Competitive nagging.

After a long week of selling electricity that is JUST what I needed to send me on my way for the weekend. Well done.

Good news for all the Dallasites though...I renewed every topless bar in Texas' electricity contract today and lowered their rates about 20%. Good news not that they will pass a cent of that on to you of course, just that the lights will stay on so you can see the "entertainment". Have a nice weekend, just doing my part.

Agreed.. The men just stair at their bottoms..

Was directed at the entire thread, not you, I don't single people out. It's just not up my alley to have to be convinced that women can't play at the same level.

Good contribution on the topless bars project

It's a common misconception that Annika was competitive at Colonial.
What she beat, like 5 guys?

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/leaderboard/2003/20

Like a dozen, but not exactly competitive.

Yeah, thats a good point. But looking at the day 1 scores, it looks like 71 was middle of the pack. So I think my general point still stands. Annika, over a decent sample at Colonial, is likely reasonably competing to make the cut a good percentage of the time.

But she never comes close at Torrey.

Wow I was going to make a post asking about the average length of LPGA courses, but I just googled it instead:

11. What tees do the LPGA Tour players compete from each week?
The LPGA Tour sets up its own tees at each tournament stop. The average yardage for an LPGA Tour golf course is between 6,200 and 6,400 yards.

That is incredibly short, considering the driving distance stats for the top women are not shockingly far behind the men. The big hitters on the LPGA must have driver wedge on nearly every par 4? I play lots of courses in san diego with distance of 6000-6500 yards and I don't even hit a driver that well (250 max) and I go driver wedge on a lot of them and think "wow this is great this course is short".

As much fun as it is to see the men get tortured at the U.S. Open or the British when there's a cold, howling 30+ mph swirling wind I don't think anyone really wants to see the ladies embarrassed out on the course.

When some top ten male golfer fires a smooth 82 at a major with the scoring average at 78 on a rough day nobody is thinking, "Man, these guys suck." It's more like, "Holy crap, a scratch golfer might not break 100 on this course today."

Sorry I don't think I made my point very well. Given that is the distance on most LPGA setups, it sounds like many of the LPGA players are not necessarily anywhere near as good as the PGA players in non long-drive aspects of the game? I mean the top distance LPGA players are hitting 280+ on short as hell courses and yet without looking it up I'm pretty sure the scoring averages aren't lower. I guess it surprises me that LPGA players don't have the same level of short game as PGA players which I think is a logical conclusion from what I just read / wrote.

DD, watch an LPGA event sometime. Very few of them are hitting it anywhere 280. Even on short courses, you see so many hybrids and woods into par 4s. I haven't looked it up, but I would guess avg driving distance (across all holes, not shotlink bs) is in the 240s.

The rest of your post is right though. Short games are nowhere good as the mens.

None of them are averaging 280. Wie averages 275 and nobody else averages over 270. Only 52 players average over 250.

BO

The Colonial is one of the weakest fields on Tour. It is an invitational that has all the past champions rounding out the field. There were only 113 guys in that events and she beat only one that can crack an egg (G Ogilvy...look at the names she beat. And that is on the ideal course for her to have a chance.

I don't think she was competitive, but I think she made a good showing.

I agree, and I enjoyed watching her play in that event.
I thought she played very well the first day, and I give her credit for being courageous in the effort.

While I agree the ladies have no shot at ever winning an event just making a cut which is barely within their capabilities would be awesome. For that reason I'm totally in favor of minor PGA Tour events offering occasional sponsor exemptions to top tier LPGA Tour pros. Those events often struggle on ratings and if the lady plays well it's a guaranteed ratings bump.

I'd be fine with reserving one slot for a top ten LPGA Tour player for every non-major PGA Tour event.

I think every week would get kinda boring, and it wouldn't help the ratings because no particular event would stand out. And eventually, if one of the women did make a cut, people would just say, "It was bound to happen sooner or later." Also, if one of the women had a bad day, her score could be pretty ugly. I'd much rather see it happen once in a while where someone like an Annika can pick a shorter course that plays to her strengths.

I went and watched that first day, she played great. Just putted awful. Easily coulda been 67-68 first day. Second day not so much.

agreed.


Meeeh. They aren't that bad. I played Torrey from the tips (like the Buick tips) in the summer with super thick rough and shot like 39-43 as like a 9 handicap. An LPGA tour pro is much, much better than me. Don't get me wrong, they are going to struggle, but "well into the 80s?" Come on now. My wife played the texas womens open a couple of years back and it was like 6200 yards, wind up, with pga tour rough, and the score was still under par, and these are a bunch of amateurs, mini tour girls. Also, I've played with the 2010 women's SENIOR am. champ quite a few times and she drives it ~260-270 no problem.

3 things: 1. I watched her play that day and she had no problems with the distance at all. Her problem was she couldn't putt. 2. she had about a million people with eyes glued on her & about as much pressure as you could have on any one day of golf. 3. weakest fields on tour? It's not exactly the BC Open.

Mina does not hit it near that far. Neither does Creeky. And Toni certainly never did. Those three were one helluva team though.

BO

She didn't have problems with distance for sure on that course, but it is a short course that plays fast in May in Fort Worth. It was a ton of pressure and I agree that she had a nice showing considering everything. She is a great player obviously. But, it would actually be easier to make a cut at the Colonial than BC Open. Any time you have a reduced field with a ton of random invites the depth of field is much easier for just making the cut. Yes there is a ton of top tier world talent which makes winning just as tough as any other week on tour but the cut is easier. 70 and ties make the cut every week and if you only have 110 tee it up with 15 or so exemptions to ams and former champions you have a very high ratio making the cut. Standard week is 136 or so for 70 and ties to make the cut. Yes there are more Tour scrubs but any full time player is better than Rod Curl or Dan Pohl. This is the same reason most players will say making a Nationwide cut is as hard or harder than a PGA Tour cut...156 guys for 60 and ties to make the cut. That is stupid.

And I agree they are very solid +4's....they wouldn't do too bad on the other courses because they NEVER miss a fairway. If and when they ever did they would wedge out and move on. Their hybrid and FW wood game is very good so I would excpect them to be just fine, but not make many cuts.

point taken. I was just defending my tournament a little bit because it is kind of a big deal sometimes and the winner was -8 for a while before the kenny perry days.

okay im not going to argue about it. I mean, hell I drive it anywhere from 210 to 360 anyway. i just know she hits it goddamn far for a woman who isn't "pre op".

I understand...I am a Dallas guy but I would go to the Colonial over the Nelson any day. I do love that place and tourney.

It really isn't the before Kenny Perry days as much as the before Pro V-1 and super driver days....I hate technology.

Michelle Wie (at her peak) was clearly the best chance of a woman competing against pro tour men. She missed Sony cut by a shot and should have made qualifying for US Open (+1 over last 3 makes it, she goes +3). No other woman has ever reached that level, and maybe no woman ever will.

And LOL at LPGA pros +4 on blue/black tees. I play semi-regularly with top 50 LPGA players who hit it 250+ and they are happy shooting 75 from the tips. (CR 73.5) More like zero/+1 at best.