Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
December 6, 2002, Washington Post

An Uneven Playing Field?

This week, Suzy Whaley, a professional golfer, announced that she will play in next year's Greater Hartford Open. That means Whaley will become the first woman ever to play in an event on the men's Professional Golfers Association Tour.

Around Washington we already have a girl who has played the boys at golf and won. Who? Jenny Suh. She is the 17-year-old Chantilly High School golfer who made headlines when she won the Virginia AAA high school golf championship -- the boys championship. That's right, Jenny Suh defeated 71 boys to win the Virginia state title.

So all right! Girls rule, boys drool, right?

Well, not so fast. Jenny Suh played on the same golf course as the boys, but she played from tees that made the course about 1,100 yards shorter for her. (Whaley had a similar advantage when she qualified for the PGA Tour event, but she will have to play from the regular tees in the tournament next year.)

Jenny posted the lowest score -- 138 -- by one stroke for the two rounds of golf played in the tournament. But she was playing on a course that was shorter, and therefore easier, than the course played by the boys.

So, the way I see it, Jenny Suh isn't the best high school golfer in Virginia.

Now, let's get a few things straight before I get into trouble. First, I am not saying that Jenny Suh is not a terrific golfer. She is. Jenny has won a bunch of girls' tournaments. She is a member of the U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team and probably will one day become a pro golfer. I have been playing golf since before she was born, and I am sure Jenny Suh would beat me no matter what tees she played from.

Second, I think Jenny Suh should have the right to play in the boys championship. Girls should be able to play on boys' teams and compete against boys if they are good enough. Lots of girls play on "mostly boys" soccer teams. There are girls on high school baseball, football and even wrestling teams.

Finally, I am not saying Jenny Suh cheated or did anything dishonest. The rules for the tournament clearly allowed her to play from the closer tees. She was just playing by the rules.

What I am saying is that once the girls start playing against the boys, they should play by the same rules. If a girl is racing against a boy in the 100-meter run, the girl shouldn't be able to start 20 meters ahead just because she's a girl.

The problem is that golf has lots of special rules that are supposed to make the game more fun for everyone. For example, women and older men often are allowed to play from tees that make the course easier for them to play. Golf even has rules, known as handicaps, that allow less-talented golfers to subtract strokes from their scores so they can play a match against better golfers.

But these special rules shouldn't be used in a championship event such as the Virginia AAA high school tournament. The point of the tournament was to determine the best high school golfer in Virginia. And to do that, all the golfers need to play the same course under the same rules.

So, who is the best high school golfer in Virginia? I don't know. But I don't think it's Jenny Suh.

Fred Bowen writes sports novels for kids. He expresses his opinion here every Friday.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company