Golf has never been the most exciting sport to keep tabs on. Big whoop, you hit a little ball with a stick, who cares? And to think people can get paid $10,000 even when they lose at a professional tournament — some American pastimes I will never understand.

But now that 32-year-old Annika Sorenstam, a top LPGA women’s tournament winner, has accepted a sponsor’s exemption to play May 22-25 at the Bank of America Colonial men’s PGA tournament in Fort Worth, Texas, golf has become tremendously more interesting.

The mere possibility of Sorenstam getting to play with the “big boys” in a PGA tournament has infuriated a few famous male golfers and brought the battle of the sexes once again into the limelight for everyone’s viewing pleasure.

Vijay Singh, one of the PGA’s top golfers, has also been one of Sorenstam’s most vocal opponents. In an interview with the Associated Press, he brashly declared, “I hope she doesn’t make the cut…she doesn’t belong out there. If I’m drawn with her, which I won’t be, I won’t play.”

Singh is supported by Fulton Allem, a veteran PGA player. In a May 14 Dallas Morning News article, Allem said, “You can’t mix oil and water, it’s simple as that. I’m 100 percent behind Vijay because men can’t play on the women’s tour, so why should women be allowed to play on our tour?”

Allem also declared, “You’re a man. What would you think if somebody said, ‘We’re going to give your spot to a woman?'”

These men should know better than to condemn a woman for putting her reputation on the line to compete. Their objections not only make them seem childish, but also overly chauvinistic. We’re back on the first grade playground. The girls once again have cooties, and it’s the boys’ job to chase them away from all things sacred (read: male).

It’s a shame that it seems hardly anyone believes she can make it.

The most often cited, but also most valid, possibility for her failure is that the tees are further away on a PGA course, approximately 700 yards more than on the average LPGA course.

But what if she makes the cut? Besides surprising the hell out of almost everyone who has weighed in on the subject, it bring up another question — what if it’s Singh who fails?

To that effect, Singh also said, “If I miss the cut, I hope she misses the cut because I don’t want to get beat by a lady.” God forbid. Everyone knows what that would do to a man’s self-esteem. If that’s all you’re worried about, I suggest working on your sportsmanship skills. Having the mentality of a 7-year-old won’t really help you.

Thankfully, however, Singh doesn’t have anything to worry about because he has withdrawn from the tournament after promising his wife he would take a week off.

While Allem’s “We don’t get to play on the women’s tour” nonsense is only slightly valid at best, one would wonder why a man would even consider playing on the women’s LPGA tournament circuit. It isn’t as popular as men’s golf, and the money to be made just doesn’t compare to the PGA.

So far this year, the top 50 male money leaders have all made more than the top female money leader, according to statistics on the PGA Web site, www.pga.com. Davis Love III leads PGA money winners with $3,787,711, while Si Re Pak leads LPGA money winners with a comparatively paltry $562,900 (Sorenstam comes in a very close second).

If the top PGA golfer can make at least six times as much as the top LPGA golfer, where would you want to compete?

It wouldn’t make for good publicity for the men to play a women’s tournament, either; all the other guys would just call him a sissy and maybe even a few other choice names. That alone would be enough to deter most guys from signing up. That’s the beauty of social control.

Whether her participation is only a publicity stunt, a genuine attempt at competition, or a bit of both, she’s got what it takes to make the cut.

She is aware of the challenge a men’s tournament will pose, but Sorenstam didn’t become one of the best LPGA players without much hard work and determination. “You’ve got to go through tough times to learn,” she said of the upcoming event in a recent interview with Golf Magazine. “If I were afraid, I wouldn’t be a professional today.”