Pursuant to our discussion last week about the Reason proposal to do away with separate sports for men and women, Galley Friend L.B. left a comment that’s worth posting on its own:

A very silly Reason article (but I repeat myself) — thanks for carving it up, JVL. Dumb article aside, if you haven’t seen the video of Kacy Catanzaro on “American Ninja Warrior,” you should check it out. It’s an impressive display of athleticism — her gymnastic training (she was a Div. 1 NCAA gymnast) no doubt helped her discover how to use her momentum and agility to make up for her lack of raw strength and tiny frame:
http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2014/7/15/5903209/american-ninja-warrior-gymnast-video-obstacle-course-kacy-catanzaro

On the larger point — you’re right about the inevitable result of “gender-merging” almost any sport. I started wondering if my own obsession, golf, might be an exception — i.e., whether the very best women golfers might at least have a shot to be competitive in mens’ tournaments. So I did a little research…

First: Physical differences b/w men and women golfers *do* make a big difference. Some 2010 data here from the PGA and LPGA show that the male pros have an average clubspeed about 15-18 mph faster than the women (depending on the club); as a result, the men average a 270 yard carry with the driver, while the women average just 220:
http://thesandtrap.com/t/32498/trackman-data-pga-tour-vs-lpga

Now, any serious golfer who wouldn’t sell his soul for 50 extra yards off the tee is a liar. Still, at the highest levels of the game, the old saw “Drive for Show, Putt for Dough” seems to be true, and you don’t need any strength at all to be a top one-percentile putter. So couldn’t a top female golfer — one with great (for a woman) distance and accuracy off the tee and a great short game — hang with the men?

It turns out we already have an answer, and it’s not from that brat Michelle Wie’s ridiculous appearances in third-rate men’s tournaments. Twice in history (that I’m aware of), the acknowledged greatest female golfer in the world has played in a mens’ tournament. In 2003, Annika Sorenstam, almost certainly the greatest female golfer ever, got a sponsor’s exemption to play at the Colonial Tournament in Ft. Worth. It’s not a major, but it’s one of the better PGA tournaments with a solid field — most of the greats (Hogan, Palmer, Nicklaus, Watson, Mickelson, etc.) have played and won there. Sorenstam was 32 and in the prime of her career at that point, and she wasn’t trying to make some feminist statement; it was a one-time thing for her — she was so utterly dominant on the ladies’ tour that she accepted the invitation just to see how she’d stack up against the men.

The result? She shot 4-over par for the first two rounds and missed the cut, finishing tied for 96th, better than only 11 men in a total field of 111. (Her putting stroke abandoned her on the back 9 in the second round; a more typical performance on the greens probably would’ve gotten her past the cut.) Later that year she played against Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson, and Mark O’Meara in the Skins Game and finished an impressive second, but that’s a made-for-TV exhibition and not the same as a real tournament.

In January 1945, Babe Didrickson Zaharias, one of the greatest all-around female athletes and best ever female golfers, played in three mens’ tournaments. She made the weekend cut at all three, missed the Saturday cut in the first, and in the latter two she finished tied for … 33rd and 42nd.

So: If you merged the PGA and LPGA tours … well, arguably the two best women ever to swing a club would probably make some cuts — and almost certainly finish in the bottom quarter of the money list/rankings. And that’s the two greatest women golfers EVER, not your average lady pro or even top-50-ever lady golfers. As a fan of the sport, I’m glad Annika Sorenstam had the LPGA tour — where she could show what a brilliant player and competitor she was, rather than being a curiosity finishing in the middle-to-rear of the pack every week on the PGA tour.