When it comes to LPGA star Annika Sorenstam playing in a PGA Tour event, everyone likes to ask the question, "why not?"

Me, I like to say "why?"

Why play a men's event when there is viable women's professional tour that is highly competitive and getting more so by the minute?

Why risk proving correct that segment of Neanderthal men who are just praying for you to make a mess of your L-wedge on national TV?

Why would playing well and making the cut do anything for the LPGA and women's golf anyway?

Hey, don't think I am screaming bloody sexist murder about this, because to be honest I am looking forward to seeing it myself. Of course, we are nation currently fixated on "Joe Millionaire" so it's clear that we will watch just about anything.

The spot that Sorenstam is taking in the field, is one of a dozen or so "back pocket" invites that each tour stop has to use at their discretion. One year at the Kemper Open in D.C., Redskins QB Mark Rypien was given an exemption claiming he was a "scratch" golfer.

He shot 88-91.

So don't think I am going to be crying that the planet's hottest female player gets a tee time for one week.

But does she have a chance to be competitive with the boys? Phil Mickelson thinks so. He said he expects Annika to both make the cut and also finish "around 20th." Where Phil got that number is anyone's guess. Remember this is a guy who put 10 grand on the Ravens to win the Super Bowl when they were a 33-1 longshot in August.

Phil said Tiger has "inferior equipment." He also said that he thinks he can actually win a major with Tiger still walking the planet. Phil says a lot of things. I don't know how far you want to run with the Top-20 "prop bet" from "Masterlock Mickelson."

The crisp bill in my wallet says she doesn't have a prayer to make it to Saturday morning. Okay, let me amend that. She has a prayer, but that's all she has. It will take the best two days of golf in her life.

Why? Because like the commercials say, "These Guys are Good." No kidding. If you have ever seen these guys in person, you know what I am talking about. It's not just that they hit the ball longer and straighter than you could ever imagine, but the trajectory and shape of their shots is like nothing you or I can duplicate. The sweet sound of the ball on their clubface, and the ridiculously effortless cadence to their swing makes one look at tour pros like they are gods in spikes.

And there are hundreds upon hundreds of guys like this who are killing themselves to simply make the last spot on the PGA Tour.

To think that Sorenstam can just walk in with a mountain of pressure on her shoulders and smoke more than half of the world's best is… um… shall we say… "optimistic."

Sure, Sorenstam made last year on the LPGA her personal pitch-and-putt. She won 11 of the 23 tour events she entered, and set records with $2.8 million in earnings and a 68.70 scoring average. Statistically, she made Tiger's 2000 summer look like amateur hour. But golf is funny, if not downright vengeful sometimes. Don't believe me? Ask David Duval who has "lost" whatever "it" was that made him the world's #1 briefly in 1991.

The game can boomerang on even the best players without warning or reason. And Sorenstam has plenty of worthy foils nipping at her heels on the LPGA. Karrie Webb, Se Ri Pak, and Grace Park could knock her off the top of the hill at any time.

The armchair analysts (most of whom don't even know what a "Nassau" is) say that Colonial will "fit her game" because it is not a "long" layout. Excuse me? 7,080 yards at Par-70 is a cakewalk? I must have missed that memo.

Yes, "Hogan's Alley" has a lot of tight doglegs that force the tour boys to lay back with irons or fairway woods off the tee. Yes, Sorenstam (averaging 265.6 yards off the tee: 4th on the LPGA, or 196th on the PGA Tour) could find herself right next to the fellas on some holes.

And then she can hit her 3-iron when the men are hitting a 6 iron or less. Length still matters once you are in the fairway. She'll also be forced to hit balls high and with a lot of spin. Something that is only achieved with swing speed and strength.

It'll be tough sledding for her, make no mistake. On the front nine, the "short" layout throws the "Horrible Horseshoe" at the field. It's a stretch of holes that goes 476-246-470, par 4-3-4.

Eat your Wheaties, Annika.

Then there is the misconception that the LPGA players have better short games than the men because they have to scramble for pars more often. Who started this one? The short games on tour are nothing short of magical. They can hit shots that would make a Marine weep. Flop shots, skimmers, check-ups, you name it, they got it. You don't get through five grueling days of Q-school buy simply hitting the ball a long way with your titanium driver.

{INSERT_RELATED}

The fallacy is that Sorenstam is basically a Corey Pavin or Brad Faxon that you would want to date. In reality, even the "little guys" on tour can play like the devil. Pavin's US Open victory at Shinnecock is the golfing equivalent of Villanova beating Georgetown. And Faxon last week was toe-to-toe with Tiger before faltering Sunday.

There's no doubt, Annika Sorenstam is head and shoulders above the other 124 best professional women golfers on the planet. But if you run the math, you'll see more than twice as many men scrambling to get into the Top 125 on their tour, than the ladies. Ergo: the PGA Tour is showcasing the cream of a much deeper talent crop than the LPGA.

This is not sexist, this is simply a matter of demographic reality.

I can see many of you readers reaching for the "PRINT" key so that when I am dead wrong you can mail me this column garnished with chives and butter for eating. But even if Annika makes Mickelson a prophet, has she proven any point?

The day she announces that she's quitting the LPGA and will go through Q-school from the back tees is the day I'll tip my Titleist cap. Then (and only then) will she have made a case for golf being a "single gender" sport.

To her credit, Sorenstam is not wrapping herself in talking points from Martha Burk about what this means for women in her sport. She knows that the average woman who plays golf on the weekend is searching for exactly the same thing as her husband: to get the ball airborne on a regular basis with a minimum of humiliation.

For Annika, this is just a way to see how her game stacks up, and I respect that. But I also know how high that stack on the PGA Tour really is.

I'll be rooting for her to prove me wrong, even though I'm not going to bet on it.