A childhood friend recently retired from the military and moved back home to Florida with his wife. My husband and I had them over to watch football a couple times over the winter, and we talked about his combat tours and our years growing up together at the local muni. I’ve often thanked Craig for his service to our country. But until I sat down to write this column, I hadn’t thought to thank him for being cool with a girl crashing the party all those years ago.
Craig, Brad, Morgan, Chris, Kyle, Neil, the list goes on. I probably would’ve kept on playing basketball and quit golf if I had to practice on my own every day.
Twenty-five years later, the need hasn’t changed much. For the innovative ISPS Handa Vic Open to get to the next level, heavy-hitting male players need to step up and show support. It’s the only way the event can garner the worldwide attention it deserves. Imagine if half the European Ryder Cup team showed at 13th Beach Golf Links.
Former World No. 1 Stacy Lewis made her debut in the tournament last week. This marked the second year the Vic Open has been co-sanctioned by both the LPGA and European Tour. The women’s field was substantially stronger this year, despite the purse, $1.1 million, being the lowest on tour.
On the men’s side, Haotong Li, was the highest-ranked player at No. 79. Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy, an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour, was both the biggest draw and the most vocal.
“We should do this more often,” Ogilvy said. “The fact that this happens only once in a year is just nonsense.”
Bless him.
Lewis felt that most of the men in the field embraced the fact that women were there playing the same course at the same time for equal money. But it will take more male stars to grow the concept.
“We need top players,” said Lewis. “I know Geoff Ogilvy’s here and we need some top players to really step up and support this, especially if they have little girls, you know? Let’s give this opportunity to your daughter. That’s a lot of what motivates me now.”
To help encourage more players to make the trip, Lewis suggests cutting down the field from 144 players on both sides to 50 each for the men and women. Make it a limited-field event rather than a full field, with one cut for the last day. Everyone gets a check.
Guaranteed money will attract more top players to compete. And shrinking the field from 288 to 100 will cut costs for the title sponsor.
Ogilvy pointed to the success of back-to-back U.S. Opens at Pinehurst in 2014. Said he’d like to see concurrent Australian Opens at Royal Melbourne East, Royal Melbourne West, or Peninsula North, South.
“It really was successful at Pinehurst when Martin (Kaymer) won and Michelle Wie won the next week,” said Ogilvy. “We all loved it. … That’s the U.S. Open I watched the most of the girls because I was interested to see how they played the course that I just played.”
Karrie Webb would like to see Australia replicate the Vic Open model for men and women at all the country’s state opens. It would help female players especially feel more prepared before going to the next level.
“If we could create that sort of pathway here in Australia so that the guys and girls have some tournament experience before they go overseas,” said Webb, “I think it makes that next step or that jump in level that much more attainable than, ‘I just played the Australian Amateur and now I’m going to LPGA Q-School.’ ”
Innovation has reinvigorated the Vic Open. It will take more outside-the-box thinking to grow it further. Male voices like Ogilvy’s are needed to challenge the status quo. Or as he put it, to “open your eyes” to a world beyond the PGA Tour.
What if players turned down these outlandish appearance fees in Saudi Arabia and instead made a true grow-the-game trek to a tournament like the Vic Open? It’s not going to pad the bank account, but it certainly could be a catalyst for real change. Something meaningful.
Britain’s Meghan MacLaren, who recently told James Corrigan of The Telegraph that she wouldn’t be competing in the lucrative Saudi Ladies Championship because of how sport is being used in the Kingdom, penned a blog on equality following her play at the Vic Open.
“Equal treatment is where all the questions lie,” wrote MacLaren, “where all those with stakes in this game must look at themselves and ask if they can do better. Ask themselves what they would say when their daughter asks why playing golf may not be a viable career path when her brother didn’t have to wonder.”
Virginia Elena Carta, a thoughtful Italian who won the NCAA Championship at Duke and is continuing her studies at Cambridge before turning professional, posted a photo on twitter of her new college golf team.
She’s the only female.
When you talk about breaking barriers and you do it with the most amazing team (Cambridge Blues Golf Team) of supportive, kind and joyful guys. Thank you 😘 pic.twitter.com/gbt0u6Llkx
— Virginia Elena Carta (@virgipaper) February 9, 2020
On weekends, Carta plays 72-hole matches from the back tees alongside the men against the members of various host clubs. The main event against Oxford will feature only a handful of players (note the guys wearing the light blue jackets) from the Cambridge team. Carta said only three or four women in the history of the match have played varsity for the Blues. The match dates back to the 1800s.
These 11 young men are helping Carta stay sharp before she heads back to the U.S. to try and compete on the LPGA.
“When you talk about breaking barriers and you do it with the most amazing team of supportive, kind and joyful guys,” Carta wrote. “Thank you.”
Barriers aren’t broken alone.
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