LPGA's 'Speak English or leave' policy only courting PR mess
LPGA player Ai Miyazato chips onto the green at the seventh hole during the second round of the LPGA Championship at Bulle Rock in Havre de Grace. (Baltimore Sun photo by Lloyd Fox / June 6, 2008)
Our Newsday colleague Mark Herrman posted an excellent column about the LPGA's new "speak-English-or-you're-out policy", which gives its heavily-international golfers two years to learn English, or get suspended.
Herrman makes the point that although the Ladies Professional Golf Association--facing a tough fight to get sponsors in a declining economy--may be implementing the policy out of a sense of necessity, the way they're forcing this on their players is just bad PR.
Not to mention un-American--and, unnecessary.
How international are LPGA players? See photos from the 2008 LGPA championship
The greatness of this country is people come here from all over the world because they WANT to be here. They learn English because they WANT to, in order to get ahead, in order to talk to their neighbors, in order to be a part of and help shape their new country.
International players on the LPGA tour--who generally only play golf tournaments here and don't live here--aren't stupid. They know that it literally pays to speak English.
And "the vast majority" of them--hailing from South Korea, Europe, and other parts of the globe--already speak English well, as an LPGA official acknowledged.
(Unlike many Americans, people in other countries often speak multiple languages out of necessity, with most schools introducing English in elementary school).
Those international players that somehow don't speak English already know they're losing out on sponsorship opportunities and fans in the world's largest golf market.
Their agents are already setting them up with English tutors; they're already cramming in time to improve their English just like they work on their putting.
The real problem, as noted in a New York Times article, is that it's hard to speak a language that's not your native tongue in moments of high emotion, or when you're nervous.
Like after you win a tournament and are trying to conduct a press conference with hordes of reporters. Or, after you lose and someone's sticking a mike in your face.
So even players that do speak English sometimes are just more comfortable explaining themselves in their own language.
It's odd that for a move supposedly aimed at building better ties to the media, the LPGA's made such a PR mess out of it--all they had to do was tell their players look, we'd like to help you speak English during high-profile moments, what can we do to make that easier?
Of course, maybe one day soon the world's golf market will no longer be dominated by the U.S., and the LPGA will be forcing its members to learn another language.
Ni hao ma?
How international are LPGA players? See photos from the 2008 LGPA championship
