LPGA Launching Probe Into Canada Saga
Steve Elling gets the word from LPGA communications chief David Higdon.
“We have treated this situation very seriously, and have or will speak to all principles involved,” Higdon said in an email Sunday morning. “Yes, we are looking very closely at it.”
The LPGA has had issues in the past with South Korean natives, who have been accused by other players of bending rules by conversing with friends or parents and receiving advice in their native tongue, among other perceived violations. The LPGA at one point put players on notice that such conversations and interaction would not be tolerated. One longtime LPGA caddie with his own blog site claimed this weekend that Korean players have been getting away with rules violations for years, causing some to accuse him of racism.
Sunday, August 29, 2010 at 12:33 PM
Reader Comments (19)
Golf mags and the Golf Channel are not about journalism, except selectively and when they're forced to be. They're racket is promoting golf, and this story is not good for business. Once a person understand this, a whole new world opens up.
The AP is about journalism, of course, but this episode is not yet high-profile enough for them to devote any resources. They'll get after it soon enough, provided the LPGA does the right thing--which is no given.
Frankly, I haven't gotten over Michelle Wie grounding her club in the hazard. When I saw the replay of that and read her claim (she wanted to avoid falling down), she was dead to me.
The LPGA seems to be a fun place to be - discrimination, cheating, racism, disrespect for the game
Or it's possible they conspired to cheat. Innocent until proven quilty, especially with the language issues and with lots of caddies (apparently, if you read the source blog) having a dislike of and distrust for Asian players.
The context of the alleged "you did not see anything" is moot since they signed their cards incorrectly after knowingly completing the hole with the wrong ball(s). Either way, it is the player's job to identify their ball since they are standing over/marking it.
What would the penalty be if the first one holed out, realized the mistake and went to the RO to attempt to straighten it out before signing a card? Do they go back to their original (correct) positions in the fairway and assess penalty strokes accordingly? Or is it an automatic DQ once a wrong ball is holed?
Although . . . It might be appropriate to mention that the 2 finalists in today's U.S. Amateur did come from seriously advantaged American families.
I love the Korean Kontingent. They put in the work and get the results.
Some of the comments are unbelievably ignorant and probably racist, but put that aside for a moment, I'm surprised that so many of you don't realize that golf has gone international. If you remove the international element from the PGA and LPGA tours, you are left with a sad, inferior product. A real piece of crap.
It doesn't matter if someone is speaking Chinese, Italian, English, Korean, Dutch or German - if they break the rules, they should be dealt with all the same way. Don't kid yourself, there has been much more cheating in golf worked out in English than in any other language on earth.
It certainly seems bad. Bob Weeks on scoregolf did a nice job of articulating what seems beyond belief to me. 2 Players putted out without recognising they were playing the wrong balls:
'..if a player plays the wrong ball, chances are she's going to notice it once you get on the green. The player will pick up the ball, the caddie will clean the ball, hand it back to the player and on the LPGA Tour, it seems the players spend an inordinate amount of time lining up the ball with the little line that's painted on it.
If these two did indeed play the wrong ball, it would mean two players and two caddies failed to notice that they were playing the wrong ball. Don't forget, these balls would be marked with the players' Sharpie identifications too. And if they didn't notice the balls then, what made them even think about it two hours later? When they were at their hotels?'
I call BS on these players. They cheated and got caught. And i don't care is he are the MBros from Italy. This is not about nationality, it is about th alleged 'honor' of golfers. If proven, ban them.. If I am wrong , I will apologize.
ds