WEEKEND MEMOS

'Weekend memos' give our editorial writers a chance to express their own opinions, comment on topics they have been writing about, or take a lighter approach. The opinions in 'Memos' do not always follow the Enquirer's editorial positions.

My friend Jerry tells a story of sneaking onto a whites-only public golf course in the 1950s and being beaten to a pulp.

Today, race is no longer used to keep people off the greens, but gender is.

That's why I am happily anticipating seeing Annika Sorenstam play in the Colonial PGA tournament next week.

It's historically significant because it will mark the first time in 58 years that a women has played in a PGA event. (Babe Zaharias failed to make the final cut for the 1945 Los Angeles Open.) Some of the rhetoric over Sorenstam harkens back to a time when America was separate and unequal.

Vijay Singh, a brown-skinned Fijian golfer, has been quoted as saying Sorenstam doesn't belong in the tournament, and that if he is paired with her, he'll withdraw.

"I hope she missed the cut. Why? Because she doesn't belong out here," Singh told the Associated Press.

Doesn't belong. Hmmm.

Time was, Vijay might have heard the same thing.

In 1943, the PGA of America wrote a Caucasians-only clause into its Constitution. For nearly 20 years it stood, until the PGA began to get worldwide negative publicity after it kicked boxing great Joe Louis and other black golfers out of a tournament in California.

Quietly, in 1962, the clause was removed.

History has repeatedly shown how foolhardy it is to practice exclusionary behavior. Society is much better off when it promotes opportunity.

Imagine golf today with no Tiger Woods, baseball with no Jackie Robinson, business without a diversified work force to tap into all segments of the American experience.

Sorenstam's playing is as much about changing culture as it is about sport. We don't know whether she can compete with men, but it certainly won't hurt to find out.

If she can make the cut, let her play. And even if she cannot, the game and society becomes more enlightened.

Byron McCauley