Foot in mouth

Singh shouldn't worry about Sorenstam's exemption

Golfer Vijay Singh went on the record Monday as objecting to Annika Sorenstam's exemption into next week's Colonial PGA Tour event. SI.com talked to Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle about Singh's comments.

SI.com: Are you surprised that Singh is the one spouting off? He's not usually a rock-the-boat kind of guy.

Gary Van Sickle: I'm surprised that anybody would come out and make a politically incorrect statement like that. But I think Vijay's opinion is shared by a lot of players on the tour, all of whom are too savvy to admit it. Let's face it, when you criticize Annika like this, you're asking for it.

But everybody's entitled to an opinion, and I applaud him for telling us what he thinks, when others say one thing but believe another. I'm not going to name names, but a couple of PGA Tour players have said all the right things at press conferences -- "We're excited to see how she does," "Sure, she can play," etc. -- but when you approach them afterward they'll say, "Off the record, she has no chance to make the cut." So in a way I give Vijay credit for not lying to us like other guys are. But it's bad form to criticize a marketing tool.

Vijay is just opening himself up to criticism, and some of it is unfair. Thomas Boswell of The Washington Post took Vijay to task for an alleged cheating incident. Boswell wrote about Singh "cheating his way back into a tournament" as fact, but the last time I checked nobody had proven it one way or the other. Plus, I don't see how a cheating allegation relates to this. So Vijay's drawing unfair criticism.

SI.com: What about fact that Singh has had to deal with discrimination in his life, and now it sounds like he's advocating it?

Van Sickle: I don't think he's so much a sexist as he is a golf purist, and he believes that she's taking up space. But he'd feel that way about any celebrity. Let's say John Elway was given spot at Colonial to sell tickets; heck, Mark Rypien played the Kemper Open several years ago on a sponsor's exemption. To Vijay this would be the same thing. He made it clear that Annika being a woman is part of his objection, but in general it's because he doesn't think she's good enough to be there. He's looking down his nose at the ability of a player compared to an average PGA Tour player. It's not a direct parallel, but it's almost as if Annika is non-union and she's taking a union job.

If you want to see some controversy, wait and see if Annika is invited to play in another tournament on a sponsor's exemption. Then you'll see a lot of players start complaining about her taking up space in the field.

SI.com: Should Singh have any reason to feel more pressure or threatened by Sorenstam's presence?

Van Sickle: After what he said, he'd better score lower than she does. But I don't think that's an issue; of course he will. The thing is, and I think he's missed the point on this, this is all a marketing gimmick. If Annika were not playing Colonial, what would all the writers in Dallas be writing about this week? "Colonial has a weak field." "Tiger's not here." Blah, blah, blah. Let's add this up. How many tickets is Vijay Sigh selling? Probably none. How many tickets is Annika Sorenstam selling? Thousands. How many media members will be there because of Vijay Singh? None. Because of Annika? Everybody.

This is simply a marketing gimmick that has turned into a huge boon for Colonial, which wasn't going to have a great field. And it's huge for Annika because she's set herself apart as the top dog on the women's tour. Karrie Webb has dominated the majors, but Annika is the Tiger Woods of the women's tour because of this, even though she hasn't won as many majors as Karrie. Last year we were talking about how Annika couldn't get any endorsements because women's golf gets no attention. Well, she found a solution to that.

So I think Vijay has missed the point. This is a marketing thing. It's all about moving product, and Annika is moving the product.

SI.com: Singh said he'd withdraw if paired with her. Do you think he would actually follow through on that?

Van Sickle: Yes, I think Vijay means what he says. So if he was paired with her, he would withdraw. Really, why bother with the distractions? He plays 28-30 events a year; all he does is play golf. He'll find somewhere else to play.

But realistically Annika could only be paired with a small handful of people because of the categories the tour uses. Vijay is in a category she can't be paired with. She'll end up with someone else on a special exemption or a low-level tour player, not a recent winner.

Annika just wants to see how she would do against the men before she retires, which may be sooner than we all think. This is the perfect time and place, and it'll be a fun experiment. Let's all enjoy it.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle writes for the magazine's Golf Plus section and is a regular contributor to SI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.

 

Related information

Stories

Singh: Sorenstam playing Colonial is 'ridiculous' Gary Van Sickle's Underground Golfer: Reilly's Caddy? is a winner

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video