Page Spraniac - Handed Ladies Master Invite

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I wish there were better ways of getting public attention to ladies' golf. I doubt that any male player would ever get an invitation to a tour event because he looks good.

That said, Paige is a pretty good golfer. She is probably not going to make the cut in Dubai, but many young golfers don't in their first big pro event. Time will tell if she is good enough to make it on tour.
 
Foxholer said:
I've certainly sympathy with this view, but Invites are specifically reserved for those outside the qualification criteria. If it boosts the public awareness of LET, then I'm for it - up to a point! Ivan Lendl was given a similar SI to a ET event a couple of times too - though scored poorly and decided he wasn't good enough!
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At least Lendl would have been invited on the basis of sporting achievement, albeit in a different sport. All this does is perpetuate the belief that women's appearance is more important than their ability. If it does raise awareness of the LET it does so by showing it in a negative light.
 
Genuinely torn on this one. Can see FDs point of view as it could perpetuate the message that you will only get an invite if you are very attractive.

But golf is more and more trying to harness the power of social media as a method of promoting itself. The issues around the average age of female members in golf clubs is well know, with it being somewhere in the 60s, which is no way to sustain the future of the game. So if she opens golf up to a younger generation then it can't be a bad thing. Although you could argue with the way she is doing it.
 
FairwayDodger said:
At least Lendl would have been invited on the basis of sporting achievement, albeit in a different sport. All this does is perpetuate the belief that women's appearance is more important than their ability. If it does raise awareness of the LET it does so by showing it in a negative light.
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Most certainly in your corner in regards this

I just don't know what other ways they can do to attract awareness of the LET
 
Wonder which sponsor gave her the invite

Regards whether its warranted based on having a large online following (based on her looks) I guess sport will just wait its turn along with movies, TV, music, media/magazines, fashion, politics, business etc etc in deciding when looks lose their priority status...

Or is sport just catching up with the rest!
 
delc said:
She might turn out to be golf's equivalent of Anna Kournikova in tennis. Very pretty but not quite enough talent! :mmm:
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Although she has a net worth of $50 million, which I imagine is a hell of a lot more than many 'more talented' players of her generation have. And she has been with Enrique Iglesias since 2000 or something like that, who I am reliably informed by my wife, is a bit of a catch. Which I imagine makes up for not having so much talent.
 
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john0 said:
Let's be honest, who actually watches Ladies golf for the actualy golf anyway
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Well, I do. In the rare cases I get the chance to watch it, because media coverage leaves much to be desired on this. But I ususally enjoy watching it more than I enjoy watching the guys play. It tends to have more finesse.
 
Hacker Khan said:
Although she has a net worth of $50 million, which I imagine is a hell of a lot more than many 'more talented' players of her generation have. And she has been with Enrique Iglesias since 2000 or something like that, who I am reliably informed by my wife, is a bit of a catch. Which I imagine makes up for not having so much talent.
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She still managed to get into the top ten in the world plus a number of grand slam semi finals as well as winning comps plus winning grand slam doubles comps

She was a very good tennis player
 
She was invited due to her popularity, I think we all know that her social media popularity is based on her looks, but who, in an official capacity, not some randomers on a golf forum, is going to declare that it's her looks, and not her personality, or talent, that created her social media popularity.

Absolutely no-one, that's who.
 
There's pro's and cons to the whole thing. Talent should dictate invites in theory and I'm sure there are many others who are significantly more talented (Paige seems like a decent college golfer at the moment but that's it) who would deserve it more. Would they bring the attention and spotlight? No chance. The sponsors who put the money in the pockets of the players will be very pleased with the exposure. Will others want her at their events? - you bet.

She deserves a chance (as wisely said by Laura D) but players should be there on merit not looks, IMHO. Lets hope she can put some scores together and take her opportunity well. As an arch pragmatist I'd try to take the good out this and not worry about it; see what plays out - easy for me to say though.

The world has changed though and in many walks of life (Film, Sport, Arts) superficiality talks over talent in many situations. Perhaps it always has, I'm not old enough to tell yet.
 
I'm in an uncomfortable position about this. If she put more clothes on I'd be more inclined to back her based on sporting merit. But as it is I feel for the people on the sidelines struggling to qualify through performance when there's now clearly a side entrance for people that look good in skimpy clothes to lecherous sponsors and organisers.

I have a daughter who I hope will enjoy golf in the future and if she's ever good enough to compete I'd want to be sure she's doing that in an environment that rewards performance and not what she looks like.
 
FairwayDodger said:
Don't know anything about this but, if true, that she got an invite because she looks good rather than her golfing ability it is a travesty. Everything that is wrong with the perception of women's sport in our society. If she's genuinely good enough to deserve an invite in preference to other players that's a different matter.
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Well said Kaz
 
But in reality how does anyone get an invite? I imagine it is never purely down to just talent, how many people have got invites as they are signed to the right management company or sponsors who can influence it. If it was just talent then I suppose you'd just pick the highest ranked players who are not already playing.
 
There also may be an argument that if golf put on some more exciting tournaments rather than the constant bore fest of terminally slow 72 hole stroke play then they would not have to resort to cheap gimmicks like this to get people tuning in or attending. If you are after more TV viewers or punters attending then address the underlying fundamental problem of why people are not doing this. Which I imagine, in most cases, is not that the players are not hot enough.
 
Hacker Khan said:
But in reality how does anyone get an invite? I imagine it is never purely down to just talent, how many people have got invites as they are signed to the right management company or sponsors who can influence it. If it was just talent then I suppose you'd just pick the highest ranked players who are not already playing.
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Was just thinking about this too

A wee bit different but many years on from a win the qualifying exemptions to The Open or US Masters are little more than invites and certainly the players ability doesn't come into it
 
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