LPGA pro Laura Diaz is trying something new this weekend--she’s playing in the Tournament of Champions in an attempt to qualify for the season-ending ADT Tour Championship. There’s nothing remarkable about that fact, except for one thing: she’s seven months pregnant.

You may remember the Solheim Cup Maternity Matchup earlier this year, when Diaz and Denmark’s Iben Tinning went head-to-head, or belly to belly as the case may be, in the singles matches. Diaz cleaned Tinning’s clock, 6 and 5.

Of course, plenty of LPGA ladies have played when pregnant. Brenda Corrie Kuehn comes to mind—she played in the 2001 Women’s Open when she was eight months along; Dawn Coe-Jones finished 7th at the 1995 Women’s Open at 6 months. And back in 1985, half of which she spent pregnant, Nancy Lopez managed to win the Rolex Player of the Year award.

What was it Ginger Rogers said, “Women can do everything men can do, except backwards and in high heels and with a ten-pound bowling ball strapped to their waist”? I’m pretty sure it was something like that.

That’s why I just love golf so much. What other sport lets you drag that belly up and down the course? Basketball? No. Soccer? I think not. If you read the fine print in your copy of the ubiquitous What to Expect When You’re Expecting, you’re told in no uncertain terms to stick with low-impact, non-jarring sports that involve plenty of walking and fresh air. Sounds like golf to me.

I played through two of my pregnancies, all the way through week 40 and beyond. I won’t say my game improved during either of them--while everything else was growing, my drives noticeably shrank, along with my tolerance for courses without plenty of potties. But I found that I cared less about my score and more about getting out and enjoying the day. And hey, isn’t that what golf is really all about?

Catch the Tournament of Champions 2 – 4:30 pm, Thursday through Sunday, on The Golf Channel.

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