LPGA English-only policy a discriminating slip of the tongue
No matter what language you happen to call your native tongue, there are three universal words that can aptly describe the LPGA Tour’s proposed you-must-know-English-or-you-can’t play policy.
A joke. 농담. Broma. Skämt.
For some reason – and the LPGA wants you to believe that it is to keep existing sponsors in the fold — the circuit has implemented a new rule that states each and every player with at least two years experience must know English or they will lose their playing cards.
Oh, to be able to spell I-D-I-O-C-Y in Korean…
If you can shoot 18 or 20-under par and win a golf tournament, it shouldn’t matter how broken your English may be when you collect your championship cheque.
Who cares if you say thank you, gracias or kamsahamnida?
Think about it. Of the top 20 on the LPGA money list, 16 come from different countries, including eight Koreans. Given the way Mexico’s Lorena Ochoa and the Koreans are slapping the U.S. gals around this season, shouldn’t it be mandatory for the English-speaking ladies to brush up on their Korean?
Fact is, the LPGA, while based in the land of Old Glory, is a world tour with 121 players from 26 different countries. There is more than enough etiquette and mundane rules for professional golfers. Wondering how the heck they are going to get through an interview in English shouldn’t be an issue.
The LPGA, as short-sighted as they are, sees things differently.
Does anyone really believe that some English 101 is going to make that much of a difference when a microphone is slapped in the face of a South Korean? With or without English lessons, there will be plenty of confused reporters consulting each other’s notes.
“What did she say?”
And that is why interpreters have jobs.
Call it what you want, but I am going to call it outright discrimination, bordering on racism.
When the gals from overseas buck up their ridiculous admittance fee for LPGA qualifying school, I’d bet they aren’t turned away because they don’t speak English.
Teach the LPGA a lesson. I hope the Koreans lead the charge to boycott the LPGA and go home and play in their own backyards. Want to lose sponsors? Start by taking away some of the best players in the world.
It’s a horrible decision from an organization that seems to make them on a regular basis.
No wonder the LPGA is turning into a laughingstock in the sports world.
Paul Azinger could only wish for Faldo’s Ryder Cup problems
With the Ryder Cup a month away, European captain Nick Faldo has a problem - one that his U.S. counterpart, Paul Azinger, can only dream about.
You see, Azinger has four picks to round out who will wear the red, white and blue in Kentucky next month. And Faldo is loaded with talent from which to make his picks; the dilemma is the man at the helm of the European ship can only make two selections.
Under this new format, which Azinger and the American side lobbied so hard for, Azinger must now decide on those four names who will try to dethrone the Europeans at the Ryder Cup. Problem is, there is no one really playing their way on the team, and there sure in heck isn’t many with Ryder Cup experience on their resume.
Conventional wisdom says Azinger will go way down the Ryder Cup points list – all the way to #34 – to hand-pick Scott Verplank, a Ryder Cup veteran from 2002 and 2006 who, coincidentally, has a career record of 4-1 in this little battle of bragging rights.
So, going with the theory that Verplank is likely a lock, who does Azinger roll the dice with in topping up his roster? Three picks, and not much to choose from, at least by Ryder Cup standards.
Just a hunch, but I hardly think the likes of Steve Stricker, J.B. Holmes, Rocco Mediate or Sean O’Hair are keeping Faldo and his European charges awake at night.
Compare that to Faldo himself, who will narrow down a pretty impressive list to just two names by sometime Sunday night. Ian Poulter did Faldo no favours by opting out of the Johnnie Walker Classic –the final European Tour date before decision day – to keep his hat in the FedEx Cup chase on this side of the Atlantic. It means Poulter will not earn a berth on his point standing alone, but you would think he is a no-brainer as one of Faldo’s picks.
The issue, of course, is who gets the final slot and how, pray tell, do you choose between Paul Casey, Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke and Carl Pettersson? And what about Colin Montgomerie, who has done nothing to warrant a spot on the team but gets instant consideration by name alone?
Anything can happen in the Ryder Cup but the way things look from the outset, the European squadron could be spraying champagne on the 18th green of Valhalla come September 21st.
And it could be a rout right on American soil.
Two captains, two different dilemmas.
If only Azinger had the problem Faldo has in the next few days.
Where is the next Mike Weir? He may be already gone…
In my days working for the Canadian Tour, Commissioner Rick Janes once posed a blunt, food-for-thought question on the state of Canadian prospects striving towards the PGA Tour.
“The question isn’t where is the next Mike Weir,” Janes offered. “The question may be where has the next Mike Weir gone?”
Fair question, because when it comes to supporting the next wave of Canadians coming down the production line, Rick Janes has a valid point.
The point was further driven home last week at the Desjardins Montreal Open, when I learned the Montreal Casino was bucking up the entry fee to Canadian Tour qualifying school for those Quebec-born players that made the cut. In the case of Keven Fortin-Simard and Yohann Benson, two players who already had Canadian Tour status for this season, their PGA Tour Qualifying School this autumn is taken care of.
Talk about taking care of your own.
