English, Dammit!
Wow.
The LPGA has just passed a ruling that any Tour member who's been on the tour for 2 years must pass an English oral evaluation or they will be suspended. This of course is aimed at the ever growing number of foreign golfers on the LPGA tour, especially from Korea. The LPGA currently has 121 members and over a third (45) are Korean.
While I agree with the thinking behind the ruling, I find it a bit harsh to suspend a player for something that has nothing to do with the game they're playing. These players are in a foreign land and must learn a new language to adapt but it's not like their job is to negotiate high powered deals. They're here to put a small white ball in a cup. No need for talking.
I actually agree that the Korean golfers should get out more and be more expressive but never would have thought of going all Gestapo on them.
The deputy commissioner of the LPGA states "Athletes now have more responsibilities and we want to help their professional development....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". Um...more like you want to help your Tour not lose the few sponsors it has left. Why is that the responsibility of the players? Isn't it the Tour's job to market and promote? I agree that the Korean players are not the most outgoing and social but why blame them for the international flavor of the Tour now?
Why blame the product and not the system? The international players are clearly taking over the LPGA (not to mention the PGA). Don't you want your product to showcase the best quality of golf out there? You really want to potentially lower the quality of your product because of a language barrier? I wouldn't be surprised if what they really wanted to do would be to limit the number of foreign players on Tour but of course that would get even more negative feedback and calls of racism. But that's what other countries do in their sports leagues. In Korea, the pro basketball league has a maximum of 2 foreign players per team rule. But good luck getting that passed in the US, the land of the overly politically correct.
If it's more English speaking top players you want, why don't you pump more money into the American girls junior golf system? Because there are very few top American players now. If you've watched golf coverage nowadays, they usually display the flag of the home country of each player on the leaderboard. Good luck finding more than 1 or 2 USA flags on an LPGA leaderboard.
Like I said, I agree with the concept, but disagree with the execution. Even though it seems the Koreans understand and support the rule (and believe me, they do want to learn English...badly), I still find it unnecessary. It just seems like a cowardly way of discouraging more foreign players from joining the Tour. Have you seen the Futures Tour money leaders? All Koreans. So this Korean wave isn't gonna stop anytime soon. But now that they're forcing the English or you're out clause, it may mean a few less players but I think it may decrease the quality of the LPGA.
Of course, as with anything else, it's all about the Benjamins. No one really cares about interviews with winners at the end of tournaments and whether or not they're done in English. It's all about the sponsors. There is quite a large disparity in purse money between the PGA and LPGA. An average winner's purse in the PGA is about $1 million now and in the LPGA it's more like $250,000. And the LPGA is losing tournaments left and right due to lack of attendance and sponsors. There are times when they have tournaments only every other week! So they're dying to fill their schedule with quality tournaments and that comes from sponsorships.
The sponsor's time to interact with players comes during the Pro-Am round and if they're stuck with a non English speaking golfer, they get no fun out of it and will pull the plug. That's what it comes down to.
So it's a shame that the situation has come to this. With the ever present Asian contingent on the LPGA, I knew something like this would happen but I never imagined it would happen like this. We'll see how it goes...
The LPGA has just passed a ruling that any Tour member who's been on the tour for 2 years must pass an English oral evaluation or they will be suspended. This of course is aimed at the ever growing number of foreign golfers on the LPGA tour, especially from Korea. The LPGA currently has 121 members and over a third (45) are Korean.
While I agree with the thinking behind the ruling, I find it a bit harsh to suspend a player for something that has nothing to do with the game they're playing. These players are in a foreign land and must learn a new language to adapt but it's not like their job is to negotiate high powered deals. They're here to put a small white ball in a cup. No need for talking.
I actually agree that the Korean golfers should get out more and be more expressive but never would have thought of going all Gestapo on them.
The deputy commissioner of the LPGA states "Athletes now have more responsibilities and we want to help their professional development....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". Um...more like you want to help your Tour not lose the few sponsors it has left. Why is that the responsibility of the players? Isn't it the Tour's job to market and promote? I agree that the Korean players are not the most outgoing and social but why blame them for the international flavor of the Tour now?
Why blame the product and not the system? The international players are clearly taking over the LPGA (not to mention the PGA). Don't you want your product to showcase the best quality of golf out there? You really want to potentially lower the quality of your product because of a language barrier? I wouldn't be surprised if what they really wanted to do would be to limit the number of foreign players on Tour but of course that would get even more negative feedback and calls of racism. But that's what other countries do in their sports leagues. In Korea, the pro basketball league has a maximum of 2 foreign players per team rule. But good luck getting that passed in the US, the land of the overly politically correct.
If it's more English speaking top players you want, why don't you pump more money into the American girls junior golf system? Because there are very few top American players now. If you've watched golf coverage nowadays, they usually display the flag of the home country of each player on the leaderboard. Good luck finding more than 1 or 2 USA flags on an LPGA leaderboard.
Like I said, I agree with the concept, but disagree with the execution. Even though it seems the Koreans understand and support the rule (and believe me, they do want to learn English...badly), I still find it unnecessary. It just seems like a cowardly way of discouraging more foreign players from joining the Tour. Have you seen the Futures Tour money leaders? All Koreans. So this Korean wave isn't gonna stop anytime soon. But now that they're forcing the English or you're out clause, it may mean a few less players but I think it may decrease the quality of the LPGA.
Of course, as with anything else, it's all about the Benjamins. No one really cares about interviews with winners at the end of tournaments and whether or not they're done in English. It's all about the sponsors. There is quite a large disparity in purse money between the PGA and LPGA. An average winner's purse in the PGA is about $1 million now and in the LPGA it's more like $250,000. And the LPGA is losing tournaments left and right due to lack of attendance and sponsors. There are times when they have tournaments only every other week! So they're dying to fill their schedule with quality tournaments and that comes from sponsorships.
The sponsor's time to interact with players comes during the Pro-Am round and if they're stuck with a non English speaking golfer, they get no fun out of it and will pull the plug. That's what it comes down to.
So it's a shame that the situation has come to this. With the ever present Asian contingent on the LPGA, I knew something like this would happen but I never imagined it would happen like this. We'll see how it goes...
posted by Myong Choi at 11:30 AM
1 Comments:
If viewers aren't committed to NFL Jerseys sports coverage, there are plenty of cheaper options for distributors nfl jerseys store to choose from.
Despite cheap nfl jerseys figures that paint a christian louboutin shoes picture Nike Air Max 90 of a cable christian louboutin uk ecosystem Nike Free Run in wholesale nfl jerseys slow decline, a number of channels louboutin outlet saw Nike Air Max 2015 Shoes significant growth over Nike Roshe Run the last year.
Post a Comment
<< Home