A Wie little problem...

Ok, let's see how this flies...

I have an issue with Michelle Wie competing on the PGA tour.

It's not a sexist thing - I don't mind women and men competing together if they are of the same calibre - I just don't like what it says about the LPGA and the double-standard being set.

I mean, if the argument for having women compete on the PGA tour is "well, if they can hang with the best of 'em, why not?", then we are explicitly acknowledging that the LPGA is the weaker sister (pardon the pun) of the two professional tours.

The PGA becomes the major leagues and the LPGA the minors.

Let's extend the argument: if Michelle Wie, who hasn't made a cut in any of her 7 attempts with the men, is allowed to compete on the PGA tour with men for PGA Tour money, then why can't a struggling male golfer "drop down" to the minor leagues, the LPGA, and try to win bigger bucks there?

Isn't that only fair?

Some folks have actually threatened to do so and got ridiculed for it. I say go for it and settle this issue once and for all. What's the answer? Scrap the LPGA and have co-ed tourneys across the board? Yeah, the LPGA would love that - it'd be the end for them.

I say keep the PGA (which isn't called the MPGA only because when this thing was created it kinda went without saying that it was only for men) and the LPGA separate and have some co-ed tourneys thrown in for fun maybe four times a year.

Look, the fact is that even Anika Sorenstam (who is the top female golfer in the world) can't play with the big boys - and she is the Tiger Woods of women's golf. But that's besides the point - every time someone challenges the definition of the PGA it bumps some guy out of the money - how would it go over if suddenly 20 male golfers "dropped down" to the LPGA and bumped 20 women out of the money?

Something tells me they would be treated as utter pricks.

But they'd just be playing it by the new rules.

Right now, I'd settle for having Wie prove she can even win on the women's tour...but it appears she can't win there either (something like 0-25 and counting).

But, geez, she's just a kid.

Which is another reason she steals the thunder from other folks on the two tours...you know, the ones who win these things.

(At least Tiger backed up the hype. For now, Wie is all hype.)

So, despite his famous British Open collapse, count me as a Jean Van de Velde fan.

The man knows how to make a point...as a woman.