Commentary in today's Chicago Tribune on the subject:
A BAD RULE LEADS TO 'HISTORY'
BY JEFF JACOBS
Jeff Jacobs is a sports columnist for the Hartford Courant
December 6, 2002
From the moment Suzy Whaley raised her arms to celebrate a victory that made her eligible to become the first woman to play in a PGA Tour event, there was no doubt the lure of history would be a powerful one.
After all, these are history-making times in the golf world, what with Martha Burk banging scalps with Hootie Johnson, the Archie of bunkers, over the all-male membership at Augusta National.
Whaley said she met Burk, the head of the National Council of Women's Organizations, for the first time this week. Now that she has made the decision to enter the Greater Hartford Open, Whaley is sure to meet many more famous people eager to--mistakenly--paint her as the next Jackie Robinson.
For any number of reasons, Whaley has gotten an easy ride of it since winning the 71st Connecticut Section PGA Championship in September.
Whaley is disarmingly charming and has followed the rules to the precipice of stardom. She has received some negative correspondence, but the majority urged her to play in the Greater Hartford Open. Support from the golf world, she said, has been overwhelming. Her family has urged her to play.
"We're so proud to have her as our champion," Connecticut Section PGA executive director Tom Hantke said. "She's a great player, a great mother and an exemplary golf professional."
A special guest at the annual meeting of the PGA of America five weeks ago in Philadelphia, Whaley received a standing ovation from the delegates.
"It was heartwarming," Whaley said.
But in the process of the growing national whirlwind, it's apparent some perspective may be lost. In the haste to yell, "You go, girl," we may end up--wink, wink--overlooking the competitive details of a spot absolutely ruled by competitive details. Any way you want to slice it, Whaley qualified by playing 90 percent of Ellington Ridge, site of the Connecticut section tournament. Her advantage from the tees as a woman did not make for a mockery, but there was some advantage.
She also followed the letter of the PGA of America rulebook and, thus, deserves to play in 2003.
What's disturbing is there appears to be no movement afoot to change the rules for 2004. In effect, whaley essentially qualified to run in the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon against the Kenyans with a 23-mile time.
Tournament regulations for PGA of America events are set by the national board of directors, Hantke said, and there are no changes in the wind.
"We did a study from all 41 sections subsequent and found there has been no woman member who has won any individual PGA member tournament of any kind, let alone a championship, since the regulation was put in place in 1994," Hantke said. "That's a great feat, and the purpose of the regulation is to encourage women professionals to play with their peers."
Whaley wants the rule to remain too.
The PGA Tour can choose not to extend an exemption to such qualifiers in the future, but the tour's feelings are evident by how thoroughly they have embraced Whaley.
It's fascinating. For Whaley to qualify for the PGA Championship, she would have to play from the same tees as the men through sectional, regional and, finally, national play in the PGA Club Professional Championship. Yet the same body stipulates that to get into Greater Hartford Open, she can play at a 90 percent distance.
At least she has to play from the championship tees in the GHO.
Maybe history is supposed to be written that competitive integrity doesn't matter. Maybe history is supposed to be written that women need a crutch. Maybe history is supposed to be written that the GHO isn't important enough in the golf world to make such an argument. But you won't find history being written that way in this space.
No matter how terrific a person Whaley is, no matter how "cool," in the words of Tiger Woods, it might be to have a woman play in the GHO, somebody needs to be brave enough to stand up and not let it happen again.
Whaley's husband, Bill, is director of golf at the TPC at River Highlands, Conn., and Suzy played from the championship tees twice in the last couple of months. Her scores?
"I'm not going to tell you," she answered.