Just one day after the LPGA announced that you better be able to yell "sit" to your ball in English, some are wondering if this is even legal.
Starting in 2009, golfers on the LPGA will be forced to pass an English proficiency test and if you fail, you will be suspended from the golf tournament and not let back on tour until you improve your speaking skills. This all is predicated around the fact that pro-am partners and the media couldn't really communicate with some of the foreign golfers taking over the LPGA. But, forcing people to learn a language? That sure sounds like something that might break a law.
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
"Language and national origin are inextricable," says Steven D. Jacobs, an attorney that is currently working on an English-only case at a sheet-metal factory in Connecticut. "The LPGA is making English a precondition of access. That's a classic no-no. I don't see how this will stand up in court if a player challenges it."
The LPGA is making their plan a little more clear after their fishy way of announcing the plan yesterday. The first language test will be next fall when the season is coming to a close, so if you fail a test you might have the entire off-season to not only practicing putting, but pronouncing. This might help deter anyone from missing golf at all.
LPGA Deputy Commissioner and former Duke Law grad Libba Galloway tried to make clear as best she could the idea behind the rule.
"We are not discouraging players from speaking other languages. They can talk to their caddie in whatever language they choose. They can speak to other players on the driving range in whatever language they choose. If they're Brazilian and a reporter asks them a question in Portuguese, by all means, answer it in Portuguese. And we're not demanding that the players be perfectly fluent in English. What we're saying is that the ability to speak to your pro-am partners and to the media, and for the winner to give their victory speech in English, will be one of our tournament regulations."
Galloway goes on to explain that learning English is "vital" to the future of the LPGA. One of the biggest sticking points to this argument is that the pro-am partners, forking up five figures, want to be able to communicate with their playing partners and this will give them an outlet to do so. I just don't know how important this really is. I know that being social and yucking it up with your playing partner is great, but not everyone has this personality. Just because a Korean girl learns minimal English doesn't mean she's going to be downing beers and knocking back hot dogs with the boys. This is a different culture and learning a sentence here or there isn't going to change that.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-27-2008 @ 2:59PM
karen zimmer said...
HOORAH FOR LPGA!!!!!!!
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8-27-2008 @ 3:03PM
Stella said...
This smells of sexual discrimination; how about the men?
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8-27-2008 @ 3:08PM
dubbz3030 said...
No kidding! Im a huge sports fan, LPGA is not even on my radar, and this still upsets me. Way to limit yourselves. Wouldn't be surprised if next year, only blonde women can play. LPGA makes me sick for even pulling something like this. See, you women just a little power, and they go messing things up, as usual...
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8-27-2008 @ 3:35PM
Skippy said...
I hope this league goes belly up. Have you seen the uggers they got on the tour?
The only sport women should play is beach volleyball. But only if they have nice bodies.
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8-27-2008 @ 3:42PM
marica252 said...
I love golf!! this is the first time I really respect the lpga!
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8-27-2008 @ 8:28PM
bituj said...
back to square one. whitey getting beaten all the time
so come out with this dumb rule
best solution is that all the korean and japanese shud leave the tour and play fr the asian japan tour
when dollars dont roll in we c what us lpga does
come ladies and girls just withdraw and lpga of usa come crawling inviting u back ,
right girls, did duke g ever play golf ?
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8-29-2008 @ 11:30PM
Jam said...
I wonder who was the brain behind such a scheme. The US players are such poor losers. If the US players can beat all the Japanese and Korean girls, this rule will never even be dreamt of. Why not insist thaat all players must pass TOFFEL? But then some of the US girls may not pass it. Oh well.
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8-27-2008 @ 9:53PM
yo said...
this is f---- craze how about mens who doen't speak english and also
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8-29-2008 @ 1:10AM
Dave S said...
Instead of blaming non English speaking players for the inability to obtain sponsors, maybe the LPGA should consider replacing the LPGA commisioner for her ineptitude in selling the tour to potential sponsors. I have always enjoyed watching LPGA events, even more than the PGA since the level of play by the LPGA members more closely resembles the play by the top amateur men in most golf clubs. This is golf that most men can relate to. The LPGA does a poor job of selling this to corporate America. If any foreign speaking players are denied membership in the LPGA due to their inability to speak LPGA
approved English, then I for one will stop watching LPGA events and will watch events on other world tours for women.
I am 65 yrs old, male, 8 handicap and to this point have been a great fan of the LPGA
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8-29-2008 @ 1:21PM
tigerwoodsfan said...
Language is obviously just a cover for other obvious failures. Most people would prefer to hear comments through an interpreter (granted, LPGA should get more good interpreters) than from players who speak decent but still broken English (happy expressions and excited tones in their home language are typically good enough). The sponsors are there to either enjoy golf or make business connections. I doubt many of them set out to make long-lasting friendship with players. Being somewhat proficient in English does not make one good enough for small talks. Even many foreign college graduate students do not do well in small talks. So how practical is it to train golfers to do that? Afterall, they're here not to be socialites, but to be professional golf players. Give them a break.
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9-03-2008 @ 2:49PM
Cedric said...
Well the sponsors who pay huge fees to be a sponsor speak English. It is the American LPGA not the Asian tour or the European tour so what language should be spoken. When my son went to Japan to work he speaks Japanese not English. So quit crying over this and find a way to keep the LPGA above water cause nobodies watching!
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9-04-2008 @ 1:47AM
bert tipton said...
I DON,T GOLF, AS IT IS ABOUT AS EXCITING AS WATCHING PAINT DRY. BUT MAY TAKE IT UP IF I CAN USE BIGGER CLUBS AND THE HEADS OF LPGA EXECUTIVE AS BALLS. JUST WHEN THE WORLD GETS TO THINK THE USA MIGHT HAVE A BRAIN THEY COME UP WITH ENGLISH LANGUAGE LAWS FOR THEIR TOUR. WHATS NEXT NON YANKS CAN'T USE THE CLUB HOUSE. THIS IS ABOUT AS SMART AS THE WEED (BUSH) INVADING IRAQ.
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9-08-2008 @ 1:55PM
Matthew said...
i totally aggree with dubbz
that is exactly what i think almost word for word
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9-14-2008 @ 10:25PM
jeff said...
I love golf very much.
I want to see all of the golfer
from world.
I know why U.S. people scare lose scare die...
but not really strong only tiger woods....ha ha ha
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