Another (better?) idea for promoting women’s golf
The reaction to my (crazy?) idea for promoting the LPGA by giving a sponsor’s exemption to a man has been less than enthusiastic. Indeed, such a gambit would be a risky stunt, and I am pretty sure the LPGA would never seriously consider it. But, way back when this blog got started, I floated in this post a far more realistic idea for promoting women’s golf that I want to raise again.
How about, at least one time, staging a men’s and a women’s pro golf event on the same course at the same time?
Strange as this may sound for golf, this is essentially how tennis runs its major events, and many other sports (e.g., ice skating, track and field) have men’s and women’s competitions in the same setting at essentially the same time.
Consider how fascinating it would be to see women playing at Augusta (from moved up tees) during the same week that the men are playing the Masters. The women would not be competing directly against the men, but we would get to see their skills tested in the same setting and under similar (though shorter) conditions. In terms of promoting women’s golf, I such parallel play would enable the many PGA fans (and media) who attend the event and/or watch on TV to see coverage (and the impressive skills) of many women golfers.
Of course, I can imagine reasons why the PGA and the LPGA would not like such a combined event, and I am sure we won’t see it at Augusta anytime soon. But I think it would be nice to see it tried somewhere; the start-of-the-year Mercedes Championship (which only has event winners from the prior year in the field) might be an ideal setting.
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