I play golf, so I have a pretty good idea how difficult it is to play well.

Just when you think you've got things going your way and you're hitting it pretty good, the wheels fall off.

That's why I am so awed by professional golfers. Their ability to consistently make good golf shots blows me away.

I mean, some of the slam dunks in the NBA are pretty amazing.

The 515-foot homer and the 95-mph fastball are really impressive.

But here's the thing about golf as it relates to the average Joe.

No matter how hard I try or how much I practice, I could never dunk a basketball or throw a baseball 95 mph.

But hit a big high draw down the middle of the fairway with my driver just like a PGA pro? I can do that once in a while.

Or hit a nice high approach shot 18 inches from the cup from 130 yards away just like a PGA pro. I can do that, too - once in a while.

Golf is the only sport where I can perform just like a pro, albeit rarely and intermittently.

I have had that thought a few times on the golf course. You hit a shot and think to yourself, David Duvall couldn't have done that any better.

Of course on the very next shot your hands are stinging because you just thinned one into the pond, but never mind.

It was that one crisp, straight, towering, professional-looking shot that keeps you coming back.

I can make a shot like that once in a while. Like maybe once a round.

Which brings me back to the pros, who do it dozens of times per round. That's what's so impressive about them. It's the consistency.

It's how good they are at the game.

I play at Maxwelton and there are scratch guys there that shoot under par and I admire them.

They are really good golfers.

But Woods or Mickelson would have to give them five strokes a side to get in a game.

And the pros are accustomed to playing on courses much longer and more difficult than the ones our area has to offer.

So I guess I agree with the PGA promotional ads that say, "These guys are good."

The other thing I like about golf is its gentlemanly quality. The history of golf lends to the game a certain politeness and friendliness.

Those traditions carry on today, and I think that's part of why I like golf.

That's why I was really disappointed with Veejay Singh last week when he shot off his mouth about Anika Sorenstam.

Sorenstam is the top woman golfer in the world. She entered this week's PGA event, the Colonial.

Singh said he wouldn't play with Sorenstam if he was paired with her and that she didn't "belong" on tour.

Singh's comments are an insult to men everywhere.

The cool thing about Sorenstam is that she never approached this as some sort of battle of the sexes.

I honestly believe she simply wanted to see how she would stack up against the best golfers in the world.

She already knows how she stacks up against the best women golfers in the world. She wins.

She's a very competitive person. She's dominating the LPGA. The next logical step for her was to see how she could do in a PGA event.

I understand that. I am competitive. Once we did a story about this guy from Bourbon who was a world champion arm wrestler. He came in the office to do the interview.

He had forearms like Popeye.

So after the interview, I challenged him to arm wrestle with me.

I knew I had no hope of winning, but I just wanted to know what it felt like to arm wrestle against a world champion.

It felt like I was trying to push against a brick wall. As I was straining, I looked up and noticed he had this shy smile on his face.

Then he started to push back. Then it was over. I lost, but I had competed against the best.

Lots of people understand that compulsion. If they didn't, there wouldn't be much competition in the world.

Lots of runners sign up for races knowing they have no chance of winning. They just want to compete. They want to see how good they can do.

I suppose some people - like Veejay Singh, apparently - don't understand that.

It's not like Sorenstam wants to join the tour. That would be silly. She would be taking a huge pay cut. She one 11 times on the LPGA tour last year. She probably wouldn't win once in the PGA.

She just wants to play with the big boys. She's not trying to prove anything to anyone but herself.

She's not taking the spot of a more competent golfer. And frankly, I think people should be impressed that she's secure enough in herself to play.

All the attention this week was on her. She was in a spotlight brighter than the one she routinely is blinded by on the LPGA tour.

The requests for media credentials were nearly double what they were for last year's event.

And attendance was way up, too.

I say, good for her.

And I won't be rooting for Singh anytime soon.

(After Friday's round, Sorenstam carded a two-day score of 145 [71-74, 5 over par]. She missed the cut for the weekend rounds by 4 strokes. She was in good company. Guys like Tom Lehman, Sergio Garcia and Stewart Appleby missed the cut, too.) [[In-content Ad]]