And we’re not just talking entry fee. Flight, hotel, expenses – everything.
It’s nice to see a major tournament sponsor in Montreal take the bull by the horns and try to solve a problem, instead of adding to it.
Now if only the rest of the country, or at least those who seem to have enough time to whine but never offer a solution, would follow suit.
You know, get proactive instead of reactive.
Janes and Canadian Tour Deputy Director Dan Halldorson have a least given their charges a lifeline by creating the Canadian Bursary Fund, with the original seed money coming from Edmonton businessman Marv Holland.
Now into its second season, the $50,000 fund will help ten Canadian and ten international players on the Canadian Tour this season by way of a point-system based on top-ten finishes for events staged in Canada.
It’s a start and, trust me, about the only proactive stance being taken to help those who are just taking their first cuts as a pro. I spent seven years of my life witnessing it first-hand.
Whether people choose to believe it or not, if you don’t finish inside the top ten at a Canadian Tour event, you are probably in the red for the week. That, as they say, is fact. And while it may be somewhat easy for the pessimists to suggest a simple increase in the purse, that is much easier said than done. Janes has the Canadian Tour on as solid footing as they have enjoyed in recent memory, but until those who sign the cheques in corporate Canada appreciate just how damn good these players are, they will continue to be the best-kept secret in professional golf.
If you need confirmation on the quality of player the Canadian Tour churns out, just ask Weir or Chris DiMarco, both who have stated on numerous occasions that their days up north were some of their most enjoyable playing this crazy game.
Unless you are one of the proverbial blue-chip prospects in Canada and have your ride paid for, you are left fending for yourself until you hit the big leagues or, at the very least, the Nationwide Tour. For many, they’ll quit out of frustration, giving up on their dream far too early.
Believe me. I’ve seen it more than a few times, including one former amateur star who went on the win on the Canadian Tour. He shall remain nameless, but most of you can probably figure out who it is. He, at one time, held the same promise as Weir once did. Or Mills. Or Hearn.
And he gave up.
Why? Because he ran out of money.
For those who are adamant that the well is dry in Canadian golf, I respectfully suggest you have never seen Wes Heffernan, Dustin Risdon, Mike Mezei, James Lepp, Graham DeLaet, Derek Gillespie, Andrew Parr, Richard Scott or James Love – to name but a few – hit a ball.
It’s time we give these guys a chance instead of giving them the shaft. They did it in Montreal.
Maybe it’s time for the rest of the country to catch on.
Honestly, they’ll make you proud one day.
Instead, people would rather whine about where the next Mike Weir is hiding. Look closely, he may be easier to find than you think.
Just look down at the cracks.
FedEx Cup a cure for insomnia
Only in golf could the playoff season, so to speak, be met with a collective yawn.
Tim Finchem’s cash grab – er, brainchild – which gets underway for the second time this week with The Barclays, is hardly a blip on the PGA Tour radar, and for good reason.
And why? Because the real drama of the golf season, in the form of four major championships, is already in the rearview mirror.
Looking to liven up the dog days of the season, the PGA Tour decided last year to unveil the FedEx Cup, a pseudo-playoff format that really doesn’t decide anything but can, and will, line the pockets of professional golfers with a few more – or, in the case of the lucky ones, a lot more – Benjamins.
As ironic as it may seem, not having Tiger Woods around this autumn may actually make this FedEx Cup a little more intriguing. Now the likes of Mickelson, Harrington, Perry and Kim have the opportunity to emerge from a pretty imposing shadow, if only for a few weeks.
Hyperbole, you say?
Ignoring the point system, which while improved over 2007 still confuses the casual golf fan more than a woodpecker in a concrete forest, I’m going to give you the gist of the format in layman’s terms. Put simply, Tiger Woods, who hasn’t stepped to the first tee in over two months, still leads the FedEx point standings, not to mention the PGA Tour money list.
Drama, huh?
I guess the FedEx Cup is good for a few things, mostly for drawing big names that would otherwise kick back at home until the Tour Championship.
But this isn’t the Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup Final, NASCAR Sprint Cup or NBA Finals. Far from it. No rings, no celebrations, no ticker tape parade. This is just a chance for the chosen ones to pad their bank accounts and maybe win some bragging rights. For what? We’re not quite sure.
Golf’s playoff race has come and gone in the form of The Masters, British Open and U.S. Open. Later this fall, the Ryder Cup will come about as close to the post-season as you can get, at least for the Americans and Europeans.
FedEx Cup Playoffs? Yeah right.
Wake me up when it’s over.
Parr shows heart of champion - even without a title
Want to hear a little story about perspective, about resilience? I’ve got one.
Flash back to April at the Canadian Tour’s season-opening Spring International. Canadian Andrew Parr is cruising with a six-shot lead on the back nine Sunday afternoon, his first professional triumph seemingly a lock. Odds are the trophy engraver has already started etching his name on the hardware.
Before he could make plans what he was going to do with his championship payday, American Spencer Levin had mounted one final, desperate charge. Parr bogeys 15, 16, and 17. