Bikini Golf Digest cover creates confusing controversy

By RICK SOLEM

Some players on the LPGA are upset about Golf Digest’s latest cover, model Paulina Gretzky.

The magazine hits newsstands April 15.

 

LPGA players are upset, but it’s unclear what about.

“It’s frustrating for female golfers,” Stacey Lewis told the NY Times. “It’s the state of where we’ve always been. We don’t get the respect for being the golfers we are. Obviously, Golf Digest is trying to sell magazines, but at the same time you like to see a little respect for the women’s game.”

Angela Stanford, who’s been in the LPGA since 1990 had a different tone: “The question is who are they trying to sell to? If the answer is men 25 years old through 45 years old, then I guess that’s what they have to do. You know the old saying, sex sells. And nobody can argue with that. It’s just the way it is. But the LPGA has some attractive women and very fit women, so why not use them? I’m just baffled by it.”

So, are they jealous she’s not in the LPGA or mad she’s in a bikini? The NY Times reported there been just 11 LPGA players on the cover of Golf Digest since 1969, and none since 2008. 

It’s not like Gretzky doesn’t have strong sports and golf ties. She is the daughter of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and engaged to the PGA’s Dustin Johnson, who is ranked 10th in the world. 

There hasn’t been a lot of LPGA buzz out there … until now … kind of.

And there wasn’t much controversy with Kate Upton along side Arnold Palmer last December – though she wasn’t in a bikini … probably because it would have gave Palmer a heart attack – or when the Golf Channel’s Holly Sonders was on it in May 2013 get-fit issue (seen below in her golfing attire, getting fit, of course). Where were the LPGA cries there? 

If the LPGA is simply jealous of a model in a bikini being on the cover, perhaps they should just golf in bikinis. How many would watch the LPGA then? It’s pretty much what they do in women’s tennis.

But, sometimes, that doesn’t always work out for the best.