The Golf Channel Personalities really need to become better acquainted with nascar and racing. Kelly whatshername didn't know what dirt track racing is tonight on the Post Game show? That's even AFTER the Golf Channel has shown video of Steve Williams racing in the past (I think recently when Williams was there promoting his book). Don't they watch their own programming? West Virginians like me know what dirt track racing is.
They mentioned on the Post Game show that the sponsors are going to really be hurting because Tiger Woods is taking time off to be with his dad. I think golf is in a sad state if one player's absence can hurt the sport the way the post game people are suggesting. Golf and the PGA tour should take a lesson from Martha Stewart and her company. She went to prison and the company didn't fold. Don't put all your eggs in the Woods basket. If you have a quality product it will withstand the absence of one person.
They also talked about Michelle Wie possibly playing the 84 Lumber Classic this year and how Wie's people are sensitive to a possible backlash for taking a sponsor's exemption that a man could be using otherwise. They talked about the uproar that happened when Annika Sorenstam played her one event on the men's tour. I think there was a backlash about Annika because she had been so successful on the LPGA tour. Men were threatened because of what they feared would happen - Annika deciding to play as much as she could on the men's tour because she had conquered the LPGA tour. I don't see anything wrong with Michelle playing the men's tour because for one thing, she isn't going to win so she isn't a threat to the men who are playing, and for another, it's just going to make her a better player on the LPGA tour. And as for the argument that she would be taking a spot that a man could fill - boohoo. Any man who'd cry about not getting an exemption because of a girl really needs to think about that before he opens his mouth. Bottom line, Michelle Wie is just as important for the PGA tour as she is for the LPGA tour. How many young girls do you think will be watching the PGA tour who didn't watch before, just because she's playing the event? And how many men will be watching her play Nike clubs and will say to themselves "If they can make a girl hit the ball that far, then I need to get some of those."
And finally, as to the Shell Houston Open - There is a Smith on the leaderboard. I've always wondered why there haven't been more players with that name on the PGA tour - it's one of the most plentiful names in America. At work, one of my co-workers with that name actually got a call from a customer who didn't know who she was supposed to talk to, but chose the name Smith from the automated phone attendant program because she figured there had to be a Smith working there and she would actually get to talk to a live person instead of getting voicemail.
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