Annika Sorenstam

Annika Sorenstam I think she can give the PGA Tour a run for their money.

She is a great eg of a female in sport.
Looking forward to this for sure.

I contend that Tiger would still whoop her, but it’s cool to see a woman doing so well.

Vijay is a pussy.

Brad

I’d liek to see Tiger take on the women one of these days. Hey, it’s only fair. Oh yeah, I’m going to try out for the women’s swim team. What a joke.

I still don’t understand why people would be upset with her playing in the PGA, if she’s good enough. As long as she does not get any special treatment (other than a separate locker room at the club house :slight_smile: ), I see no problem with it.

Hijack: In my state, if a girl was good enough to play football, then she had to be allowed on the team, since there wasn’t a football team for the girls. (You gotta be fair, right?) The problem was that the guys didn’t have a volleyball team to play on. I wondered why no guy ever tried to play volleyball. That would have been fun.

To Jared,

The only legitimate argument there is to keeping her off of the tour is that she has not qualified for it. Arguments based on the fact that she is a girl and should stay out of the mens way are just pure egotistical chavaunism. However, the fact that she did not have to go through Q school or the nike tour does show favortism which is wrong.

Is she hitting of the men’s tees or the ladies’ tees?

Just curious, as I haven’t been watching – but that can shorten a course up quite a bit, and I know they have let other women hit from the ladies’ tees while playing in men’s tourneys – albeit below the PGA level.

theres a reason why in all the different sports, men and women have their own category. we separate men from women, cause men are much stronger and much more powerful than women. as far as Anika goes, she will be lucky if she makes the cut, she maybe a great great female golfer, but against the men, shes very very ordinary. the next thing you know, there will be a woman wanting to box Roy Jones Jr. someday, this is going to get a woman hurt, then what.

Annika’s first round was fantastic, the pressure she was under was immense and her ball striking was excellent. Her short game is not that good (compared to PGA standards). Here are some stats with the PGA ranking in brackets.
Driving Distance 275.4 (163rd)
Driving Accuracy .738 (8th)
Total driving Dist+Acc ranks 171 (75th)
Greens in Regulation .765 (1st)
Ball Striking Total driving + GIR rank 172 (87th)
Scoring Average 69.22 (3rd)

Unfortunately no putting stats were available. The scoring average is misleading as the LPGA and PGA play vastly different courses, this is shown by the fact that the top 5 women have a scoring average in the top 10 on the PGA tour, they would readily admit this is is not a true reflection of ability.

IMHO the best indicator in this case is ball striking as it is widely accepted that at best Annika has an average short game, mind you her GIR rate is so high she gets by. I think she would just finish in the top 100 if she played all year on the PGA tour. She played Colonial because it suited her game and is one of the shorter courses on tour. Some of the tournaments she would really struggle due to length and par 5s are the key to low numbers, she won’t hit enough in 2 to set up birdies.

As for whether she should have played, it was a sponsors invite and they can pick who they want. Often the invites go to local or top amateurs who haven’t qualified either. Finally (thank goodness they say), watch out for Michelle Wie!!!

par 5s are hit to in 3 to get a birdy chance.

I see no problem with her playing, sinc ethose are the rules. That being said, she was crushed. If she is the worlds greatest female golfer it shows the difference between sex based abilities.
On friday I was treating one of my athletes at the PIAA state track finals. I had a chance to see the best in pa. boys and girls. There is a huge difference. It’s the way it is. I love to see anyone compete, but I thinkm this was more of a publicity yap yap yap thing, not necessarily by Annika, but by the media. I swear those people love to hear theirselves talk. Annika is a class act, but she was way outclassed at the tournament by the ability of the men.
Another example are the weight classifications in powerlifting. I was class 1 at age 19 at 132. Patricia would be elite, however, I would have beaten her head to head. It doesn’t mean she isn’t great. Hell, she has more natural ability than I ever did.
An ex girlfreind or two could bench over there weight and were still 150 lbs. behind me. they were also pound for pound weaker. Elite is fantastic. Class 1 is good. This why there are different divisions such as weight, gender and age. Annika is the best in the LPGA, Tiger is the best in the PGA. She would not have a chance head to head at a course were a major is held.
I don’t think women should be restricted from the PGA, unless they choose to change the rules, which is there right. I just don’t see the point on a head to head competition that a lady cannot win.

Forget golf, I think the most stunning accomplishment here is that fitone spelled Annika’s name correctly. That should be an eagle or something.

Note: very tongue in cheek, bro. You’re an inspiration and a fine gentleman. I derive humor from poor grammar. Can’t explain it.

StevenF, on the PGA tour and for low handicap amateurs par 5’s are the key to birdies and a lot are hit in 2 setting up 2 putt birdies. Top players see most par 5’s as 2 full shots and either a pitch, chip or putt for their third.

she could stroke my balls anyday.

CmC Thats okay. I am getting smart w/ the grammer I think…

In health,

Silas C.

I saw her nipples on SportsCenter.

I think it should be noted that John Smoltz beat her when they played with Tiger Woods. Hes a damn baseball player and he beat the best woman in the world.