South Korean Players Trying Hard To Fit In On LPGA Tour

Writer Feels Bivens Has Strained Tour's  Relations With South Korean Players

In the wake of the announcement of the LPGA's plan to suspend players who fail to pass an English language proficiency test, South Korean players on the LPGA Tour "are trying to fit in any way they can, as quickly as they can," according to the N.Y. TIMES' Karen Crouse. And while language "has become a primary talking point on the tour, the cultural gap may be wider than any English-speaking policy can bridge." LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens, following the announcement of the plan, "has since strained relations more by indicating that her plan was also meant to help the South Korean players shake their omnipresent fathers," and "by singling out the South Koreans, Bivens has reduced them to one-dimensional stock characters." But South Korean players on the tour "are an eclectic and varied lot who love their parents, Facebook and pumpkin pie," and are "crazy about purses, texting and practicing, and manage to balance a lot of complex relationships, including their often confused feelings about golf." Crouse noted "the influx of international talent comes as the tour has recently lost four title sponsors and has yet to complete a television deal beyond the one with ESPN and the Golf Channel that expires next year." But "with a little ingenuity, this gap can bridged." For the last two years, the LPGA Safeway Classic in Portland (OR) "has held a separate pro-am for Korean-speaking players" in which the players "are paired with Korean-speaking amateurs for 18 holes, and a meal catered by a local Korean establishment is served afterward." Crouse: "Everybody wins." The following chart details stats for South Korean LPGA players in '08 (N.Y. TIMES, 11/2).

Foreign-Born Players On Tour	120
South Korean Players	45
'08 Tournaments Won	7
Top 20 Money Earners	8