Royal Birkdale apparently is going to be Tiger proofed in preparation for 2008 Open championship. A spokesman for the Royal and Ancients says that its a natural response to the players getting bigger, stronger, and hitting them longer.

But I think lengthening the course doesn’t actually “Tiger proof” anything—rather, it plays into the striped one’s hand. By lengthening courses to heroic proportions, organizers practically quarantee that only a few golfers (Tiger among them) will have any chance at all. If you’re not a mad bomber, you needn’t apply.

Now, I know that you can’t redo old classic courses without people screaming, but it makes more sense to me to add a nasty bunker or two in Eldrick’s landing zones than it does to lengthen the course. Or let the gorse grow in and narrow the fairways. Take away the advantage of the super long hitters, and you will get a better competition.

Jean Van de Velde’s remarks about wanting to play in the Women’s Open if women can play in the Open (British) Championship got me thinking.

On the one hand, I can see where some people might think that it’s discriminatory to allow women into the one, but not men into the other.

But I think they’re missing the point.

The Open Championship and the US Open seek to identify the champion golfer of the year. Period. And if the best golfer happens to be a woman, a senior, a junior, an amateur, or a professional, then so be it.

The women’s championships on the other hand, seeks to identify the champion FEMALE golfer. In the same manner, the amateurs seek to identify the champion amateurs, the senior opens, the champion seniors, and so on.

I don’t see any problem with this at all. No one seriously thinks that professionals should be allowed to play in the US Amateur just because amateurs are permitted in the US Open. Tiger doesn’t demand a place in the Senior Open because Tom Watson is playing in the Open Championship.

Further, no sane person believes that opening the championship to women threatens the status of the best male golfers. If a woman—Wie, or Sorenstam, perhaps—gets into the Open Championship, they will not be taking the spot from Jean Van de Velde, or any other man who actually has a chance of winning.

Van De Velde—and Singh, for that matter—should just get over it. In the future, there are going to be some women who get to play in men’s tournaments. Some will play their way into it; others will get a sponsor’s exemption.

But they are in no way threatened by that.

Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie will have a chance to qualify for the (British) Open Championship, now that tournament organizers have opened things up to women.

I think its about time. While I don’t believe that any current woman player has a chance at winning the Open Championship, they should be allowed to try. The Open seeks to identify the champion golfer for that year, and if at some point that happens to be a women, so be it.

Realistically, of the curent crop of women golfers, I think that a couple could possibly get through qualifying. But only Michelle Wie, with her length, has any chance of being competitive.

Competitive doesn’t mean she has a chance of winning, though.

Still, I’d like to see it.

My fantasy golf team is doing well. With $1 million to spend in salaries, I put my money in Tiger Woods, Sergia Garcia, John Daly, Colin Montgomerie and Joe Durant. Ok. So Durant was a bad pick. But he was the only one I could buy with the money left over.

Wow. I wish I’d found this earlier. The BBC has a page with something called the Golf Viewer. Similar to Tourcast, it’s a web application that plots every shot at the Open.