Why top women should mix it with the big boys

This week in Morocco, Europe’s leading men and women will compete in separate tournaments on adjacent golf courses — and i’ll leave you to guess which sex is playing for a prize fund of £410,000 while the other plays for £2.2million.

You can decide yourselves whether that can possibly be right.

Over in America, meanwhile, they are taking a break from the usual diet of 72-hole strokeplay with an intriguing tournament combining fourballs and foursomes. Like Morocco, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans leaves you wanting to laud the effort to be different on one level while still feeling the sport could be doing so much more.

There is no shortage of fascination in the line-up in Louisiana. Tommy Fleetwood and sergio Garcia sounds a partnership that could walk off with the winners’ share, as does the Aussie pairing of Jason Day and Adam scott. Patrick Reed and Patrick Cantlay is a partnership we might see at the Presidents Cup later this year, as is south African duo Branden Grace and Justin harding for the international team.

Ryder Cup captain Padraig harrington will partner fellow irishman shane Lowry, henrik stenson will team up with Graeme McDowell, and ian Poulter will have his confident protege sam horsfield for company. That’s the good news.

But what if it was a mixed fourballs and foursomes event? instead of Brooks Koepka teaming up with his brother Chase, what if he had Lexi Thompson or Nelly Korda for company? Picture Charley hull alongside fellow Woburn member Poulter or Georgia hall with Beating the odds: Women’s Open champion Georgia Hall GETTY IMAGES Fleetwood, with their mirror-image stories showing you can overcome formidable odds to make it while keeping your feet on the fairway.

imagine, too, the huge lift this would give to the image of a sport seeking to reinvent itself as the ultimate family game. What could be better towards that end than the leading men and women walking side by side? This is the perfect week in the calendar, too, with one major down for men and women and the next for both still far enough on the horizon.

Over the past month or so, we have seen the first steps towards a better game, whether it be the Jordan Mixed Open or the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. But this Zurich event offers a chance to accelerate the progress in future and a showcase the sport ought to seize.