US Open champion Retief Goosen on Wednesday waded into the debate over women being invited to join men’s golf tournaments, saying they should be made to qualify like their male counterparts.
The South African world number five said most male players think handing out sponsors’ invites to women is unfair.
”I think ladies who want to play on the PGA tour, I think in general the players feel that it’s not the right thing,” Goosen said ahead of the $2,3-million Johnnie Walker Classic in Beijing.
”If they qualify for the tournament, they go through qualifying school or something like that, then it’s fine. But just to keep giving invites away is probably not the right thing.”
Top women players such as Annika Sorenstam and Laura Davies have been invited to play in PGA tour events, earning criticism from the likes of world number two Vijay Singh and double major winner Greg Norman.
”But like the Tiger Skins last weekend, it was good,” Goosen added. ”It was good to get Grace [Park] to play. It was good fun. In a way, you know, people want to see the ladies play with the men. But small events like that for charity, I think it’s a very good idea.”
Australian legend Norman said last year that it could be ”detrimental” to have women playing in men’s events, after Davies’s invitation entry to the ANZ Championship in Australia and Sorenstam’s appearance at the US PGA Tour’s 2003 Colonial tournament.
Teenage sensation Michelle Wie narrowly missed the cut in the US PGA’s Hawaiian Open last year and in 2003, world number two Pak Se-Ri became the first to make a cut in a men’s event on the Korean Tour.
Goosen, who placed third at the US Masters this month, is among a host of top players competing for the Johnnie Walker Classic at the Pine Valley course in Beijing. — Sapa-AFP