Sorenstam's decision to play against men has plenty of precedent in sports world
By MECHELLE VOEPEL
The Kansas City Star
May 21, 2003

When golfer Annika Sorenstam on Thursday becomes the first woman in more than a half-century to play in a PGA Tour event, she will think of it as challenging herself.

Others, though, will see it as challenging societal views on women and men.

If she plays well, some will say it proves that women, when allowed to compete on equal grounds against the best, can succeed. If she plays poorly, others will say it proves she never should have been allowed to try.

Sorenstam seems surprised at the attention being paid to her appearance at the Bank of America Colonial tournament in Fort Worth, Texas. She points out she is not even the first woman to do it; multisport athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias played in three events in 1945.

Sorenstam, a 32-year-old Swede, has made it clear that she does not see herself representing "all women" -- any more than she represents "all of Sweden" or "all 30-somethings."

Throughout history, however, the world has watched when women have ventured onto sports fields thought of as men's.

Ann Meyers was the first woman to try out for the NBA, signing as a free agent with the Indiana Pacers in 1978 when she was 24.

"Looking back, I was pretty naive," Meyers said. "I was overwhelmed by this attitude that it was such a big deal. I thought, `I know a lot of people are upset about this, but I don't understand why.'

"I had five brothers and five sisters, and we were always playing sports. I'd grown up playing against guys. All I was doing was something I'd done all my life."

Meyers went through the first part of training camp and was cut. She was disappointed. But, she said, "I never looked at it as a failure."

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While Sorenstam is choosing this test, other women in other sports have to compete against men if they want to compete at all.

Jockey Julie Krone has been riding for most of the last 20 years and won a Triple Crown race with her 1993 Belmont victory aboard Colonial Affair.

"There is always going to be some prejudice," Krone said. "But my accomplishments have been viewed pretty much on an equal basis as the top men."

Equestrian, which has 12 medal events in the Summer Olympics, has always been a coed sport.

"With our teams it could be all women, all men, a mix of both," said Mary-Ellen Milesnick, Olympic coordinator for the U.S. Equestrian team. "Whoever performs best. The riders considers themselves equals."

Vojai Reed was the first woman angler to compete in a BASS professional fishing tournament, in 1991. BASS does not have a record of the number of female competitors it has had in various events; none has qualified for the BASS tour.

"We encourage women to compete," BASS communications director Chris Murray said. "It's a level playing field."

Motorsports has had successful female competitors in different disciplines, such as Shirley Muldowney in drag racing and Janet Guthrie in open-wheel and stock-car racing.

Currently, Indy-car racer Sarah Fisher is considered one of the most promising female drivers, but she is not alone. Women are still a small number of overall drivers, but they not oddities. Jennifer Jo Cobb of Kansas City, Kan., is one of several women who have raced on the ARCA ReMax series.

Another driver on that circuit, Christi Passmore, said: "I don't sit there and think, `Hey, I'm a woman racing against a bunch of men.' Everybody is pretty well focused on what they have to do on the track."

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Sorenstam, who has won 43 tournaments and $11.7 million in just 10 years on the LPGA Tour, received a sponsor's exemption to play in the Colonial. Some have asked why she can play in a PGA event but men cannot play on the LPGA.

The answer: The PGA Tour considers itself the highest-level tour and has no gender restrictions. The strength of male players is why only one woman has played on tour before.

Sorenstam has said she thinks she would have difficulty competing very successfully on many of the other PGA Tour courses.

She approaches all tournaments this way: She is playing against the course, not the other golfers. So she does not view this as a battle of the sexes or a political or social crusade.

"This is an experience I'm going to learn so much from," she said. "I'm not trying to play on the PGA Tour; I'd like to see how I can play on that course."

Still, comparisons have been made to the 1973 exhibition tennis match in which Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs. King has always described that as triumph of young over old. She was 29, Riggs 55. She didn't consider it much of an accomplishment from an athletic standpoint.

Socially, though, King knew it had deeper resonance. Her point was never that the best women could beat the best men. Rather, it was to disprove the notion that any man would always beat any woman at everything. Further, she wanted to help women not be afraid of challenges in general.

In the early 1970s, American women were beginning to enter law and medical schools -- and the overall work force -- in more significant numbers. Women's collegiate sports as we now know them were beginning to formally organize.

In 1974, Connecticut's Ella Tambussi Grasso became the first woman elected state governor without having been married to the previous governor. The 1970s also saw major changes in the U.S. armed forces, including the military academies becoming co-educational in 1976.

Today, there are 212,000 women on active duty in the U.S. armed forces, with an additional 149,000 in the National Guard and Reserves. Women make up more than 50 percent of students in law schools and about 45 percent in medical schools.

More than 160,000 women play collegiate sports. There are women's pro leagues in the United States for basketball and soccer. Six women governors hold office.

So why has Sorenstam's decision to play this one tournament caused a stir?

"I think that any time women sort of change how they see themselves and how they want to take up their roles, there's a natural tendency for men to question their own position," said Edward Hunter, a professor and clinical psychologist at the University of Kansas Medical Center. "Historically, a lot of men have seen that in a threatening kind of way, that it had negative implications for them.

"For the men who are bothered by what (Sorenstam) is doing, it might be worthwhile finding out what her reasons are, such as to compete at the highest level. And accept that, instead of it meaning terrible things to their own personal egos."

Or as PGA pro Peter Jacobsen said: "I think if players feel threatened because a woman -- or even a guy who's a lot younger than them -- might beat them, that's a demon they have to fight on their own. They need to take a look inside.

"I admire Annika wanting to test herself and her willingness to put herself on the hot seat. A lesser person would not do that."

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According to the most recent participation survey by the National Federation of State High School Associations, for 2001-2002, just under 3,000 girls played football. In wrestling, the number of girls was 3,405.

Some women have done place-kicking for college football teams. But after a certain age, the physical difference between the sexes realistically precludes widespread coed competition in football or wrestling, two sports long considered closed to female participation.

But both are gradually developing female competitive bases. The Kansas City Krunch is a team in a semipro women's football league. There are national and international wrestling contests for females, and high school state tournaments for girls in places such as California and Texas.

Female competition in both of those sports had to be spurred by females going against males to start out. Meyers thinks that in most cases, it has been females who are not trying to begin "movements" but simply like to do the sport.

For instance, when a 12-year-old girl from Marysville, Kan., entered the NFL's Punt, Pass and Kick competition in 1994, it was because she had always loved to play football.

Kendra Wecker, now a basketball standout at Kansas State, couldn't have guessed then that by being the first girl to make the finals and finishing second against boys, she would prompt the start of a girls division in 1996. Now, more than 1 million girls annually compete in it.

Meyers thinks the common thread in all of this is opportunity.

"I was at my daughter's soccer practice the other day, and some guys there were talking about Annika and whether she should do this," Meyers said. "And I asked them, `If someone gave you an exemption to play in a PGA tournament and you had a chance to see how you'd do, would you turn it down?' And they were saying, `Well, no.' And I said, `So what's the difference with her?'

"She believes in herself and she wants to try. Why would she turn down the opportunity?"

The Star's Brent Frazee, Tom Smith and Jim Pedley contributed to this report.