Wie to Cross European Golf's Gender Divide

Michelle Wie's campaign to dismantle the game's gender boundaries took another step yesterday when it was announced that the US teenager would play against Europe's leading men at the European Masters in Switzerland in September.

"Michelle has demonstrated her outstanding golfing skills to a global audience as both an amateur and now as a professional, and we look forward to welcoming her," said George O'Grady, the chief executive of the European tour - a remarkable volte-face by a man who had previously been sceptical about offering women invitations to play in men's events.

Eight months ago O'Grady dismissed the practice as a "gimmick". But in golf nothing speaks as loudly as sponsorship money. The European Masters is sponsored by Omega and Wie this year signed a sponsorship deal with the watchmakers.

Wie, who turned professional last October, is not the first woman to play in a European tour event - Laura Davies finished second last at the 2004 ANZ championship in Australia - but she could well be the first to make the 36-hole cut. Earlier this month she made the cut at a men's Asian Tour event in South Korea.

She has played in five PGA tour events in the United States, narrowly missing the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii two years ago and at last year's John Deere Classic, when she dropped three shots to par in the last two holes of her second round to miss out by two shots. "I am very excited to be playing against the best professional golfers in Europe in such a magnificent setting," she said yesterday.

Whether Europe's professional men will be as excited to have her around remains to be seen. There will undoubtedly be some opposition, not least from the French golfer Jean van de Velde, who last year attempted to enter the women's British Open, arguing that, if women can play in men's events, then men should be able to play in women's events.