FORT WORTH, Texas — Sports wasn’t ready when Annika Sorenstam joined the men to play Colonial 20 years ago.
Twenty years.
“I really can’t believe it’s been 20 years,” Sorenstam said in a recent phone interview.
Not sure how but we are on the 20th anniversary of that historic weekend when Sorenstam crashed the men’s club that is a PGA Tour event.
At the time, her inclusion drew the quiet disdain of many prominent PGA Tour players, a handful of whom essentially punished Colonial Country Club by not coming back for several years.
The world, and sports, have only changed 100 million fold since Sorenstam missed the cut at the 2003 Bank of America Colonial when she shot a 71-74, and finished near the back of the field.
She’s back in town, this time to play this weekend at the Invited Celebrity Classic at the Four Seasons in Las Colinas.
When Sorenstam played Colonial, women playing against men, or boys against girls, was still very much on the fringe.
Here we are in 2023 and few topics can send parents, and sometimes the players, into road rage like youth sports. Little league baseball. Select soccer. 7-on-7 football. Junior golf. AAU basketball. Universal tennis rankings.
And specifically the concept of the boys playing against the girls. Such occurrences aren’t common now, but they happen enough that maybe if there is another Sorenstam-type to play against the men it would not have nearly the impact as her time did at Colonial.
Sorenstam would not fancy herself an expert on this subject, but considering she’s still one of the very few women to have played with the men in a major sporting event she has credentials few possess.
“There needs to be some common sense to this,” she said.
Amen.
If we are to include girls playing against boys, or women against men, it always needs the Sorenstam Standard, and done on a case-by-case basis.
“When you play something, what you want more than anything else is for it to be fair,” she said.
Another amen.
This is neither a sleight nor a slam on any person.
“This is about the advantages of height, or weight,” she said. “At some point (as a kid is growing up), the advantages become obvious. There is just a difference.”
Advantages that are no one’s fault.
In her prime, Serena Williams was maybe the best woman’s tennis player who ever lived. If you put her against every single male professional tennis player, and likely a long list of good college men’s tennis players, she would lose.
That’s not a rip on Serena. Height and weight matter.
Since Sorenstam played Colonial, women’s sports have evolved to places most of us could not project. It was all long overdue.
Women are boxing. Women are ultimate fighting. There is a professional women’s soccer league. Women play ice hockey. College softball has never been more popular.
The quality of play in women’s basketball makes the game from the 1980s and ‘90s barely recognizable. Every now and then there is a female on the football team.
In many instances we see young girls play against boys their own age in baseball, and the practice undoubtedly makes them better players.
All of it is good. It doesn’t mean it’s the same.
Sports is more evolved, and women are better than ever, but don’t deny logic its place.
When Sorenstam played Colonial in 2003, she was basically the female equivalent of Tiger Woods. At the time she was dominating the sport to the point where inviting her to a PGA Tour event had merit.
Critics dismissed her invite as a sideshow party trick designed to sell tickets. Selling tickets was a priority, and Annika sold a lot of tickets; she was also so good there was genuine curiosity how this particular woman would do against the men.
Everything about her invite made sense. It was fair. She played up, and got beat.
Given the unusual circumstances of her presence in the field, and the global interest in her performance, it created a level of strain and stress that affected her game. In the final hole of her second and final round, she shed a tear or two as the enormity of the whole week came out.
No regrets.
“I loved it. I absolutely loved it,” Sorenstam said. “I wouldn’t change a thing about any of it. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I have no regrets about any of it. Everything about it was fantastic.
“It was wonderful the support I received. The crowds were amazing. The people were great.”
Now would be a great time for a new prominent LPGA player to give a PGA Tour event a try. Given the fractured state of professional golf, the presence of a Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson, Lydia Ko or some other top women’s golfer playing a second- or third-tier PGA Tour event would infuse some interest into an otherwise obscure tournament.
The timing is right. The problem is this batch of top LPGA Tour players do not carry Sorenstam’s credentials.
That is why Sorenstam’s place at Colonial always made sense.
Pro sports is always about ticket sales, but she was so good her place in one PGA Tour event fit. Because it was fair.
As long as these things are fair, it’s fine.
