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The tour held a mandatory meeting with South Koreans last Wednesday at the Safeway Classic to inform them of the new policy.
"Hopefully, what we're talking about is something that will not happen," deputy commissioner Libba Galloway told Golfweek. "If it does, we wouldn't just say, 'Come back next year.' What we would do is work with them on where they fell short, provide them the resources they need, the tutoring ... and when we feel like they need to be evaluated again, we would evaluate."
There are 121 international players from 26 countries on the LPGA Tour, including 45 players from South Korea.
Golfweek said that while South Koreans were informed of the rule, LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens has not given them a written explanation. But the message already appears to be lost in translation. The magazine said every South Korean player it interviewed believed she would lose her card - not be suspended - if she failed the English evaluation.
Angela Park - born in Brazil of South Korean heritage and raised in the United States - said the policy is fair and good for the tour and its international players.
"A lot of Korean players think they are being targeted, but it's just because there are so many of them," Park said.
Seon-Hwa Lee, the only Asian with multiple victories this year, said she works with an English tutor in the winter. Her ability to answer questions without the help of a translator has improved in her short time on tour.
"The economy is bad, and we are losing sponsors," Lee said. "Everybody understands."
The policy was endorsed by at least one tournament director, Kate Peters of the LPGA State Farm Classic.
"This is an American tour," Peters said. "It is important for sponsors to be able to interact with players and have a positive experience."
The tour held a mandatory meeting with South Koreans last Wednesday at the Safeway Classic to inform them of the new policy.
"Hopefully, what we're talking about is something that will not happen," deputy commissioner Libba Galloway told Golfweek. "If it does, we wouldn't just say, 'Come back next year.' What we would do is work with them on where they fell short, provide them the resources they need, the tutoring ... and when we feel like they need to be evaluated again, we would evaluate."
There are 121 international players from 26 countries on the LPGA Tour, including 45 players from South Korea.
Golfweek said that while South Koreans were informed of the rule, LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens has not given them a written explanation. But the message already appears to be lost in translation. The magazine said every South Korean player it interviewed believed she would lose her card - not be suspended - if she failed the English evaluation.
Angela Park - born in Brazil of South Korean heritage and raised in the United States - said the policy is fair and good for the tour and its international players.
"A lot of Korean players think they are being targeted, but it's just because there are so many of them," Park said.
Seon-Hwa Lee, the only Asian with multiple victories this year, said she works with an English tutor in the winter. Her ability to answer questions without the help of a translator has improved in her short time on tour.
"The economy is bad, and we are losing sponsors," Lee said. "Everybody understands."
The policy was endorsed by at least one tournament director, Kate Peters of the LPGA State Farm Classic.
"This is an American tour," Peters said. "It is important for sponsors to be able to interact with players and have a positive experience."
Exactly! It's only racism and xenophobia when the Spanish language is involved. We won't hear a peep out of the ACLU or La Raza.
Furthermore, the koreans will buckle down and perfect their english. They will not expect and/or demand to have interpreters at the ready nor do they expect/demand that the LPGA officials learn rudimentary korean in order to speak to them, or for that matter have all scoring done in english and hangul. After all --- there is sooooo many of them! After US citizens, the koreans are the largest group in the LPGA, therefore they deserve the extra accomadations. According to laraza and mecha and our own pandering politicians, this would make sense. But, since the koreans have no intention of becoming us citizens (thus voters) they must learn english.
i think they are tired of having foreigners win LPGA events.
in 2006 of the 33 LPGA events, only 7 were won by US women.
in 2007 only 12.
its the best way to ensure that US women hold the foreigners off... for a couple years.
i dont think its discriminatory one bit. a lil slick. but it IS a US event.
as it is, most competitors, like the wonderful lorena ochoa of MX, know english. a lot of them are foreign students who played college level in the states.
but it begs the question of... can other golf orgs impose language criteria for their tourneys? what will that do to the overall cohesiveness of the game?
imagine if people had to learn chinese, just to compete in china? or russian to compete in russia.
i think its the US just trying to get an upper hand.
i was wondering why it would be important to know english in order to play golf?
is it safety concerns?
what is the justification for requiring english proficiency of tourney participants.
better yet, what is the justification for having this in the the IMMIGRATION THREAD?
i think they are tired of having foreigners win LPGA events.
in 2006 of the 33 LPGA events, only 7 were won by US women.
in 2007 only 12.
its the best way to ensure that US women hold the foreigners off... for a couple years.
i dont think its discriminatory one bit. a lil slick. but it IS a US event.
as it is, most competitors, like the wonderful lorena ochoa of MX, know english. a lot of them are foreign students who played college level in the states.
but it begs the question of... can other golf orgs impose language criteria for their tourneys? what will that do to the overall cohesiveness of the game?
imagine if people had to learn chinese, just to compete in china? or russian to compete in russia.
i think its the US just trying to get an upper hand.
i was wondering why it would be important to know english in order to play golf?
is it safety concerns?
what is the justification for requiring english proficiency of tourney participants.
better yet, what is the justification for having this in the the IMMIGRATION THREAD?
seriously you guys are reaching some times.
this belongs in sports.
I think maybe the multi-million $$$ sponsors want to be able to understand the winner's interview...
i think they are tired of having foreigners win LPGA events.
in 2006 of the 33 LPGA events, only 7 were won by US women.
in 2007 only 12.
its the best way to ensure that US women hold the foreigners off... for a couple years.
i dont think its discriminatory one bit. a lil slick. but it IS a US event.
as it is, most competitors, like the wonderful lorena ochoa of MX, know english. a lot of them are foreign students who played college level in the states.
but it begs the question of... can other golf orgs impose language criteria for their tourneys? what will that do to the overall cohesiveness of the game?
imagine if people had to learn chinese, just to compete in china? or russian to compete in russia.
i think its the US just trying to get an upper hand.
i was wondering why it would be important to know english in order to play golf?
is it safety concerns?
what is the justification for requiring english proficiency of tourney participants.
better yet, what is the justification for having this in the the IMMIGRATION THREAD?
Yet, you short change us. So tell me again "girl" other than grossing people out what purpose does your presence on this board serve?
Girlfriend simply enjoys taking a troll stroll. Apparently the bridge is full.
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