But to SUSPEND players for not meeting a vague standard of English competency is overly punitive, especially when you ultimately don’t even need to talk to play really good golf. What if a golf player was completely mute? Should she be banned from playing at all for something she has no control over?

Granted, one’s English language ability is not an immutable characteristic like muteness but contrary to your statement that learning English is not difficult, it is very conceivable that a person could spend years trying to learn English and still not get that good at it, even with diligent effort. At least that’s what I’ve noticed with the many Koreans that I’ve known.

Also, it seems that the LPGA, while a predominantly US-based tour plays in many international venues.

But to SUSPEND players for not meeting a vague standard of English competency is overly punitive, especially when you ultimately don’t even need to talk to play really good golf. What if a golf player was completely mute? Should she be banned from playing at all for something she has no control over?

Granted, one’s English language ability is not an immutable characteristic like muteness but contrary to your statement that learning English is not difficult, it is very conceivable that a person could spend years trying to learn English and still not get that good at it, even with diligent effort. At least that’s what I’ve noticed with the many Koreans that I’ve known.

Also, it seems that the LPGA, while a predominantly US-based tour plays in many international venues.

I don’t find it far fetched to say that if you live in the country, learn to speak the language. On top of that, it’s sort of difficult to run more interactive advertisements (such as television and radio) from a sponsors’ perspective if your target audience does speak English.

LPGA itself is as other commenters have pointed out, a predominantly US based tour. Thus, I don’t find it far fetched to see that play out at all. No less than when Ichiro got recruited by the Mariners and he’s got more sponsorships now than he has when he first joined with MLB. It pays off when you can actually do interviews just like Kobe did with the Italian networks at the Olympics.

I don’t find it far fetched to say that if you live in the country, learn to speak the language. On top of that, it’s sort of difficult to run more interactive advertisements (such as television and radio) from a sponsors’ perspective if your target audience does speak English.

LPGA itself is as other commenters have pointed out, a predominantly US based tour. Thus, I don’t find it far fetched to see that play out at all. No less than when Ichiro got recruited by the Mariners and he’s got more sponsorships now than he has when he first joined with MLB. It pays off when you can actually do interviews just like Kobe did with the Italian networks at the Olympics.

The LPGA shows tremendous amount of cultural and racial insensitivity in implementing this policy. First, they obviously don’t realize how difficult it is for foreigners, particularly Koreans, to learn the English language. The reason the South Korean players aren’t speaking English isn’t because they’re lazy or uncooperative. It’s because it’s just really difficult for them to do so. Playing golf is tough enough. It’s not fair to add this kind of unnecessary requirement on them.

The LPGA also shows a real dearth of creativity in marketing their players. I’m sure there are other ways of getting past the language barrier- e.g., finding new audiences, getting translators, etc that could work just as well. The English lg requirement is a knee jerk response to economic circumstances that reflect underlying nativist and American-centric thinking. Hopefully, if an Asian person were at the head of the LPGA, they wouldn’t have come up with such an insensitive, wrongheaded policy.

Hopefully soon, there will be so many more Asian company sponsors and more Asian fans that the LPGA wouldn’t even think about implementing such a racist policy.

The LPGA shows tremendous amount of cultural and racial insensitivity in implementing this policy. First, they obviously don’t realize how difficult it is for foreigners, particularly Koreans, to learn the English language. The reason the South Korean players aren’t speaking English isn’t because they’re lazy or uncooperative. It’s because it’s just really difficult for them to do so. Playing golf is tough enough. It’s not fair to add this kind of unnecessary requirement on them.

The LPGA also shows a real dearth of creativity in marketing their players. I’m sure there are other ways of getting past the language barrier- e.g., finding new audiences, getting translators, etc that could work just as well. The English lg requirement is a knee jerk response to economic circumstances that reflect underlying nativist and American-centric thinking. Hopefully, if an Asian person were at the head of the LPGA, they wouldn’t have come up with such an insensitive, wrongheaded policy.

Hopefully soon, there will be so many more Asian company sponsors and more Asian fans that the LPGA wouldn’t even think about implementing such a racist policy.