Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
May 16, 2003, Washington Post

Good Enough to Make the Cut?

Next week, something will happen at the Colonial Invitational golf tournament that hasn't happened in 58 years. A female golfer will play in a men's Professional Golf Association (PGA) event.

That's right, Annika Sorenstam, the winner of 44 Ladies Professional Golfers Association (LPGA) tournaments and the best female golfer in the world, will tee it up against the big boys. That hasn't happened since the legendary Babe Didrikson Zaharias played in the Los Angeles Open in 1945.

I think Annika Sorenstam is terrific. And I think it's great that she is getting the chance to test her skills against the guys, although some of the men, such as Vijay Singh, have not been very welcoming. But people may be expecting too much of her. I was speaking at a school last week and most of the kids thought Annika Sorenstam would win the tournament.

Hold on a minute. Remember, fewer than half of the golfers who start the Colonial tournament in Fort Worth, Texas, will "make the cut" after the first two rounds. Those golfers with the best scores will play the final two rounds of the four-round tournament. Sorenstam will be doing great if she is among the golfers still playing on Saturday and Sunday.

Three things make it very tough for any female golfer, even one as great as Annika Sorenstam, to do well in a PGA event.

The Players: PGA tournaments are super-competitive. The difference between the winner and somebody who doesn't make the cut can be a little luck, a bounce or two and a couple of putts each round that slip into the hole instead of sliding by the cup. Every week, plenty of talented golfers do not make the cut. For example, David Toms, the sixth-ranked men's player in the world, has missed the cut in five of the 11 PGA tournaments he has played this year. So Sorenstam may play well and still not make the cut.

The Course: PGA courses are much tougher than LPGA courses. First, they are about 700 to 900 yards longer than most women's courses. That shouldn't be a big problem for Annika Sorenstam. She has been working out for a few years and now hits the ball about as far as successful PGA pros such as Fred Funk, Corey Pavin and Nick Price.

But it isn't just length that makes the men's courses so tough. Often, the hole is tucked into devilishly tricky spots on lightning-fast greens. That means that Sorenstam will have to hit longer, higher and harder shots than she is used to. She will have to adjust quickly if she wants to score well.

The Pressure: It is hard enough to play golf for a living. It is really hard to play golf for your whole gender. Think about it: Everyone is curious to see how the best female golfer in the world will stack up against the men. If Sorenstam shoots a 75 and a 77 and misses the cut by 10 strokes, some folks will say that women can't compete with the men. That is big-time pressure. It's the kind of pressure that will make it difficult for Sorenstam to play her best. It may not be fair, but that is the way it is.

No matter what her score, I think Sorenstam is a real winner. She's a world-class athlete who is taking on a tough challenge to see how good she really is. That's what sports are supposed to be about: accepting a challenge and testing yourself against the best.

I hope she makes the cut.