While TV ratings maybe driving this as Andrew suggests but I get the feeling that if it was European woman dominating the tour, there won't be this urgent action plan to get everyone "speaking English".

In fact the Salon crowd constantly drives that point home as proof of their multicultural excellence.

Perhaps next the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, which sets the rules of the game everywhere but in the U.S. and Mexico, will require all players to speak fluent Scottish Gaelic.

The reasoning of the LPGA only makes sense if the amateurs that pay to play with pro golfers speak exclusively English. I suggest such an assumption is easily discredited. While English may be the language of the majority, I would bet there are significant non-English speakers who play golf. Given the reasoning of the LPGA, seems the pros should be punished unless they speak at least two languages, with significant emphasis placed on learning Japanese and Arabic. If *I* were one of the effected Korean golf pros, I'd have a large group of my Korean-speaking friends play in a few ProAm tournaments and complain about the lack of Korean speakers.

This is the India Premier League. It is a new league ( a couple of years old ) work billions of dollars for cricket. It is changing the nature of the sport as we spaeak int hat it generates money that Aussie sportsmen are not used to seeing.

I don't like the cricket but the money trail is fun to watch.

It's obvious these white businessmen are missing the boat. they should get the sport into Korea and make some real money.

I saw this story on AP, and I looked for a place to comment, earlier today. These twits are lucky to have these good golfers in their tour!

Good golfers will go where they can play against good golfers. The LPGA will need to change its name to the ESWASALPA (English Speaking With an Acceptable Southern Accent Ladies' Golf Asociation). And they will have to accept minor league status.

And all the good golfers will move over to the GA (Golf Association). What a ridiculous move! The LPGA should be moving in exactly the opposite direction. They should provide translators and free, non-compulsory English classes. Twits!

talk about bigots.....

In one of the articles, they claim that the LPGA is an American organization. Which of course is why their events include tournaments in Canada, Mexico, South Africa, France, the UK, Japan, China, South Korea, and Singapore (and Hawaii, which apparently is no longer part of America, ever since Barack Obama took a vacation there).

Who would ever think that Golf, that bastion of egallitarianism would ever be associated with such an exclusionary practice.

I'll just mark this up as reason 196 as to why I have no interest in this game regardless of who plays it.

I guess this means that signing deaf and mute golfers are now expressly forbidden from participation in this league. Him, I wonder if that's a violation of the ADA?

They are implicitly banned from the sport, not expressly banned.

I endured one of those WASP-training organizations as a teen -- ones that taught you when to wear gloves, how to walk in a formal dress, how to sit in a lady-like fashion. It isn't a huge thing out here in the west, but I've since met a number of people from the east who got the whole ball of wax -- not just one teen organization, but their summer camps and after-school activities and lots of time at the club.

Ah, the club. Whether it's tennis or golf, the club has been the mainstay for teaching exactly this behavior. And therefore the LPGA sees itself as responsible for enforcing this club behavior... because WASP-trained wealthy women are complaining that they can't carry on a conversation on the links?

This isn't racist, it's classist and it reeks.

The Marmot's Hole was described as a "Korean blog" and although it's based in Korea and addresses Korean issues, the author is American.

English language training is a sore spot in South Korea these days. Fluency is perceived as a mark of prestige and a requirement for high-level corporate jobs, but it comes at a high price. Unlike European schools, Korean schools rarely produce confident English-speakers. Instead, aspiring families send their little ones to after-school programs, often until late at night.

There are "academies" for every passion, of course, including mathematics, Chinese, and even golf. Some students opt out of regular high schools to join "golf schools." Very few of these students would have the time and money to do both, placing an unfair burden on these highly driven young women.