Boy Trouble

Palo Alto�( Calif.) High didn't have a girls' golf team when I was a student there in the mid 1990s. I wasn't surprised, because I didn't know any girls my age who played, but I didn't believe that should prevent me from representing my school, so as a freshman I tried out for the boys' team.

I was the shortest-hitting player by at least 30 yards, but the rules required me to play from the same tees as the guys. That meant I had to work harder around the greens to make up strokes. I didn't make the roster until my sophomore year and didn't earn a spot as one of the six traveling players until I was a senior, but the competition was only a fraction of the challenge I faced playing with the boys.

When my teammates put together foursomes after school, I was rarely invited to participate. On those occasions when I did join them, I had a sense that they perceived me less as a teammate than as some kind of entertainment. Rather than suffer their leering, whispering and laughing, I preferred to practice alone or play as a single. When I played my way into matches by shooting good rounds in practice, some of my teammates questioned my scores. I felt humiliated and demoralized, but I endured because I loved golf and knew I had earned my spot.

I imagine Michelle Wie can relate. When she tees it up this week in Japan as the only woman in the field at the Casio World Open, it's likely that she'll hear from her chorus of critics. She has struggled playing against the men this year, and the media has been clamoring for her to confine herself to LPGA events, in which she has been a consistent threat to win. But why should Wie have to settle for a tour that offers less visibility, money and competition?

Whether a woman wants to pursue a career as an executive, an engineer or a comedian, she will be in the minority. However, we would never suggest that she doesn't belong or recommend that she limit herself to jobs more commonly populated by women. By pursuing competition against men, Wie reflects the world as it actually exists to a generation of young women: Sometimes you have to play with the boys, either because it's your only option, as I learned in high school, or because it presents the best opportunities, as Wie has proven.

In my personal and professional life I have often found myself in situations in which I am the only woman, but that's when I feel the most empowered and confident, due in large part to my experiences playing high school golf. And I am never more in my element than on the golf course.

This summer I was playing a round with the men in my family when my dad proposed a long-drive contest on the 18th tee. It was deeply satisfying to find that this time the ball that landed farthest down the fairway belonged to the only girl.

Jessica Shambora is a client marketing associate at SI.

GOLF PLUS will next appear in the Dec. 18 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED.