NCAA wrong not expanding women’s golf championships to 30

Title IX celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, yet the fight for common sense decision-making when it comes to women’s sports rages on.

Earlier this week, the NCAA announced that the field at the Division I Women’s Championship would increase from 24 teams to 27. This was done to “provide an equitable championship access ratio across both Division I men’s and women’s golf.”

Except, in the minds of many, it did not provide equity. Many believe that because the men have 30 teams at nationals, the women are still being short-changed. In other NCAA championships, the field size and setup mirror each other for the men and women after the opening round. In golf, it does not.

“I think, in general, we use equity when we’re trying to help the underserved or underrepresented get gains,” said Rutgers head coach Kari Williams. “In this case, we’re using equity to penalize the women.”

Here’s how it currently works: The NCAA postseason begins with six regional fields for men’s and women’s golf. A total of 81 men’s teams and 72 women’s teams advance to regionals. This gives both the men and women 27 percent of the total number of Division I programs in NCAA postseason action. (Think of this like the first round of the men’s and women’s college basketball tournament.)

The NCAA bases its access ratio to the postseason on sport sponsorship (how many schools have teams). The breakdown is equal in men’s and women’s golf at 27 percent in Round 1.

But when it comes to how many teams advance to Round 2, the women had 24 move on to Arizona’s Grayhawk Golf Club in 2022 while the men had 30.

Last February, the Division I Women’s Golf Committee recommended to the Division I Competition Oversight Committee that the women’s field at the finals site be increased to match the men at 30. In April, the COC tabled the discussion. They got back to it in June (after the championship) and denied the request, noting that “the number of student-athletes at the finals should be based more on sport sponsorship (which is greater for men’s golf than for women’s golf) than as a comparison to men’s golf.”

The Women’s Golf Committee came back in July and put forth a recommendation to raise the number to 27, noting that the men’s and women’s fields would then be equal from a sports sponsorship…