Wednesday, August 27, 2008

PUTTING SOME ENGLISH ON THE BALL? Starting next year, women on the LPGA Tour who fail to learn English will be suspended from the sport. The tour's sizeable (and increasiningly dominant) South Korean contingent was told this week that during 2008, they "will be evaluated by a core team on communication skills such as conversation, survival (i.e. 'I’m going to the store.') and 'golfspeak.' Players must be able to conduct interviews and give acceptance speeches without the help of a translator."

Other sports have exploited the global popularity of their non-fluent-in-English athletes and reaped the benefits -- I'm thinking, obvs, of Asian players like Ichiro Suzuki, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Yao Ming, but it goes beyond that. Even 13-year veteran major leaguers like the Angels' Vladimir Guerrero still speak through an interpreter. Why can't women's golf accommodate and appreciate its foreign-born players? The WaPo's Leonard Shapiro has more.

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