LPGA and their language issue
September 5th 2008 22:23
Apparently, the LPGA is not requiring all of their players to speak English .
At the risk of sounding blustery and controversial, personally I had no problem with what the LPGA was requiring of it's players, which was not mastering every adverb and adjective in the English language, but for their players to be able to answer simple questions to the press and to other golfers/officials.
Why do I not have a problem with this?
1) The LPGA is first and foremost a business, and a business should be allowed to have certain necessary requirements of it's employees, and why is it necessary?
2) The LPGA is a business in rapid decline, with sponsors pulling out left and right, and with a good amount of their up-and-coming stars from foreign countries, esp. countries where English is nowhere near a priority to learn.
Now follow along with me for a minute: Let's say the XYZ company wants to sponsor a LPGA tournament. Obviously, the one thing that XYZ covets the most is promotion of their company, whether it's in the print, internet or TV. But second, and a very important second, is the hospitality aspect. Companies want to be able to have their bigwigs hobnob with Annika, Lorena, Karrie and the like, and they want to give their golf-loving employees some incentives with pro-ams and the like.
Now, when these employees are playing with the pros in pro-ams, they're looking to have a good time and talk up with an actual honest-to-god tour pro. See where I am going? If you have random golfer who speaks English and is able to converse, tell stories, give them pointers, the experience will be pleasant and the company is more likely to continue their business with the LPGA. If the employees are partnered with really good LPGA golfer who speaks zero English, the comradarie and experience takes an unpleasant nose-dive.
Not to mention, learning basic English would dramatically help the non-English speaking golfers tremendously with endorsement deals, making them wealthier on top of it.
The LPGA stated they were going to do whatever it took to help them learn English, as they know it's essential for the Tour and the golfers to have their best up-and-coming talent be able to communicate with the English speaking world. For the LPGA's and their player's sake, I really wish they would've stuck to their guns and mandated the players to learn English. This could ultimately kill a golfing tour already losing it's mega-star (Annika) and a decent percentage of sponsors.
At the risk of sounding blustery and controversial, personally I had no problem with what the LPGA was requiring of it's players, which was not mastering every adverb and adjective in the English language, but for their players to be able to answer simple questions to the press and to other golfers/officials.
Why do I not have a problem with this?
1) The LPGA is first and foremost a business, and a business should be allowed to have certain necessary requirements of it's employees, and why is it necessary?
Now follow along with me for a minute: Let's say the XYZ company wants to sponsor a LPGA tournament. Obviously, the one thing that XYZ covets the most is promotion of their company, whether it's in the print, internet or TV. But second, and a very important second, is the hospitality aspect. Companies want to be able to have their bigwigs hobnob with Annika, Lorena, Karrie and the like, and they want to give their golf-loving employees some incentives with pro-ams and the like.
Now, when these employees are playing with the pros in pro-ams, they're looking to have a good time and talk up with an actual honest-to-god tour pro. See where I am going? If you have random golfer who speaks English and is able to converse, tell stories, give them pointers, the experience will be pleasant and the company is more likely to continue their business with the LPGA. If the employees are partnered with really good LPGA golfer who speaks zero English, the comradarie and experience takes an unpleasant nose-dive.
Not to mention, learning basic English would dramatically help the non-English speaking golfers tremendously with endorsement deals, making them wealthier on top of it.
The LPGA stated they were going to do whatever it took to help them learn English, as they know it's essential for the Tour and the golfers to have their best up-and-coming talent be able to communicate with the English speaking world. For the LPGA's and their player's sake, I really wish they would've stuck to their guns and mandated the players to learn English. This could ultimately kill a golfing tour already losing it's mega-star (Annika) and a decent percentage of sponsors.
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