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2nd LET Invite for Spiranac

If you were running a tournament wouldn't you invite her? Apart from the obvious, she brings with her a huge amount of publicity to the tournament through her followers. Tournament sponsors will love that, the game needs it. Kids, teenagers etc follow the world in a different way to anyone over 25. She understands that and more fool anyone who thinks otherwise.
 
Maybe it is just envy speaking, but the article totally annoyed me. Like when Paige was crying because she was so scared and overwhelmed by the thousands and thousands of Instagram-follows. Well, girl, if you don't want that, then just don't wave your boobs and booty into the camera so much ... problem solved. Don't get me wrong: I am all for women being sexy and beautiful, I really am ... but posting the kind of pics on Instagram that she does and then saying you didn't want the attention is just stupid.
 
Capella said:
Maybe it is just envy speaking, but the article totally annoyed me. Like when Paige was crying because she was so scared and overwhelmed by the thousands and thousands of Instagram-follows. Well, girl, if you don't want that, then just don't wave your boobs and booty into the camera so much ... problem solved. Don't get me wrong: I am all for women being sexy and beautiful, I really am ... but posting the kind of pics on Instagram that she does and then saying you didn't want the attention is just stupid.
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That was when she was initially discovered and started gaining followers by the thousands. It was also through a friend that sent her picture to some instagram account that then caught on.

I think what she was saying is she has now embraced that and hence flaunts what she has on Instagram to increase her reputation.
 
I wasnt a fan of women's golf. But I turned it on the other day when she was on....and off the back of that I noticed a few other players who were hitting it well, and now I sometimes watch the LET and LPGA and watch out for those players.

So I guess Paige didn't play well, but she got ladies golf some exposure and a new watcher....which can only be a good thing
 
Lord Tyrion said:
If you were running a tournament wouldn't you invite her? Apart from the obvious, she brings with her a huge amount of publicity to the tournament through her followers. Tournament sponsors will love that, the game needs it. Kids, teenagers etc follow the world in a different way to anyone over 25. She understands that and more fool anyone who thinks otherwise.
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It's catch 22. The reasons you state are true and I think many tournaments invite her for that reason. The bigger picture is that women are too readily objectified and judged on their looks rather than ability or achievement. I think it sends the wrong message. I was glad to read that she turns down most invites and is trying to make it via the mini tours and q school.

Good luck to her!
 
FairwayDodger said:
It's catch 22. The reasons you state are true and I think many tournaments invite her for that reason. The bigger picture is that women are too readily objectified and judged on their looks rather than ability or achievement. I think it sends the wrong message. I was glad to read that she turns down most invites and is trying to make it via the mini tours and q school.

Good luck to her!
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I agree. It would be easy to accept the invites, maybe struggle along and miss the cut but get the publicity and then fade away in a few years. This way, trying to qualify and learning her craft will stand her in better stead long term. I would like to see her make the grade and get on the main LPGA tour by right. She'll still have to put up with the publicity much like Wie did/does but she'll be a better golfer and hopefully able to compete. A few good performances and perhaps people will focus on her ability
 
FairwayDodger said:
It's catch 22. The reasons you state are true and I think many tournaments invite her for that reason. The bigger picture is that women are too readily objectified and judged on their looks rather than ability or achievement. I think it sends the wrong message. I was glad to read that she turns down most invites and is trying to make it via the mini tours and q school.

Good luck to her!
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Very true, but most of the golf audience is men, and they would rather watch Paige than the next bolt ugly Korean. It should be about the golf, but it never is. That said, I don't like watching Aphibarnrat for the same reason. Fat, and ugly.
 
murphthemog said:
Very true, but most of the golf audience is men, and they would rather watch Paige than the next bolt ugly Korean. It should be about the golf, but it never is. That said, I don't like watching Aphibarnrat for the same reason. Fat, and ugly.
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You are watching the wrong sport then. Try female bodybuilding in the bikini category. That's said without spite or irony, btw. Those girls are awesome athletes and they spent 100% of their practice time on looking as perfect as they possibly can. In all other sports, looks should play absolutely no role in the appreciation of an athlete. Ever. Judge them by what they do, not by how they look doing it.
 
Capella said:
You are watching the wrong sport then. Try female bodybuilding in the bikini category. That's said without spite or irony, btw. Those girls are awesome athletes and they spent 100% of their practice time on looking as perfect as they possibly can. In all other sports, looks should play absolutely no role in the appreciation of an athlete. Ever. Judge them by what they do, not by how they look doing it.
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Sure, in an ideal world we would all do that, but it isnt ideal, and i prefer to watch fit athletes, not fat ones, good looking ones, not ugly ones, etc.
 
