DG Roadmap - Adding LPGA?

Michelle Wie won a local qualifier and finished mid-pack in the sectional in 2006. She also advanced to the quarterfinals in the Men’s Pub Links amateur tournament. So it doesn’t seem impossible.

If you’re arguing that Inbee Park is a -5.0 SG and would be less than 50-50 to finish in the money in a typical mini-tour event, that’s a fair statement. But I doubt that she is a -10.0 SG who cannot break 80 in a typical PGA Tour course and has zero chance of advancing past the local qualifying round in US Open qualifying. She is definitely better than the average male scratch golfer.

At the time, Wie was longer than some of the men off the tee. She’s topped the LPGA driving distance before.

Inbee Park hits it 243 yards off the tee. I don’t know the standard of local qualifying, maybe she could get through the first stage, but in the actual final stage she’d have 0.0% chance of the top 5 she’d need. There’d be par 4s where she could hit two perfect shots and not reach the green, and men in the field would be going driver wedge.

There’s a reason the men are giving the women 900 yards this week in that mixed tournament, and are still heavily favoured in the market.

The mixed tournament will be interesting, reminds me of the Wendy’s 3-tour challenge. The women were pretty competitive once given the distance advantage.

The other event that comes to mind is the Battle at Bighorn in 2001, when Woods/Sorenstam faced Duval/Webb in an alternate shot match. Conditions were brutal that day and the golf course was the winner of that match.