Singh says Annika 'doesn't belong' on PGA Tour

By Jerry Potter, USA TODAY

After months of polite comments surrounding Annika Sorenstam's decision to play a PGA Tour event, some male players are voicing their displeasure about her competing in the Bank of America Colonial next week in Fort Worth. The world's No. 7 ranked player, Vijay Singh of Fiji, made the most brazen statements yet when he told the Associated Press on Sunday that Sorenstam shouldn't be playing a men's tour event.

Vijay Singh watches his tee shot on the ninth hole during the second round of the Wachovia Championship. By Chuck Burton, AP

"It's just different for ladies to play on the men's tour," Singh said. "It's like getting the Williams sisters to play (tennis) against a man, and they're far better athletes than she (Sorenstam) is."

On the odd chance he gets paired with her, he'll withdraw, he said.

"Why? Because she doesn't belong out here," Singh said. "If I'm drawn with her, which I won't be, I won't play."

Singh knows he won't be playing in the same group as Sorenstam. His name will be drawn from a pool of PGA Tour winners when the pairings are made.

Sorenstam will play the Colonial under a sponsor's exemption, making her the first woman since Babe Zaharias, who competed in the 1945 Los Angeles Open, to play a PGA Tour event.

Singh was not alone in questioning Sorenstam's participation. Fellow pro Scott Hoch said, "Most guys hope she plays well and what comes out of this is that she realizes she can't compete against the men." Nick Price, the defending champion at the Colonial, termed her appearance a publicity stunt last month and said she should have qualified if she wanted to test her game against the best men's.

All PGA Tour tournaments use sponsor's exemptions to get selected players into the field, often for publicity. Such exemptions can go to a woman because the Tour has no gender restrictions.

Sorenstam was en route from Japan on Monday, but after winning the Nichirei Cup on Sunday in Tokyo, she reiterated that she's taking this step into men's golf simply to see how her game compares to the best in the world.

No. 4 ranked Phil Mickelson said Sorenstam, the No. 1 player in women's golf and the winner of 13 events last year, could finish in the top 20.

"Guys who are having a tough time with this are thinking this is the men's tour," Mickelson said on his Web site this week. "It's not. It's the best tour, for the best players in the world."