2003-05-21 04:00:00 PDT Fort Worth, Texas -- Annika Sorenstam has said she thinks her appearance in a PGA Tour event is a one-time deal.
The PGA Tour might be moving to assure Sorenstam that she is accurate in that thought.
Tom Pernice Jr., a member of the Tour's Policy Board, told The Chronicle on Tuesday that player unhappiness over Sorenstam's sponsor's exemption into Thursday's Bank of America Colonial is so strong that he anticipates a movement to change the written bylaws of the Tour.
As it is currently written, there are no bans on women playing PGA Tour events. The policy board meets next month in Chicago.
"I'm sure this will be discussed, because it's a major issue on Tour, no question," Pernice said. "Players just don't think it's right."
The LPGA, for instance, has specifically written bylaws that restrict the playing field to women. Because the PGA Tour does not, Sorenstam -- the world's top-ranked woman golfer -- accepted a sponsor's invite to play the Colonial, becoming the first woman since Babe Didrikson Zaharias in 1945 to play in a PGA event. When Zaharias played the Los Angeles and Tucson opens then, there was no women's pro circuit.
"She hasn't done anything wrong," Pernice said. "Because our regulations are written to where people thought this would never happen. Whereas with (the LPGA), their bylaws are specific.
"A lot of players disagree with it, but she has a right to be here."
Olin Browne and David Toms -- and four independent directors. The ninth member is the PGA of America director. The Policy Board solicits opinions from the Players' Advisory Councils, which are designed to provide an outlet for players to change policy -- "like the House of Representatives," Pernice said. Apparently, the feedback from the Advisory Council has suggested it might be time for a change.
Pernice said he anticipates Commissioner Tim Finchem would be opposed to such a move among players, with Pernice guessing it would prove unpopular in the court of public opinion.
"The commissioner will probably be against it, but Tim doesn't vote," Pernice said. "I don't want to speak for Tim, but in his position, he'd probably want to take the safe road. And if we did this, we'd get criticized. We take a lot from what the Players Advisory Council has to say."
Many players have resisted embracing Sorenstam, fearing spots in their fields will be given to more women who are eager to play the men's tour. Already, 13-year-old Hawaii sensation Michelle Wie has accepted a sponsor's exemption to play in a Nationwide Tour event; and Connecticut club pro Suzy Whaley qualified, playing from the forward tees, to play in July's Greater Hartford Open.
"If (Sorenstam) plays really well," Tour rookie Arron Oberholser said, "she'll open up a can of worms. If she makes the cut, maybe they'll give her more exemptions. And what's to stop Michelle Wie from getting an exemption?
"And you want to talk about opening a can of worms? Let's say (Sorenstam) has God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost on her side and she wins -- because it would take an act of divine intervention -- then she's a member of the PGA Tour. All hell will break loose."
Tee times were announced on Tuesday, and Sorenstam's two playing partners are Tour rookies Dean Wilson, a 32-year-old from Hawaii who once won two "majors" on the Japanese Tour, and Aaron Barber, a 30-year-old Minnesotan who has missed 10 of 13 cuts this year. Wilson and Barber had their own news conference on Tuesday, and Wilson showed his support for Sorenstam by wearing a green button that read "Go Annika."
He bought it himself in the pro shop.
"For three bucks," Wilson said.
"I feel she has every right to be in this tournament and I'm all for her playing well," Wilson said.
Said Barber, similarly magnanimous: "She didn't take a spot. She earned this based on her resume. That's how you get sponsor's exemptions."
Barber should know: He, too, is one of the 12 sponsor's exemptions at Colonial, something he said he and his agent requested via letter at the start of the year.
Do they worry about being beaten by Sorenstam?
"No," Wilson said. "If she plays well, and I play bad -- anybody can beat me when I play bad."
Said Barber: "She's going to beat some people, there's no doubt. And I'm worried about 113 people beating me every week. . . . When I first got the call this morning, I thought: 'Oh, boy.' I was nervous. Then I turned that into excitement. You have to make it a positive. It's just fun to be part of history."