For all of the rhetoric surrounding San Francisco as some sort of liberal mecca, one has to remember that we are the first city on the left coast, and not in a political way. In fact, there is a long and storied tradition of anglo classism and exclusivity. After all, civilization is a white man's game, especially when it comes to sports, and what better sport to represent this than golf.

Tiger, Veejay and friends are coming to the public course Harding today, teeing off early in the morning (Tiger at hole ten at 8:45), but woe be to them if they brought their bag and clubs to the San Francisco Golf Club's tees. The SFGC chose to forgo the PGA because the PGA chose to require minority members at qualifying country clubs. While Tiger may believe he's integrating a sport out on the fringe frontier, the fact is that plenty of hazards still exist between him and the hole.

Case in point -- while The City has dumped millions into Harding to guarantee that it's qualified as world class, there are plenty of parks and facilities that lay fallow across San Francisco. Sure, as public courses go, Harding is a shining example right now. But if gadflies like H Brown have their way, none of the big money players will be coming back. Why? Resistance from locals interested in clean, safe public bathrooms loudly interfering with their back stroke, apparently.

Photo by Paul R. Kaye.