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Monday, August 20, 2012

Women at last in Augusta National is cause for embarrassment, not celebration

I remember one boozy evening in the clubhouse at Luffness New GC, just up Scotland's east Lothian coastline from Muirfield, where I as a guest sat among the all male gathering as the following days calcutta pairings and bets surrounding them were boisterously debated.

The door of the smoke laden room opened late in the evening and one of the members wife walked in to pick up her hubby, who was in no shape to drive... Remember this was during the pre cellphone era...

" Good God it's a women " cried the member to my left.. " Club secretary deal with her would you" from the one on my right..

Yes folks that was only in 1983 at one of many Scottish golf clubs, including Muirfield the site of next years Open that either refuses to allow women, or restricts their membership rights..

At Luffness women used an old shoe storage room as their locker facility and could only play Tuesday and Thursday after 2pm..

So today's news that 2 gazillionaire and hugely prominent women, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore have been invited to join the old boys at Augusta National is the day's top story, a joyous occasion says Billy Payne the club chairman.

I say it is cause for embarrassment, for it and all the other golf clubs like Muirfield, who have kept their heads stuck in the sand of their private bunkers for way to long.

80 years in today's case, longer in others. There is a place in this life for men and women only organizations for sure for all the obvious reasons, but to the annoyance of guys like the old boys at Luffness that night in 1983, a golf club in my opinion is not one of them..



To that extent, here is the latest from Golf Canada on the CN Canadian Women's Championship due to begin on Thursday in Vancouver.

Sixteen Canadians will be among a world class field featuring 48 of the top 50 players on the LPGA Tour money list who will be competing in next week's CN Canadian Women's Open in Vancouver.

Veteran Lorie Kane of Charlottetown, P.E.I., will lead the Canadian contingent which includes LPGA regulars Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont. and Rebecca Lee-Bentham of Richmond Hill, Ont., Stephanie Sherlock of Barrie, Ont., Isabelle Beisiegel of Saint-Hilaire, Que., Jessica Shepley of Oakville, Ont. and Sara Maude Juneau of Fossambault, Que., who's been competing primarily on the Symetra Tour this year, the LPGA's development circuit.

Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., was also scheduled to be in the field but had to withdraw last week with a back injury.

British Columbia golf will also be well represented with a B.C. contingent of Samantha Richdale (Kelowna), Sue Kim (Langley), Kirby Dreher (Fort St. John), So Yeon Park (Vancouver), Christine Wong (Richmond) and Coquitlam’s own Jisoo Keel looking to impress in front of the hometown crowd.

Five members of Team Canada will challenge the world’s best golfers including National Amateur Team members Augusta James and Brittany Marchand as well as National Development Squad member Brooke Henderson who’s victory at the CN Canadian Women’s Tour event earlier this year made her the young golfer ever to win a professional golf tour event (14 years, 9 months & 3 days). Henderson will be the youngest player ever to compete for Canada’s National Women’s Open Championship.

They will all be looking to become the first Canadian to win an LPGA Tour event on home soil since Canadian golf legend Jocelyne Bourassa’s historic victory in 1973

World no. 1 Yani Tseng and current leading money winner Stacey Lewis will be joined by eight former event winners including defending champion Brittany Lincicome, Michelle Wie, Suzann Pettersen, Katherine Hull, Cristie Kerr, Meena Lee, Karrie Webb and Laura Davies will all be vying for the winner’s share of the US$2.0 million purse at the Vancouver Golf Club in Coquitlam, B.C.

Other notable LPGA regulars who will be in the field include fan favourites Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel, U.S. Women's Open champion Na Yeon Choi and teenage sensation Alexis Thompson.

Fifteen-year old Lydia Ko of New Zealand, the number one ranked amateur player in the world who recently won the 2012 U.S Women's Amateur championship, will also be competing along with 2012 Royale Cup Canadian Women’s Amateur champion, Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, who is currently ranked no. 2 in the world.

The only players in the top 50 on the money list who won't be in Vancouver are veteran Se Ri Pak, who is nursing a shoulder injury, and Caroline Hedwell, who is also out due to injury.


The 2012 CN Canadian Women’s Open will help to raise money for the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, the official charitable beneficiary of the CN Miracle Match campaign in 2012. To date since 2006, CN Miracle Match has helped to raise close to $6.5 million in support of children’s hospitals in the name of the CN Canadian Women’s Open.



Bryan Angus also on twitter@mummmbles and on www.isr1050.com and hosting daily 7-9am at www.nextsportstar.com

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