LPGA to require English for international players

[McCovey]

This should make the Kid a little happier. :D


LPGA to require English for intl players

Yahoo! Sports
August 26, 20008

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)—The LPGA Tour boasts players from all over the world, and it wants all of them to be able to speak English.

The LPGA will require players to speak English starting in 2009, with players who have been LPGA members for two years facing suspension if they can’t pass an oral evaluation of English skills. The rule is effective immediately for new players.

“Why now? Athletes now have more responsibilities and we want to help their professional development,” deputy commissioner Libba Galloway told The Associated Press. “There are more fans, more media and more sponsors. We want to help our athletes as best we can succeed off the golf course as well as on it.”

The tour held a mandatory meeting with South Koreans last Wednesday at the Safeway Classic to inform them of the new policy, which was first reported by Golfweek magazine.


There are 121 international players from 26 countries on the LPGA Tour, including 45 players from South Korea.

The South Koreans were informed of the rule, however LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens has not given them—or anyone—a written explanation, Galloway said.

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 told the magazine.

Galloway said the LPGA is a “global tour and is not targeting any specific player or country.”

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.”

Galloway denied the move was based on sponsors and said interest in the tour has never been stronger.

“We are connecting with fans and sponsors like never before,” she said. “But we want things to continue to get better, to continue to grow.”

[SF Kid]

Doesn't surprise me.

The Asian's are beginning to dominate the tour and while taht is OK it's a complete turn off to the American viewing audience when a large percentage of the players can barely speak English. I think it's a good move. And I'm not buying this idea that the sponsors aren't getting restless -- I think they are.

Thanks for the article Mac.

[SF Kid]

I woke up this morning to Mike & Mike In The Morning and a huge controversy about this story. Seems a lot of politically correct people aren't down with this at all.

Fact is the LPGA is concerned that there are 121 players on the LPGA from foreign countries. Of that number 45 are from South Korea. Not saying that's bad but the LPGA must be pretty concerned about that fact and the image that is being projected in the US. That is to say the popularity of the LPGA tour with it's present makeup isn't increasing but likely decreasing. This isn't good for the sport but then again it's not the South Korean player's fault either. They work hard and are beginning to dominate the tour. Not sure where this is all going to end up!

BTW, how exactly are they going to decide whether a player speaks enough english to conform to this new rule? Is being able to say "thank you" and "nice shot" enough? Not sure if this whole thing was thought through thoroughly enough before it was implemented. Sounds like instant reply in baseball.

[SF Kid]

Here is an artilce that gives a little more clarification about what they are thinkning...

LPGA Tour will suspend memberships if players don't learn English

ESPN.com news services
Updated: August 26, 2008, 8:50 PM ET

The LPGA will require its member golfers to learn and speak English and will suspend their membership if they don't comply.

The new requirement, first reported by Golfweek on its Web site, was communicated to the tour's growing South Korean membership in a mandatory meeting at the Safeway Classic in Portland, Ore., on Aug. 20. Connie Wilson, the LPGA's vice president of communications, confirmed the new policy to ESPN.com.

"Why now? Athletes now have more responsibilities and we want to help their professional development," deputy commissioner Libba Galloway told The Associated Press. "There are more fans, more media and more sponsors. We want to help our athletes as best we can succeed off the golf course as well as on it."

Players were told by LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens that by the end of 2009, all players who have been on the tour for two years must pass an oral evaluation of their English skills or face a membership suspension. A written explanation of the policy was not given to players, according to the report.

"Hopefully what we're talking about is something that will not happen," Galloway said of the potential for suspensions, according to 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."

Se Ri Pak says players should be fined, rather than suspended, for not meeting the tour's new English proficiency requirement.

Every Korean player who spoke with Golfweek about the meeting came away with the understanding she would lose her tour card if she failed the test rather than face suspension, according to the report. But Korean players who spoke about the policy supported the tour's position, though some, including Se Ri Pak, felt fines would be better than suspensions.

"We agree we should speak some English," Pak said, according to the report. "We play so good overall. When you win, you should give your speech in English."

Betsy Clark, the LPGA's vice president of professional development, said a team of evaluators will assess players on communication skills including conversation, everyday survival phrases and "golfspeak." Players must be able to conduct interviews and give acceptance speeches without the help of a translator, she said, according to the report.

