GolfHos

Wow!!

Can you imagine if that were reversed and applied to male tour players in Europe.


Uberfookinbleebubble!

What language would be mandatoy in Europe?

I understand what the LPGA is trying to do.  From a marketing perspective they need to develop their brand.  If top tier players cannot speak English it ultimately hurts the overall quality of the product.  It's just Business 101.

According to your "plan" you would have it mandatory to speak Spanish, French, Portugese, Mandarin, Arabic, German, Swedish etc, etc.?

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."

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."

Why don't the MLB pundits enforce the same thing?
Probably b/c they would lose 1/2 of the players in the league.

I guess nothing else will pull the LPGA out of sagging ratings due to Anika's departure coupled with reduction in sponsor prize money quite like a Hoo Suk Kim letting us know on Sunday that (she) ".......is such a stupid!"

Actually her correct name would be Kim Hoo-Suk.  ;) ;D

What language would be mandatoy in Europe?

I understand what the LPGA is trying to do.  From a marketing perspective they need to develop their brand.  If top tier players cannot speak English it ultimately hurts the overall quality of the product.  It's just Business 101.

Who gives a flying *fudge* if the winner can't give an interview in English in the 15 seconds they usually allot for the post tournament interview? Personally, I'd rather not hear English being spoken AT ALL by those with only a minimal amount of competency. I have a lot of respect for the players that do attempt to speak English in their interviews, but usually it makes me cringe, and I feel bad for them for being pressured into doing something they're not comfortable with. It doesn't help when the dumbass interviewers rarely, if ever, take into consideration the English skills of the interviewee.

Most tournaments on the LPGA Tour -- and the PGA Tour as well -- exist because they are run by local nonprofit organizations that set up the infrastructures for the events. The biggest part of the bottom line comes from the pre-tournament pro-am, which allows amateurs to get inside the ropes the day before the event and play a round of golf with the pros.

For some, it is a harrowing experience, but it also is memorable and enlightening. During 18 holes, you get to not only play on a nice golf course, but also interact with the players. Annika Sorenstam might tell a story about Tiger Woods. Juli Inkster might give you a few putting tips. Laura Davies might even hang around afterward and tip back a pint.

But the outing is not nearly as enjoyable if the pros cannot speak to the amateurs, who are paying thousands of dollars for the experience. Just like in any business, the LPGA wants its customers to be happy.

If I paid thousands of dollars to play in a pro-am I'd like to play with Harrington, and nobody can understand a word that *fudge*er says.

He's Irish for *fudge*s sake!

We are an arrogant bunch.  No wonder the rest of the world hates us.

It's not because you're an arrogant bunch, every country hates you for different reason, unlike the French who are universally hated because they're French.

We just hate you for giving us TV shows such as "The Golden Girls", "Growing Pains" and "Ugly Betty"

Crocodile Dundee and Muriel's Wedding surrender.

It's not like they're telling them if they don't speak, they can't play. They have 2 years to learn a certain basic vocabulary.

That said, I played with a Korean couple at Jefferson last year who had the following for English:

Please.

Thank You.

Good Shot.

What more do you need?

Padraig Harrington, who has won the last two majors, wondered if the LPGA Tour is taking on too much. Like others, he wants to know how much English a player is supposed to learn to be "effective."

"Surely if you can say, 'Hello,' that's English. Is that good enough?" he said. "Who draws the line about how many words you've got to know in English? What if you have a person who genuinely struggles with learning a new language; they have a learning disability? That's tough to ask somebody with a learning disability, who might have found golf as the saving grace in their life, to ask them to learn a different language or else you can't play.

"There's a lot of different issues to that," he said. "It's a big step to actually put it out there."

LOL Exactly.

As for Fuzzy's point about amateurs who pay thousands of dollars to play in the pro-am, I'm pretty certain that 100% of non-English speaking LPGA Tour players already know how to say "good shot" and high-five you. I would venture to guess that 90% of the amateurs that sign up for the pro-am are middle-aged, white males, and if they're complaining about a lack of interaction non-English speaking Asian players, they have to realize that they have to be the ones that have to make the effort to interact. These are literally young girls coming from male-dominated societies. What may be viewed as aloofness is simply their behaving the way their expected to in their own cultures.