The Meritorious Rise of Michelle Wie in a Time of Age-Based Nonsense

David Fay, executive director of the US Golf Association, commenting in today's Boston Globe on the decision by the USGA's Women Committee's Chairwomen to extend a special exemption to a then 14-year old Michelle Wie to play in the 2004 US Women's Open:

"It wasn't even a tough call. To not exempt her, in my view, would be some sort of age discrimination."

Fay is then cited for the USGA's recent decision to grant Wie a special exemption at a US Open qualifier in Hawaii:

Fay was adamant that the special exemption was deserved and if there were any critics, they surely had to be silenced when Wie outplayed a field of men (and one other teenage girl) at Turtle Bay Resort & Golf Club in Hawaii. . .

Fay was referring to the fact that Wie -- who turned pro in October -- has not yet reached the minimum age of 18 for LPGA Tour membership, so her prize money is not official. To Fay, however, it's impressive -- $181,449 in two tournaments, which would have Wie 16th on the money list. The top 35 as of May 29 are eligible for exemptions and ''that's why it's such an easy decision," Fay said.

So because Wie is such an outstanding golfer, and because excluding her would seem illegal, the USGA and LPGA are willing to overlook their age eligibility policies. Funny how an exemption policy grounded on merit-based thinking makes so much intuitive sense, and yet the NBA would rather have an absolute, bright-line rule that prevents a player like Greg Oden--perhaps the best NBA prospect since Lebron James--from entering the league straight out of high school or earlier. As to the NFL, it also has a bright-line rule, unless, of course, it chooses to not apply it for whatever reason (see e.g., Larry Fitzgerald, who the NFL allowed to participate in the 2004 Draft, even though only two and a half years had passed from the date of his high school graduation and the date of the draft, and he was thus a half-year short of meeting the required three years for draft eligibility. His father, a well-known sports journalist, would later credit the “relationship” he and his attorney had “built over the years with commissioner Paul Tagliabue” as crucial in obtaining a waiver. See this law review article for more).

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