In five installments since the Zurich Classic changed to a two-man team format in 2017, the unique PGA Tour event annually draws a smattering of elite players and the paltriest television ratings all season. The most generous assessment of a noble tour experiment would be to label it a mixed bag.
Being mixed, actually, would be a better idea.
While the PGA Tour and the folks in New Orleans deserve credit for trying something new, it needs to go a little further outside the box. This would be a good opportunity for the folks in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, to join the trend of every other world tour in developing a mixed-gender event. A combined field of players split between PGA and LPGA Tour professionals playing for the same purse and trophy is the kind of thing that could really make the Zurich stand apart in a challenging spot on the schedule.
Mixed-gender events are gaining traction across the world’s best tours. This month the Asian Tour and the Ladies European Tour held consecutive Trust Golf Mixed tournaments in Thailand – one stroke play and one modified Stableford. In the latter, American Sihwan Kim needed two record-scoring days to hold off women finishing second and third, Maja Stark of Sweden and Budsabakorn Sukapan of Thailand.
It’s high time the world’s best men’s and women’s tours – the PGA and LPGA – teamed up to co-sanction their own coed tournament.
Last year, Swedish major winners Annika Sörenstam and Henrik Stenson co-hosted the first full-field event co-sanctioned by the European Tour and LET: the Scandinavian Mixed. The field of 156 in Sweden was split evenly by gender, and 45 men and 36 women made the cut.
“I think what they’ve done this week is fantastic,” said Northern Ireland’s Jonathan Caldwell, who won despite a fierce Sunday challenge from solo third finisher Alice Hewson of England. “I hope we have more weeks like this.”
Down in Australia, old tour pros Geoff Ogilvy and Michael Clayton filled a void left by the canceled Australian Open to create the inaugural Sandbelt Invitational pitting a mix of 60 male and female pros and amateurs competing on four of Melbourne’s most storied courses: Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath, Peninsula Kingswood and Yarra Yarra. The event offered exemptions into the Vic Open, a mixed event co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the LPGA.
Australia is plunging headlong into the mixed concept with its innovative Players Series developed by the PGA and WPGA of Australasia to have the nation’s leading male and female professionals compete in the same fields for the same prizes.
It’s high time the world’s best men’s and women’s tours – the PGA and LPGA – teamed up to co-sanction its own official event. The Haig & Haig Scotch Foursome from 1960-67 eventually morphed into what became the JCPenney Classic mixed team event, with John Daly and Laura Davies the last winners in 1999. The Wendy’s 3-Tour Challenge, a one-day event held from 1992-2013, featured three-person teams from the PGA, LPGA and Champions tours. Neither were official tournaments.
How cool would it be to have seen the six top-eight men’s players in the field last week – Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Viktor Hovland, Cam Smith and Justin Thomas – get challenged for their share of an $8.3 million purse by an equally compelling cast of the world’s best women – Jin Young Ko, Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko, Danielle Kang, Lexi Thompson and Brooke Henderson? It could have Min Woo Lee paired off against his sister Minjee Lee – or partnered with her should they choose to keep it a team format.
Equal opportunity knocks. The Zurich Classic is already different, and that’s a good thing. But inviting women and men to compete on the same stage for real stakes could make it special and finally attract the attention it deserves.
Top: Annika Sörenstam and Henrik Stenson at the 2021 Scandinavian Mixed
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Scott Michaux