There is a common thread that bonds all athletes together. From the stars who hit the gridiron every fall to the runners battling fatigue in Boston every April and even to the Poker Stars (If you consider Poker a sport; after all ESPN covers it, so it must be a sport, right?) prancing through Las Vegas, all these individuals share a single bond: the love for competition.

It doesn’t matter what level the competition is, professional, amateur, bar league. What matters is the competition. It’s the reason anyone plays organized sports (or Poker).

And in this same vein, anyone who enjoys the competition doesn’t like to lose. It’s been my experience that people don’t participate in athletics without the desire to win. Sure, you may get bored, gather up a few friends and head down to the park for a game of basketball and say it’s just for fun. But I dare any person who’s participated in any kind of athletic venture to tell me they didn’t want to win. They may have accepted they cannot defeat a superior opponent, but that doesn’t mean the desire to win is not there.

I played basketball in high school for two years on a team that never won a game — never. It was perhaps one of the most frustrating things I’ve done in life, to work for three hours a day, five days a week and come away empty-handed each and every time. But my desire to win never wavered.

Which is why I’m confused when I listen to the argument over Michelle Wie’s right to play on the PGA tour. Obviously she’s played in men’s tournaments after receiving sponsor’s exemptions, but that hasn’t stopped certain people from questioning her — and other women’s, including fellow LPGA golfer Annika Sorenstam — right to play in the PGA because of her gender.

As I’ve stated, athletics is about the competition, and professional athletics is inherently about the best competition. They don’t pay uncoordinated schmucks like myself to play; nobody wants to see that. Only the best are able to make a living playing sports. That’s why it’s called professional.

And make no mistake; Michelle Wie will be a professional. Yes, I said will. After all, she still is only 15, not legally old enough to participate full time on the tour.

But technicalities aside, does she pass the remaining criteria to play on this tour? Of course. Is the level of her play high enough that she can consistently compete with the men? Odds are probably better than the professional down at your local golf course. Is she playing by the rules established by the association? Last time I checked those were the men’s tees she was driving off of.

So we’re just going to say she can’t play because she’s a female? Sounds a little sexist to me, not to mention it also sounds like a complete copout. Any golfer who uses her gender as an excuse, in my opinion, is just scared of being beat by a girl. And not by just any girl — a 15-year-old girl. And if that’s the case, than maybe these golfers should just start shoring up their games a little bit.

The belief is not that far fetched either; jealousy has made people do far worse things than keep a girl off the PGA Tour. But Wie does give some of her male counterparts plenty of reason to be jealous. Wie, at the age of 15, has a better game than many professionals, even regulars on the PGA tour. At her most recent event, the John Deere Classic, Wie may have missed the cut, but she played just as well as PGA stalwart Nick Price and better than other PGA veterans including David Duval, Len Mattiace and Skip Kendall.

I understand that there is the LPGA, but let’s be honest; the PGA and the LPGA are not in the same league, especially when considering the sponsorships, competition and payouts. So Wie wants the better competition, what’s the big deal? If she’s playing by the PGA rules, why should she be stopped from garnering the increased attention and earning the bigger payouts?

The answer is simple; she shouldn’t.

At some point, those who believe she shouldn’t play in the PGA because of her gender need to accept the fact that she’s good enough to play with the men and continue to play the game they love for the reason they love it, the competition. Besides, all their whining and pouting won’t stop her from beating them anyway.