NOELLE NICOLLS

Tribune Features Editor

nnicolls@tribunemedia.net

OVER the years, the face of golf has changed significantly. Once considered an exclusive sport for affluent white men, the game has become more accessible to minorities and is no longer seen exclusively as a man’s sport.

Professional golfers Belen Mozo and Paige McKenzie have both witnessed the evolution of the sport. As an amateur golfer of about 13 years, Belen said she competed in the British Amateur Championship in Ireland. A provocative sign served as a history lesson in gender relations: It read “no women or dogs are allowed”. Speaking of the encounter, she remembered thinking “it was joke”.

The gender problem in the sport, however, is no laughing matter. Just last year, after more than three quarters of a century, women were granted membership to one of the most exclusive clubs, the Augusta National Golf Club, site of the Masters.

Paige recalled a course in Scottsdale, Arizona, that has restrictive hours in which women guests can play. Women have to wait until the afternoon to play. “I feel slighted being a professional golfer, because this is a very popular course for a lot of PGA tour players,” she said.

“I felt welcomed when I got there, but I think it has a lot to do with who I was asked by,” said Paige, who was asked to play by PGA tour players.

The two women were in the Bahamas last month ahead of their participation in the first-ever LPGA tournament to be held in the Bahamas. The Pure-Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic will take place at the Tom Weiskopf-designed Ocean Club Golf Course, May 23-26 (US Memorial Day weekend). Featuring a purse of $1.30 million, the four-day tournament will be televised on the Golf Channel.

Belen is a Spanish player who joined the LPGA in 2011. She moved to the United States from her small beach town in Spain as a teenager to study and train. In 2006, Belen became the first player since 1972 to win both the Women’s British Amateur Championship and the British Girls Amateur Championship. Her career-best finish, a T5, at the 2011 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

Paige graduated college in 2006 as the number one ranked amateur in the United States. She joined the pro ranks the year after. Her career-best finish, a T8, at the 2009 Safeway Classic.

“I love when they respect me as an athlete. I cannot be more satisfied than when a trainer recognises my effort not for being a girl, but for being a person. When I step on a golf course and I can just be a golfer. It gives me even more pride being a girl,” said Belen. “They look at us as a little more weaker, a little more emotional, and it is true; we are weaker and emotional but we can damn play a golf course,” she said.

In preparation for the May tournament, Belen said she is focused on the physical aspects of her game: ensuring she maintains strength in her left shoulder, which underwent surgery in 2009, and practicing to hit straight in her long game.

“The course is in great shape. I was very pleased and surprised because normally it takes a while to get a course in shape for a big event. One of my main priorities is going to be to try to focus,” said Belen, referencing the “beautiful” beach views and other possible sightseeing distractions on the beach-front course.

“I like it because you have to shape the ball with the wind. It is going to be very windy, so you will have to know the prevailing wind and how to shape the shots in different holes. Depending on the wind, there will be some pins that are hard to attack,” said Belen, who developed a love for the 17th hole, which crosses over the water.

Paige said she has never been a strong wind play, so she plans to work on that aspect of her game in preparation.

“We have a West Coast swing before coming to the Bahamas. The more competitive rounds you play, the more groove you get in. That is my goal to get good competitive rounds in,” said Paige.

Both women are also working to make the team for the 2013 Solheim Cup, the prestigious biennial golf tournament for professional women from Europe and the United States.

While in the Bahamas, they toured the Greycliff Cigar and Chocolate factory and participated in a Junkanoo experience at EduCulture Bahamas. They also received handcrafted Eldina Miller straw bags.