Following an amazing 8 under par finish at the Kraft Nabisco (Dinah Shore) Championship on March 27th, only to be eclipsed by the incredible precision of Annika Sorenstam, LPGA golfer Rosie Jones announced to the press her plans for retirement due to pain from a herniated disk.

In her words “There's a lot of work behind the scenes getting ready to play tournament golf. It's not just that you start hitting balls and you go and you're ready.” At the same time, sponsor Olivia Cruises and Resorts announced their contract renewal with Jones.

Rosie Jones developed her relationship with the lesbian vacation company while on a cruise last year. The seasoned golf pro then decided to make the unprecedented leap of writing an open letter to the New York Times to both announce her new endorsement and state for the record what family, friends, and lots of golf fans had known for a long time.

“For more than 25 years, I've been very comfortable with the fact that I'm gay," Jones wrote. "I came out to my family when I was 19, and my friends and associates on the Tour are all aware that I am gay. I have never, until now, felt the need to discuss it in the news media. I have reached a point in my life, at age 44, when I have the financial stability and emotional and intellectual wherewithal to make this leap.”

Out tennis player Martina Navratilova applauded Jones's decision to come out. "It has been great for her, I’m just happy for her that she is feeling better about herself as a person," she told OutSports.com in an interview earlier this week. "And that she doesn’t have to pretend (about being gay). It’s really nice to let it out in the open, and you can just get on with your life, and relax."

In an interview with The Advocate last year, Jones discussed how times have changed from when she came out to her family at age 19. Her mother could barely get out the word "homosexual" at that time. Other lesbian golfers haven’t exactly embraced her after the announcement either. In Rosie Jones words “I think they feel a little threatened, a little exposed. I haven’t been able to sit down and talk with them on a personal level.”

Some people responded to her public announcement by asking her to do more. University of Massachusetts, Amherst professor Pat Griffin posed, on Outsports.com, the question “I am wondering what this means, that you do not intend to be an activist. What do you think an activist is? And why do you see it as incompatible with being a professional athlete?”

But others disagree with this assertion. "Absolutely not!" Martina declared when asked in the OutSports.com interview if Jones and other out athletes have an obligation to be activists. "You do your part, just by being out and then open about it. If more people were like that, we would have a lot fewer problems. You do not need to be an activist. You don’t owe anybody anything."

Many of Jones's fans have responded just as one would expect: that’s great Rosie, now go win a championship.