Feeling the heat from criticism, the LPGA today backed off its new policy of suspending international players who do not learn to speak English.
The rule seemed to target pro golfers from South Korea, who are the largest group of international players on the women’s tour.
The policy seemed a bit of overkill and raised a lot of controversy. Revising it is a good move by the LPGA. The tour can still enhance the English skills of its players in a way that doesn’t seem so xenophobic.
Here’s the official statement from the LPGA. Here are a couple of good columns from ESPN by Ron Sirak and Eric Adelson.
This post can also be found on Hyphen magazine’s blog.