Bob CollinsIf you play in men’s golf tournaments, the end of a gender-specific tournament may be coming to an end.
A federal judge in Boston has ruled that a woman suffered discrimination when a public golf course refused to let her play in a men’s tournament. Says the New York Times:
Gorton’s ruling sent a strong message to the overseers of public golf courses. In effect, it said that government-financed tournaments should allow women to play with men at men’s tournaments and vice versa.
Gorton observed that the town of Dennis and the golf officials it employed made “a repeated plea for a ‘separate but equal’ analysis, that is, that the club had men’s-only and women’s-only tournaments on weekends.”
That did not wash, the judge said, because “men and women were afforded unequal playing opportunities” at Dennis Pines, with 10 days of tournament play for men compared with two days for women.
The article quotes the judge saying his ruling does not require all public courses to conduct only coed tournaments, but it’s hard to see how it doesn’t.
The judge’s ruling has not yet been posted online.
