Padraig Harrington Makes Bold Prediction For Women's Game

Padraig Harrington had a bold prediction for the women's game as a consequence of the golf rollback plan - in that it could help them to play and compete with their male counterparts.

The upcoming golf ball rollback from the R&A and USGA will see distances limited, with the fastest swingers and longest hitters hit hardest in terms of yards they'll lose.

A lot of the headlines have been about what it will mean for the likes of Rory McIlroy and the big-hitters on the PGA Tour, but it's also interesting to think of what the rollback will mean for the women's game.

Harrington is in favour of the rollback and says it's "for the greater good of the game" as a whole - and added that the women's game could get a bonus boost.  

In a lengthy response to one question about the rollback, Harrington told Golf Digest that reining back the longer men's hitters could help the top women's professionals to close the gap.

"You know what the biggest change is going to be?" Harrington told Golf Digest. "I'm going to say it here - it's going to be the ladies game. They hit too many fairways now, so there is a huge advantage going forward for somebody who comes out there with 175-mph ball speed.

"There is going to be a lady coming out with 175 ball speed who can be a real competitor, and guess what? She's going to be able to play with the men, and compete."

Lexi Thompson played most recently on the PGA Tour in October, when she only just missed the cut at the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas where she looked to become the first woman to make the cut at a PGA Tour event since 1945.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias achieved that feat, and she and Thompson are two of just seven women to have teed it up alongside the men in a PGA Tour event - joined by Shirley Spork, Annika Sorenstam, Suzy Whaley, Michelle Wie West and Brittany Lincicome.

And if Harrington's prediction comes true then there could be a few more women who take on the men when the golf ball rollback comes in.