Threatening to suspend LPGA players if they can't pass an English test simply compounds the problem, as ESPN.com's Bob Harig details. Story
• From 2006: Adelson on LPGA language issue

Galloway said the policy takes effect immediately, but that players' English proficiency would not be measured until the end of 2009, according to the report. The LPGA's membership includes 121 international players from 26 countries; 45 are South Koreans.

"This should be a priority in their professional development just the way working on their short game is a priority," Galloway said, according to Golfweek. "We just wanted to be clear about our expectations."

Angela Park, a Korean-American who was born in Brazil and speaks three languages, said it's difficult to "come to a foreign country and be yourself." She also supports the rule and says it's fair, according to the report.

"The LPGA could come out and say they only want 10 Koreans, but they're not," Park said, according to Golfweek. "A lot of Korean players think they are being targeted, but it's just because there are so many of them."

And Seon-Hwa Lee, who said she is working with an English tutor during the offseason and plans to brush up for the evaluation, thinks everyone "can do a simple interview," according to the report. Her ability to answer questions without a translator has improved during her time on the tour.

"The economy is bad, and we are losing sponsors," she said, according to the report. "Everybody understands."

ESPN.com golf writer Bob Harig and The Associated Press contributed to this report.BTW in that ESPN poll so far 19,000+ respondents with 66+% saying it is fair for the LPGA to institute such a rule. :shrug:

[Bear]

Here is an artilce that gives a little more clarification about what they are thinkning...

BTW in that ESPN poll so far 19,000+ respondents with 66+% saying it is fair for the LPGA to institute such a rule. :shrug:

Well 19,000+ with 66% saying it is fair are WRONG!!

[SF Kid]

Well 19,000+ with 66% saying it is fair are WRONG!!But your opinion is right? OK.

So what is your take on it? You think the LPGA players from other countries shouldn't have to be able to communicate in English? Even at the Olympics 95% of the information was in English as I understand it.

Would you follow the LPGA when every time one of these player wins they just say thank you through an interpreter? To me it pushes me away from wanting to watch the LPGA. But then I don't think you watch so I guess your opinion doesn't matter that much. I believe sponsors are really concerned with the people who are watching and thereby seeing their advertisements. But people who voted 'yes' (12000+) and think it's a good idea must watch and don't like what they see. I think that is why this is happening. The sponsors can't be happy with what they're seeing and hearing.

[Bear]

Look who made us the God of the world. The largest percentage of people in the world are in Asia so maybe in addition all players should speak Chinese or Korean. My God we are so high and mighty as to say to an athlete you must speak english in order to play their sport. I look forward to the day when you speak chinese. That will be the same day I will agree with you on this matter. :banghead:

P.S.: The same people who took part in this poll are the ones who elected G.W. Bush, not once but twice. I rest my case.:smack:

[SF Kid]

Guess what Bear...without the LPGA there would be no women's golf paying all that money to these people. It's their league, their money and their rules and the foreign players will either play by their rules or won't play at all. All the liberal politically correct people in the world will just have to deal with that reality.

[Bear]

Guess what Bear...without the LPGA there would be no women's golf paying all that money to these people. It's their league, their money and their rules and the foreign players will either play by their rules or won't play at all. All the liberal politically correct people in the world will just have to deal with that reality.

It does not make it right. I agree they can do what they want, but it's still wrong, and in the long term when China is in the driver seat it will come back and bite the LPGA in the ass. Remember this you guys under 45. the Bear and the Kid will be long gone but you will live to see it.;)

[SF Kid]

Whatever. I guess it's wrong if you think it's wrong. :rolleyes:

I guarantee you if it was affecting your business you wouldn't think it was wrong for very long. Only in the purest sense of political correctness is it wrong. We're living in the real world. The LPGA (probably spurred on by it's sponsors) are fighting for survival and they see this as a very real problem for them to succeed long term.

[Bear]

It has nothing to do with me! Right is right and wrong is wrong. It makes no difference what I think it is only important that at the end of the day we as a society do what is right.;)

[SF Kid]

It has nothing to do with me! Right is right and wrong is wrong. It makes no difference what I think it is only important that at the end of the day we as a society do what is right.;)Fair enough.

[SF Kid]

Watching the golf channel this evening. Seems this controversy isn't going over well at all. There is a major outcry from all sorts of people and organizations. I'm waiting to hear from Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpion soon... :D

Although to be fair there are a few PGA players (of some note -- Jespar Parnivik a foreign player) who think it's only fair to ask people who play here and make a living here to speak English. Remember they aren't asking them to speak fluent English but enough to be able to communicate on a golf level if nothing else.

