Men Once Again Win in Spalding Pro-Am : But PGA’s Eastwood Still Finds Reason to Complain About Women

If it proved nothing else, the Spalding Invitational Pro-Am golf tournament that ended here Sunday proved one thing--that men can beat women, even when the women are spotted an average of more than 50 yards a hole.

Tim Norris shot a 71 in the final round at Pebble Beach, one of three Monterey-area courses used, to win the tournament by three shots over Dan Forsman and Mark Brooks with a 72-hole score of 272, 15 under par. Ten men finished ahead of Patty Sheehan, who led the women with a seven-under-par 280.

But all eight women made the cut after 54 holes and, in addition to Sheehan, three of them--Alice Miller, Val Skinner and Jan Stephenson--broke par for 72 holes. On a damp, misty Sunday, the women made up for the dreadful time they had had with the famed course on Saturday.

Sheehan and Miller shot four-under-par 68s, Skinner and Stephenson 69s and Beth Daniel 70. Miller finished at four under par with 283, Skinner shot 284 and Stephenson 286. Shooting over par were Daniel at 289, Sally Little 291, Jane Blalock 292 and Juli Inkster 297.

Despite the inability of the women to make a better showing in the eight years they have played in the tournament (Kathy Whitworth’s sixth-place finish last year is the best the women have done), the idea of matching them against the men seems to be a good one for tournament golf. Their participation makes the Spalding tournament unique on the PGA Tour.

Their presence also sparked a great deal of controversy, mostly regarding the placing of the women’s tees as much as 85 to 125 yards closer to some holes than the men’s tees. While a few males grumbled about what defending champion Peter Oosterhuis called the women’s “good start” off the tees, Bob Eastwood was more blunt.

The women, in his view, did not belong in the tournament playing from tee placements that he said were a joke. “If the women can’t win here this year, they never will win,” he said. “It isn’t fair; we don’t get a fair shake.”

The main target of Eastwood’s attack during an interview in the pressroom Friday was Inkster, who told reporters Thursday, “I would like to play from the blue (back) tees with the guys. We wouldn’t have a chance, but I’d like to do it for the competition.”

Asked how much advantage the women had at Carmel Valley Country Club, Inkster said: “A lot, probably an average of 50 yards. I think I hit only three long irons all day (to the greens). Mainly I hit 8 and 9 irons.”

After reading Inkster’s comments in newspapers, Eastwood said: “I feel the women should be hitting the same irons into the greens. If I’m hitting a 4-iron in, why should they be standing there with a 7-iron. The club selection is not even close. If Juli had any guts, she would play the blues.”

The tournament, in Eastwood’s view, “is a no-win situation for the men. I can see the headlines now: ‘Woman beats men in Spalding.’ With their advantage, it’s like giving them strokes.”

Asked if he were serious, Eastwood replied: “You bet I’m serious. They’re after the same money.”

On Saturday, when asked to comment on Eastwood’s remarks, Inkster told Dan Hruby of the San Jose Mercury News, “I don’t need this. I don’t think I’ll play next year.”

Earlier, she had said: “I know some of the guys don’t want us out here. There are lots of good personalities on the men’s tour, but some guys just don’t like women.”

She is not, she said, intimidated by the men, but does feel it changes her approach.

“There is a temptation to prove something,” she said. “You’re out there trying to show them how well you can play instead of playing your game.”

Eastwood made the women angry last year after the third round when, tied for second by one stroke behind Whitworth, he said, “I would not appreciate losing to a woman.”

Whitworth, reportedly visibly affected by the remark, shot 76 at Pebble Beach in the final round. She did not enter the tournament this year.

“It’s a psyche game,” Eastwood said here Friday. “They have the big yardage advantage, so I might as well play the brain game.”

Other male pros interviewed were unperturbed.

“It doesn’t bother me (to have the women playing from shorter tees),” Oosterhuis said. “It’s just part of this tournament.”

Said Australia’s Greg Norman: “It’s nice to be involved with them and see how they play. If a woman won, it wouldn’t bother me.”

Johnny Miller said it wouldn’t bother him, either. “I’ve got no ego problems,” he said. “If a woman wins, I’m not going to complain.”

Said Roger Maltbie: “I’d like to play from their tees.

“It’s not worth guessing whether it’s fair or not. They’re the best women; we’re the best men. They say they’re trying to equalize it, but I’m not sure golf can be equalized (for men and women).”

The best way to make it fair, Norman said, is to handicap the women, not give them an edge in distance. “Give them two or three shots a side and let them play from the same tees,” he said. “Handicapping is the fairest equalizing system in golf.”

