CLAYTON: Women face challenge on course

An early week controversy at the Vic Open was the arrangement of the two courses of the 13th beach and more specifically where the women's t-shirts were placed in relation to the men. Three of the four rounds are played on the Beach Course and the layout for men, given how far they drive, is a relatively short 6300 meters. Leader, the opening of Nick Flanagan 62 would suggest Thursday that it was a fairly simple day on the left.

The women play a track of about 300 meters shorter and 6000 meters should hardly be a heavy test for some of the best players in the world.

I wear Christina Kim's clubs this week and in her opening round (a somewhat disappointing, 35 putt, 74) the longest club she had in a par 3 or a par 4 was a 6-iron. Hannah Green, her playing partner, rode ten to fifteen meters longer and while she did not exactly turn the track into a pitch and putt, it was not too much anymore. Three out of four par 5's are also reachable and the highlight of Green's game was three perfect long seconds shots for those greens.

A total of 96 women broke or equal to the best of them, Felicity Johnson, around 64.

To argue that the courses (beach and creek) are poorly set up and without taking into account the women is a ridiculous proposition. It would indeed be reasonable to suggest that a few hundred extra meters would not be too burdensome.

The mistake is to think that spectators, observers and critics will judge the women on the basis of the men's scores. 142 of the men shot 72 or better to prove 6900 windless yards is far from a rigorous investigation. Of course, all links to the coast should be relatively simple without wind, because to make it difficult in quieter conditions, this inevitably means that it is close to unplayable in good wind.

This is the great lesson from The Old Course in St. Andrews.

Anyone who compares the scores of men and women and judges them severely, misses the core of this week completely. Does someone compare the times the women run in the 100 meters during the Olympic Games and see them as worth slightly less than the men because they slow down & # 39; to be? Are the women proposing to run 95 meters? Does anyone expect Naomi to beat Osaka Novak Djokovic?

As confounding was a tweet from the American player commentator, Brandel Chamblee. He suggested: & # 39; The reason why there are so few women on average under 70 on the LPGA Tour compared to the PGA Tour is because the setups in women's golf are far too long. It is not because of skill, it is rather because it is a misunderstanding of those who have given courses. 7300y = 6000y or less. "

It is hard to imagine that someone has so little contact with how far the best women in the world control the ball and how well they play. Suggesting that they have to play 6000 yard jobs (5600 meters) is just condescending.

With the equivalent female and American Kim Kaufman at the age of thirteen, it seems that the women can run a 500-meter long job than Chamblee suggests.