Re: Just play the game.

[Snoopy the Celtics Beagle <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 02:47 PM 5/19/03 -0400, Douglas342@aol.com wrote:
>   Snoop, while your comments make some sense, there is far more to this 
> than what you say.  First, the reason she has made so much less money is 
> that the women play for much smaller purses in general.  Tiger won 
> something like 8 mil is purses last year, while Annika maybe made 5 or 6 
> mil being far more dominant on her tour than Tiger was on his.

Ok, so she's a professional golf player who wants to go where there's more 
money for the same effort.  That makes her talented AND smart.  Right 
there, she could take over the Pacers.

>     The reason why she won't do very well in comparison to the men is 
> simple:  men hit the ball further.

I have learned--and mentioned in a previous post this evening--that the 
golf parks aren't standardized.  Some places are built for power players 
and others for finesse players.  And given that I'm told that Tiger hits 
the ball further than anyone and even he doesn't win every game, tells me 
that sometimes finesse is better than sheer power, for which, once again, I 
thank the San Antonio Spurs.

>And when you are close to the green, you can "work" the ball better - like 
>putting backspin on it so the ball stops on a dime.  Annika will be 
>further from the greens and not be able to control the ball as well.  She 
>chose this tournament because it puts less premium on length, though.  Yet 
>the course would still be one of the three or four longest the women play, 
>while it is one of the shortest the men play.

But from what you say, she has--at least occasionally--had to play a park 
this big.  That means she mist theoretically ba able to handle it, even if 
it's at her outside range.

>      The part of it that really interests me is the people involved and 
> the psychology of it.  Annika says she wants to do this just to be able 
> to compare her game to the men's.  She is far and away the #1 female 
> golfer and simply wants the comparison.  She is not a publicity hound.  A 
> recent Sports Illustrated story pointed out that she is a very pretty 
> lady and could, with management, make a lot of money in commercials, but 
> she doesn't - she just plays golf.
>      And Vijay Singh, who called heron her to quit the tournament?  He 
> won this weekend and decided to drop out of next weekend's 
> tournament.  "No connection!" he says.
>      At any rate, I look forward to this event.  She clearly isn't good 
> enough to make a career on the men's tour, but as a personal challenge to 
> her, right on sister!

from what I've read, seen, and heard, Ms. Sorenstam is testing her ability 
against the best her sport has to offer.  Mr. Singh is behaving in a 
cowardly manner.  He cancelled out a week before a game he had spent months 
protesting her involvement in.  I thought civility was supposed to be at 
the core of golf.