If you ask me the LPGA will be forced sooner or later to back off this idea.

The PC Bear wins. :rotf: :bowdone: :wtf1:

[Bear]

The PC Bear wins. :rotf: :bowdone: :wtf1:

No, society wins!:beerbang:

[SF Kid]

Not everybody agrees. Not everybody disagrees...

Koreans condemn LPGA's English-only rule
by Beth Ann Baldry, Golfweek.com


Updated: August 29, 2008, 11:00 AM EST

The LPGA sparked a national conversation with its new English proficiency evaluation, and it didn't take long for the news to travel East.
The LPGA's policy, which stipulates that international players must pass an oral English evaluation after two years on tour or else face suspension, is a hot topic among players and media at this week's SBS Charity Ladies Open on South Korea's Jeju Island.

From event coverage to commentary to fantasy tips, Golfweek.com provides all you'll ever need to be up to speed on the world of golf.

"(KLPGA players) agree that (for) players who want to play on LPGA tour, English is a necessary thing," said Bret Choi, a reporter for the JNA Golf News Agency, who covers both tours. "But they also think language can't be a means to restrict."

Jin-Young Kim has reported on the Korean golf scene since 1992 for The Seoul Economic Daily. She took a break from a round of golf on Jeju to weigh in on the LPGA's controversial decision.

"It's not fair," Kim said. "We think it's like discrimination. We know it's very important to speak English in America and to be friendly with people. We all know. But it's not the standard, the method to cut or pass a player on the LPGA."

Hae-Won Kang takes it a step further, saying that first-generation Koreans on the LPGA (i.e. Se Ri Pak, Hee-Won Han, Mi Hyun Kim) learned English quicker because they had little help. Since the LPGA hired a full-time staffer who is fluent in Korean and can help with interviews, Kang thinks many players have become complacent.

Pak stood alone when she joined the tour more than 10 years ago. Now there are 45 South Korean players with LPGA status who can communicate with each other in their native tongue. Some South Korean players might be able to conduct a media interview in English but rely on the tour's interpreter when available. Of the 45 South Korean players on tour, there are at least a dozen who would bring an interpreter into the interview room.

Kang, an event manager in South Korea who operates both KLPGA and KPGA events, understands the LPGA's situation but doesn't see an English test as an appropriate solution.

"It's not giving the right impression," Kang said. "America has this image of equality. This rule might ruin that."

Many American players, however, don't think the LPGA's regulation tarnishes the nation's melting-pot image. Angela Stanford, a Texan who serves on the tour's Player Executive Committee, thinks the issue has "been blown way out of proportion."

Vicki Goetze-Ackerman, past president of the tour's Executive Committee, found out about the new rule when she got to her in-laws' house earlier this week and read the newspaper. The LPGA sent out a short memo to the membership Tuesday morning, touching on the bare basics of the rule:

"Under this policy, all members must demonstrate that they can communicate in English in the following areas of our business: interaction with amateurs during tournament pro-ams, media interviews, and winner acceptance speeches, including thanking sponsors, fans, and volunteers. ... By the end of 2008, the LPGA will develop detailed criteria for this new policy and will distribute it to the Tour members."

Goetze-Ackerman said she didn't know why the tour chose not to inform its entire membership of the new policy last week in Portland, Ore., at Tuesday's general player meeting. But overall, she thought it was a "great idea."

"We're pretty strong on our stance on everything, like drug testing," she said. "So it doesn't surprise me that we are taking an aggressive stance on it. And we're giving (international players) ample time."

LPGA Hall of Famer Carol Mann won 38 titles while on the LPGA, making her last competitive appearance in 1981. She held nothing back when expressing her approval of the tour's policy.

"I have friends who will turn the TV off or find other things to watch if Koreans are in the lead," Mann said. "A couple of weeks ago, there were seven or eight of them. . . . Carolyn Bivens has to protect the business of the future and the television package she's trying to design. So I think it is terrific."

Cao K. O, executive director of the Asian American Federation, sent a letter to Bivens Aug. 28 expressing his organization's objections. Bivens reportedly is on vacation in California and has yet to comment on the policy she introduced to South Korean players Aug. 20 at the Safeway Classic.

"Foreign-born players are needed here, and they help enhance the United States' global image and competitiveness," O wrote in the letter. "We should make them feel welcome, encouraged, and appreciated. It does not make economic sense to create an atmosphere in which foreign-born players feel unfairly treated, because English proficiency is not performance relevant with respect to playing golf."