murphthemog said:
Very true, but most of the golf audience is men, and they would rather watch Paige than the next bolt ugly Korean. It should be about the golf, but it never is. That said, I don't like watching Aphibarnrat for the same reason. Fat, and ugly.
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But Aphibarnrat is there to play golf not arouse you with his looks
 
murphthemog said:
Sure, in an ideal world we would all do that, but it isnt ideal, and i prefer to watch fit athletes, not fat ones, good looking ones, not ugly ones, etc.
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Of course, I am not completely free of that either. But put yourself in the athlete's place. Would you rather spent all your time and energy on becoming as good as you possibly can in the sport you do, or would you rather divert a not too small amount of that time to making sure your manicure was perfect, you are as slim as possible and your hair is freshly styled? Beauty takes effort and sacrifices (your a guy ... you probably never did high heels, but believe me, they suck). From the statistics, golf seems to be a sport where a bit of extra bodyweight (which, believe me, in cases of golfers like Shanshan Feng or Inbee Park does come as mostly muscle, not fat) helps with power and distance. To reach the level of "fitness" that modern fashion standards advertise, you need to pretty much starve yourself. It is a form of leanness, that is not as healthy as people might think and it sure as hell does not allow for your best possible performance as an athlete.
 
richy said:
But Aphibarnrat is there to play golf not arouse you with his looks
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Me and my son look out for his scores precisely because he is the anti-sportsman. Go on big man :whoo:

In terms of Spiranac she played the game at the beginning to raise her profile. Did it brilliantly as well, any social media people will know that she has worked the system superbly. Now she is trying to step away slightly and gain credibility. Fair play. She wont escape the looks issue as a/ she is attractive and b/ she let the genie out of the bottle herself and it is a devil to pop back in. Looks in any sport get you the big sponsors, Jessica Ennis and David Beckham make that clear, so looks matter in terms of money. Looks can make you rich, they don't win you trophies though. If Spiranac can make it as a pro it will be a great story and will only be good for raising the profile of the womens game.
 
I'm as male as the next man, but I have no time for anyone who joins the ranks of professional sportsman/women on the back of some social media exposure.
Those who have put the hours in and sacrificed their time, efforts and practised to try achieve their goals will always get my attention and respect.
I can't stand Tiger, but I respect that he has out the time and effort to get where he did at the start of his career.
I also have been to ladies tour events, with my wife and daughters, and thoroughly enjoyed it more than watching the men as the ladies game was far more relative to the amateur male.
 
Capella said:
Of course, I am not completely free of that either. But put yourself in the athlete's place. Would you rather spent all your time and energy on becoming as good as you possibly can in the sport you do, or would you rather divert a not too small amount of that time to making sure your manicure was perfect, you are as slim as possible and your hair is freshly styled? Beauty takes effort and sacrifices (your a guy ... you probably never did high heels, but believe me, they suck). From the statistics, golf seems to be a sport where a bit of extra bodyweight (which, believe me, in cases of golfers like Shanshan Feng or Inbee Park does come as mostly muscle, not fat) helps with power and distance. To reach the level of "fitness" that modern fashion standards advertise, you need to pretty much starve yourself. It is a form of leanness, that is not as healthy as people might think and it sure as hell does not allow for your best possible performance as an athlete.
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I think in the men's game. The vastajority of players that do masses or exercise as well do so for golfing reason so, be that flexibility, power or stability. That's forest sports btw.

In the women's game there are many that do sow for the complete opposite. They coukd probably do with more practice on the sport they apparently wish to earn a living from. I believe Sharapova is the 2nd highest tennis star and yet no longer competes at the highest level. Kournikova was the highest at one point to and never won a so wingless event.

Golf has some similarities. Many of the top players are probably less attractive to sponsors than inferior players who look better.

I feel the less attractive players are the only innocent party in this. They play the he game for the game only and deserve all their success.

Re the origin of paiges fame. I sympathise with the hehe young girl who suffered, but feel no sympathy for her now, deep down she knows ow she's not gonna be a top star and she's using her other talents. Nothing wrong with that. Bt certainly no "poor girl" from me.
 
murphthemog said:
Sure, in an ideal world we would all do that, but it isnt ideal, and i prefer to watch fit athletes, not fat ones, good looking ones, not ugly ones, etc.
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You're honest, I'll give you that!

There are quite a few on the PGA and European tours who don't fit into the 'fit' / 'good looking' categories though. Does it spoil your golf viewing?

Big Phil, Westwood, John Daly, Aphibarnrat (already covered in here) etc... And plenty of golfers that aren't exactly lookers but I won't mention them.

Or in football;
Tevez and Suarez aren't exactly handsome chaps but they are phenomenal players. I'm not sure why they need to be attractive to boost your enjoyment of the sport.

The record books don't have an asterix for looks!
 
I cant watch Serena Williams either, whilst Venus, whilst playing worse tennis is just more watchable from not being a fat lump. It is probably me!

And i am no fan of Westwood or Daly either. It is hard to justify golf as a sport if the athletes involved look like darts players.

Oops, foot in mouth time again. Apparently darts is a sport now, rather than a pub game.
 
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