Sorry Gord, she is taking a spot, if the spot exists at all then it should go to a PGA pro, not be used as a shameless media circus for Sony.

If she's entitled why dont we have a media friendly young male phenom (that young guy that Jim Flick teaches, Phillip Francis, comes to mind) playing in one of the womens events on the same week? I think we all know the answer to that one. Theres no media mileage in it and no male golfer in his right mind would agree to it because it's a no win situation for them, if they win it's expected, if they do badly they are the laughing stock of the tour. I have absolutely no problem with women being allowed to play in mens competitions. If they are good enough they should be there. If Annika Sorenstam is the best player in the world, male or female as has been suggested, then she should be allowed to prove it. Let her enter the US Open and see how far she gets, personally I would love to see her do well just as I love to see real amateurs (as opposed to college players who havent really been amateurs since they started college) do well in The US and British Opens.

The thing about Wie is that despite her undoubted talent there are still girls out there in the amateur ranks that can beat her on any given day (so how she will dominate the LPGA Tour just by turning up I'm not sure, myates). None of these girls can thrash the ball 300 yards yet they can still best her. Michelle is already in danger of becoming a bit of a media freak show like John Daly, just watch the huge drives, never mind that there are players out there who can putt and chip her off the course. Does anyone else remember what happened to Jennifer Capriati?

The real argument here isnt if Michelle Wie should be able to play in the PGA Tour, but whether women pro's in general should be able to play. I think that qualifying should be opened to any and all only then will the issue be resolved. I can't imagine that any LPGA players want to play on the men's tour in preference to their own. They have a great tour that is slowly gaining audiences and increased revenue every year. The lack of depth of quality that used to be brought to attention is no longer so stark, more and more good young female pro's are coming through. Neither the LPGA tour or the members of that tour would sacrifice this to be bit players on the mens tour as Gord rightly points out.