Rep. Mary Hayashi, a Korean-born member of the California Assembly, sent a statement critical of the LPGA's action. Hayashi, a Democrat from Hayward, serves the 18th Assembly District, which is near the LPGA's tournament in Danville. The Bay Area's Korean-American Association alerted her to the policy. As incoming chairperson for the California State Assembly Committee on Business and Profession, Hayashi plans to give the rule a serious evaluation.

"The reason I'm not going to outright consider legislation right now is I'm still waiting on a callback from the LPGA," Hayashi said. "I'd like to see the written policy and have a conversation with them about why this is necessary. I'm willing to work with them. But as a state legislator, I'm very concerned about this policy being potentially discriminatory."

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association also released a statement Wednesday that called the LPGA's decision appalling. The organization urged LPGA sponsors to withdraw their support until the tour rescinds its position. It also raised concerns about LPGA staffers being authorized to identify the players who need to be evaluated, fearing that a "lack of standardized procedures may lead to discriminatory targeting. . . ."

"Whether federal employment-discrimination laws or state public- accommodation laws or some other type of civil-rights laws may apply to prohibit the LPGA's rule is something that I'm sure is going to be debated and possibly litigated in the future," said Tina Matsuoka, the NAPABA's executive director.

"For us, it really does come down to the fact that we don't see that English proficiency is something that is necessary to compete and excel at the game of golf."

Peter Kupelian,an employment-law expert in Southfield, Mich., thinks the LPGA is facing a tall legal hurdle.

"It's difficult to argue with their goals and what they consider to be a need," he said, adding: "The language requirement has red flags all over it."

Richard Lapchick has studied diversity in sports for nearly 40 years. He thinks the tour has "unleashed a public-relations disaster" and predicts the LPGA will have to change its decision "pretty soon."

Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, can't think of a single instance when a policy that has garnered this type of negative reaction hasn't been reversed. While the LPGA points to its English policy as fundamental to its business initiatives, Lapchick said sponsors can't publicly embrace the rule.

"It's a decision that's going to be too offensive to too many people that a large corporation can't associate itself with it," Lapchick said.

"It's as politically incorrect as it can get."
:shrug: :righton:

[SF Kid]

If you ask me the LPGA will be forced sooner or later to back off this idea. Well the Kid is so smart. That didn't take long...

LPGA scraps widely panned English-only rule
by Golfweek.com


Updated: September 5, 2008, 3:36 PM EST

The LPGA has decided to rescind penalty provisions of its new "effective communications policy" that previously had proposed suspensions for international tour members who did not pass an oral English evaluation after two years on tour.

From event coverage to commentary to fantasy tips, Golfweek.com provides all you'll ever need to be up to speed on the world of golf.
The LPGA will announce a revised plan by the end of 2008 — but the new plan will not include penalties.

"We have decided to rescind those penalty provisions," LPGA commissioner Caryolyn Bivens said in a statement released by the LPGA Friday. "After hearing the concerns, we believe there are other ways to achieve our shared objective of supporting and enhancing the business opportunities for every tour player."

The announcement came two hours before the Asian Pacific American Legal Center planned a news conference in Los Angeles, where it was to be joined by civil rights groups and elected officials demanding the LPGA overturn its policy.

Bivens disclosed the tour's original plan in a meeting with South Korean players at the Safeway Classic in Portland, Ore., two weeks ago, a story first reported by Golfweek. The policy, which had not been completed, was widely criticized as discriminatory, particularly against Asian players, who won three majors this year.

A California state senator was seeking a legal opinion to determine whether the tour's language requirement for players violated state or federal law. Leland Yee, a Democrat for San Francisco, hoped for an answer before the LPGA returned to California in October for the Samsung World Championship.

An official from one of the tour's title sponsors, State Farm, had said it was "dumbfounded" by the initiative.

"We don't understand this and we don't know why they have done it," State Farm spokesman Kip Diggs told Advertising Age. "And we have strongly encouraged them to take another look at this."

Bivens said the tour will continue to help international players through a cultural program that has been in place for three years and offers tutors and translators.*sigh* Looks like the LPGA didn't have the balls to fight for what they believed was right but I knew they wouldn't. I'm sure the sponsors are very happy about this. :rolleyes:

[Bear]

The Bear is right once again! Do not question the Bear.:eek: