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‘Minjee Lee shouldn’t be caddying for anyone’ – Par 3 contest reignites Women’s Masters debate

Published

2 years ago

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The Par 3 contest at Augusta National is typically the calm before the storm, as partners, kids, and even celebrities join forces with the pros for an afternoon of entertainment.

This year’s contest was cut short by an actual storm, but there was still plenty going on at the event to get people talking, and none more so than the appearance of Minjee Lee, sister to Min Woo, who is making his debut at the tournament this week.

The World Number four in the world, Minjee and current holder of the Evian Championship last year, played a supporting role to her brother on Wednesday before getting her chance on one of the holes and sticking her approach close.

Following the contest, Minjee took to social media to share her delight at caddying for her brother at the event before some golf fans declared it was high time that the top women players had their chance to compete at Augusta National.

Twitter user @HgMac6 wrote: 

“Sorry that I don’t find this cute. Minjee Lee is #4 in the world.. much better than her brother. Minjee shouldn’t be caddying for anyone… the world’s best women PRO golfers should get to play at Augusta…. It should be like tennis .. men and women should play the same Majors.”

Prominent golf writer/tipster for Sporting Life Ben Coley also weighed in with a similar view, saying:

“This is lovely but also it makes for a pretty stark contrast: up-and-coming brother preparing to play Augusta; world-class sister has to make do with being a caddie in the par-3. Absolutely mad that there is still not a Women’s Masters for Minjee Lee to play in too.”

While when I wrote in 2018 ‘Why the LPGA deserves a major championship at Augusta National‘ for GolfWRX, my view was (and remains the same) that:

“The LPGA players deserve the same equal opportunity as the male players. There may never be the same general interest in the women’s game compared to the men. However, inclusivity is an area that has too often been lacking in the game of golf, and there is now more than enough quality and interest in the women’s game to justify Augusta National staging a women’s major championship.”

Augusta National deserves plenty of credit for the work it was done with the ANWA and the impact that has had.

Chairman Billy Payne said the event would have the “greatest impact on women’s golf.” The winner of the inaugural ANWA was Jennifer Kupcho, who last week won the first women’s major of the year, the Chevron Championship.

So what do you think? Is it time the LPGA pros got their chance to tackle Augusta National, or should things stay as they are?

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Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at [email protected].

19th Hole

Man charged with stealing millions of dollars worth of memorabilia from Augusta National

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21 hours ago

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Apr 18, 2024

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Augusta National

According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, a man has been charged in Chicago with stealing millions of dollars’ worth of memorabilia from Augusta National.

The man, Robert Globensky, was charged with transporting the memorabilia across state lines.

The report states that between 2009 and 2022, Globensky allegedly transported “millions of dollars’ worth of Masters golf tournament merchandise and historical memorabilia” from Augusta National “and transported to Tampa, Florida, knowing the same had been stolen, converted and taken by fraud.”

The document was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Per the court records there is no mention that Globensky worked for the golf club.

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19th Hole

Talor Gooch: 54 holes is more exciting for the fans

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21 hours ago

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Apr 18, 2024

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Over the past few weeks, two of LIV Golf’s biggest stars, Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson, have both expressed that they believe LIV could go to 72 holes.

While speaking to BBC Sport, Rahm said he “wouldn’t mind” going to 72 holes.

“If there ever was a way where LIV could go to 72 holes I think it would help all of this argument a lot.”

“The closer I think we can get LIV Golf to some other things the better. I think it would be for some kind of unification to feed into a world tour or something like that.

“I don’t know if I’m alone in this, but I definitely wouldn’t mind going back to 72 holes.”

Phil Mickelson, while speaking after his final round at The Masters, also said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if LIV went to 72 holes.

“I don’t think it makes a difference either way. We’ve got mini-tours playing 54, Champions Tour playing 54. I wouldn’t be surprised if some or all of LIV events went to 72. I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. I enjoy the competition.”

Another one of LIV’s top players, Talor Gooch, expressed on Wednesday that he feels quite differently.

“It’s just funny to me, this arbitrary number of 72.”

“Why is it not 90? “Why is it not 108? We just decided to make that number the number, for what reason?”

“Everyone’s talked about world ranking points and all this stuff, but no one’s talked about what do the fans enjoy more?”

“People want something that’s going to be more exciting. And I personally think that the 54 holes is more exciting for the fans.”

After Gooch’s comments, I decided to get some fan feedback for myself, making a poll on X. With about 4,500 votes in at the time of writing this, roughly 84% of voters in the poll indicated they’d prefer 72 holes to just 16% saying they’d prefer 54.

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19th Hole

Brandel Chamblee has ‘no doubt’ who started the McIlroy/LIV rumor and why

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2 days ago

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Apr 17, 2024

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Earlier this week, rumors began to fly that Rory McIlroy could be making a shock switch to LIV Golf which caused quite the stir on social media.

However, on Tuesday, McIlroy emphatically shut down those rumors, telling Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town:

“I honestly don’t know how these things get started. I’ve never been offered a number from LIV and I’ve never contemplated going to LIV. Again I think I’ve made it clear over the past two years that I don’t think it’s something for me.

It’s unfortunate that we have to deal with it and this is the state that our game’s in. I’m obviously here today and I’m playing this PGA Tour event next week and I will play the PGA Tour for the rest of my career.”

Golf Channel analyst and longtime LIV critic, Brandel Chamblee, took to social media before McIlroy’s statement to point the finger at “Saudis/LIV,” who he believes started the rumor:

When one user pushed back on Chamblee’s claim that LIV golfers had a poor showing at the Masters, Brandel went further into why he believes the opening major of the year was a failure for the breakaway tour.

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