Immigration Law

Female Professional Golfers Must Speak English

By Robert Kraft

Here's an interesting little story not directly related to immigration. I watch quite a bit of golf on TV, men's and women's. I've noticed the dominance of Asian players on the ladies tour, especially South Korean players. Now a story emerges that the Ladies Professional Golf Association is going to require fluency in English in order to qualify for the tour. This seems a bit like requiring truck drivers to read English in order to get a commercial driver's license, but without the same justification. Here are some excerpts from an Associated Press article today:

The LPGA Tour boasts players from all over the world, and it wants all of them to be able to speak English.

Golfweek magazine reported on its Web site Monday that speaking English will be a requirement starting in 2009, with players who have been LPGA members for two years facing suspension if they can't pass an oral evaluation of English skills.

There are 121 international players from 26 countries on the LPGA Tour, including 45 players from South Korea.

Full post as published by Immigration Law Answers Blog on August 28, 2008 (boomark / email).