘right’ thing for Augusta National to do by admitting a woman? Probably. Is there anything legally wrong with their decision? Nope. Funny thing is, even the vast majority of females I talk to think she’s an idiot. But Burk has decided to hang her hat on this issue, as opposed to spending valuable time on the places where legitimate wrong is being done with regard to women’s equality. Martha Burk doesn’t want what women want…Martha Burk wants women to have what she wants.
Enter Annika. A female golfer who will hopefully save women from Burk. Sorenstam has the opportunity to replace Burk as the woman who is talked about in connection with the PGA Tour, and she’ll be doing it the right way. Annika will be playing the same course from the same tees under the same conditions. She’ll be doing more for gender equity than Burk could possibly fathom.
All that being said, there’s an interesting catch-22 developing here. Burk has openly gone shopping for figureheads to take a stand beside her on the issue. She berated the best PGA Tour men for not supporting her cause (forget the fact that their wives, girlfriends, and daughters probably support their decision). Her proposal, by the way, is boycott The Masters and potentially other Tour events. So would she dare suggest Sorenstam show her female pride by not playing in the Colonial? We’ll see, but don’t count on it.
My hope is that Annika plays well. I don’t think she’ll be in contention to win, but I will be rooting for her to make a respectable trip around all 72 holes. Burk sliced the tee shot for women’s equality far from Amen Corner. Here’s hoping Annika will cozy the mulligan onto the green.