Singh denies Sorenstam attack

Annika Sorenstam is the first woman to shoot a 59

Vijay Singh has claimed that comments he made on Annika Sorenstam's appearance in the PGA Colonial Tournament were misquoted.

Next week Sorenstam will become the first woman to play on the men's tour since Babe Zaharias, who qualified for the 1945 Los Angeles Open.

Singh claimed he was surprised at the way comments he made about Sorenstam had been received.

"There was no attack on Annika," he said. "If it was, it wasn't put that way.

Sorenstam's gamble

"What I actually said about missing the cut was that if I miss the cut, I'd rather see her miss the cut as well.

"Hopefully, I won't miss the cut, because I don't want to go back and have a woman beat me."

Singh also said he would not play in the same group as the Swedish star.

If women want to play the men's tour they should qualify to play like everybody else

Vijay Singh

"Well, again, that was a misquote," he said. "Me not playing with her was saying that my category was different.

"If I was paired with her, it means I was not given the right attention by my category."

Sorenstam will be classified as a Group 3 participant.

As a result she will be grouped in the first two rounds with rookies, winless veterans and those without a PGA Tour card.

That means she cannot be paired with multi-tournament winner Singh, who insisted: "There was no attack on Annika at all.

Man's tour

"If I did, I would like to apologise to her. It was not put that way, and it just came out the wrong way."

However, Singh insisted that the PGA tour should not give women invitations to take part.

"This is a man's tour, and there are guys out there trying to make a living," the Fijian said.

"It's not a ladies' tour. If she wants to play, or any woman for that matter, if they want to play the men's tour, they should qualify to play like everybody else."