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The Loop

Golf World Rewind Sans Women?

December 19, 2008

Wow, was I excited to see the supplement with the title, "2008 Major Rewind." I thought it interesting that no women were on the cover and disgusted to see no women in the table of contents, either. Didn't the LPGA have major events this year? Did no one on staff notice the oversight? Were these events not worth covering? Once again, you have showed your bias. And I'm sure, once again, you won't print my complaint regarding gender inequity in your golf coverage. I'm not even looking for 50-50, but 100-0 is a little outrageous.

Dr. Kelly Quick>

Sheboygan, WI

I spoke to editor Geoff Russell about this. I'm not sure his answer will satisfy you, Dr. Quick. Indeed, I don't think there is an answer that will.  The fact is, the issue covered only the men's-tour majors--not the LPGA nor the Champions or Nationwide Tour, for that matter. It did not even cover the Players Championship, which some consider the next best thing to a major. Nor did it cover any of the tournaments of the FedEx Cup. The PGA Tour was as disappointed with those omissions as you were with the lack of LPGA majors.

Geoff's reasoning was that given a single-advertiser issue with limited space, and given that the four men's majors and the Ryder Cup were a must, he would do them well, with adequate reportage, photos and illustrations from each tournament, and not add other events and wind up short-changing all of them. I'm thinking we would be having a similar conversation if Geoff had made a half-hearted effort to cover the other tours. As you know, the Newsmakers issue, which also covered the ADT Championship and accompanied the Major Rewind supplement, included female stars. Again, I don't expect you to like Geoff's answer, but he had his reasons.

--Bob Carney