Jane Blalock doesn’t agree. “I think it has to be equalized on the tees,” she said. “That gives us a chance to blow the ball over bunkers and hazards like the men. I’ve got to be 30 yards ahead of Greg Norman off the tee to be equal. If he’s hitting a 7-iron and I’m hitting a 5-iron, I know who is going to win.”

Daniel is not sure how the game can be made equal but said, “Distance is probably the easiest way to do it.” Still, she said, distance is not the only factor to be considered and, in her view, some courses are harder to deal with. “Pebble Beach is a good example,” she said.

Pebble Beach, in fact, is the chief flaw in Tournament Director Harold Firstman’s idea of setting up the courses so the men and women will have the same iron shot into the green.

“Pebble Beach is not designed for tees as short as we are playing,” Sheehan said. “It is impossible to get equity at Pebble Beach,” Blalock said. “We have a great advantage at Del Monte, but it’s a wash with Pebble.”

“They can move us up only so far at Pebble,” Inkster said. “We still have to hit those tough shots into the greens.” The greens at Pebble Beach are smaller than average.

After the first round, Norman said: “Pebble Beach will be the great equalizer. Del Monte and Carmel Valley are the giveaways.”

Andy North said: “They (women) seem to do pretty well on the other courses but Pebble Beach demands a lot. A lot of our guys still haven’t figured it out.”

The fact is, courses are designed with bunkers, canyons and other hazards in mind. If the tees are up too far, the hazards come into play and an advantage in distance is lost. That happened to the women often at Pebble Beach.

On No. 9, a long, par-4 hole that parallels the ocean and intimidates even the best male pros, Daniel, with about a 125-yard advantage, drove with a 3-iron to avoid some fairway bunkers, and then hit a 7-iron shot into the green.

At No. 16, another par-4 hole with a narrow opening to the green, she drove with a 4-iron because, she said: “There was no way I could keep a driver in the fairway from that far up (about 50 yards). The hole is not designed that way. From the men’s tee, I would have hit a driver.”

At No. 8, a spectacular par-4 hole where the second shot must be hit across the ocean, Daniel drove with an iron to stay out of the water. She landed, she said, about where the men hit their drives. She was left with a 3-iron shot to the green while the men needed only a 6-iron.

On all these holes, and some others, the women lost their distance advantage. And even Eastwood admitted the short tees did not always give the women an edge. “Sometimes their drives wind up on the downslope of a hole, making it a tougher shot (to the green),” he said.

Compounding the women’s problems were the wind and rain that struck Pebble Beach Saturday. For Sheehan, it was at times a 4-club wind, meaning that she was hitting a 4-iron on some holes where normally she would use an 8-iron. She shot 75. The other four women who played there didn’t do any better. Alice Miller shot 77, Jan Stephenson 78, Inkster 79 and Blalock 81.

It was no consolation to the women that it was a bad day for the men who played Pebble Beach, too. Only two of 25 broke par, Oosterhuis shooting a 70 and Norman a 71 in wind that gusted up to 40 m.p.h. Gary McCord shot an 87.

If a course was perfectly flat and had no rough, an edge in distance probably would make the men and women equal, said Daniel, who played on the men’s golf team one season at Furman. “You might have a distance advantage, but if you get in the rough, you can’t get out of it as well as a man. There is still a strength factor.”

That extra power, in Daniel’s view, enables the men to hit better shots out of the rough and bunkers and even short finesse shots around the green. Strength is important in controlling the club on finesse shots, Sheehan said. It is also important in putting enough spin on a shot to stop it on the green, a skill in which men are superior.

“Strength aside,” Daniel said, “and the women libbers aren’t going to like this, women can’t handle the pressure as well as men. Men by nature are more aggressive. Women are more apt to fold.”

But Sheehan said she felt no pressure because, she said, “I’m not really playing the men. Besides, nobody expects us to win.”

“We’re not here to compete against the men; we’re here to play,” Val Skinner said after shooting seven birdies and a three-under-par 68 at Carmel Valley Saturday.

Asked if Eastwood’s remarks bothered her, Skinner replied: “If this is Bob’s big week to win money, more power to him. What’s the big deal? We compete against the men once a year and he has a problem with it. We say good things about the men. They are better than we are; they chip better, putt better and some hit the ball so far it’s unbelievable.”

Told that Eastwood complained that his shots to the greens at Carmel Valley were spinning back 30 feet short of the hole, Skinner said, “He should hit more club.”

And Sheehan, at least, had the last laugh on Eastwood. She beat him five strokes Sunday and three for the tournament.