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Golf

Tiger Has No Comment on LPGA's English-Only Stance, Kultida Unimpressed


Tiger Woods is alive and well, even though he's not scheduled to make his triumphant return to the PGA Tour until sometime next spring. Meanwhile, during an interview on CNBC's Power Lunch this afternoon, Eldrick touched on the typical fare: he's recovering well, loves spending time with his family, can't wait to play tournament golf, blah blah blah.

He also managed to get in a plug for EA Sports AND Gillette, and name-drop both Derek Jeter and Roger Federer. After dispensing with the pleasantries, however, host Bill Griffeth got all journalistic, asking Tiger his thoughts on the whole sordid LPGA mess. Awkwardness ensued:
Griffeth: Let me ask you something before you go, here ... Golfweek broke it on Monday, the New York Times put it on the front page today -- you probably saw that -- the LPGA is now going to require all of their golfers to be conversant in English next year, or face suspension. Good idea, bad idea?

Tiger: I don't know, that's the first time I heard about it. I was just in Dubai and I just got back, so ... um, that's the first time I actually heard about that, so...
Ah, yes, the ol' "I was out of the country" excuse. That used to work really well before the advent of the telegraph, and later, the phone and a little something Al Gore likes to call the internet.

It gets better:
Griffeth: The influx of foreign golfers on the LPGA -- you know how important sponsorships are to golf, more than any other sport ... and the LPGA is concerned that those women who don't speak English don't interact with the sponsors and that hampers their ability to gain those sponsorships. Is this the way to solve that problem?

Woods: Oh, I don't know. Like I said, that's the first time I heard about it, um, it's obviously very interesting, um ... it's the LPGA ... I guess that's how they think they should handle it.

Griffeth: I didn't think you would answer that one, either, but I thought I would try anyway.
And everybody had a good chuckle.

Look, I have no issue with Tiger being apolitical, but jeebus, it's not like we're talking about Kelly Tilghman here. He dismissed her ridiculously offensive comments because they're friends, and he believed she meant nothing harmful by them. Fine. I get that.

But this LPGA issue doesn't leave much room for ambiguity. Oh, and in a related story: TIGER WOODS IS ASIAN.

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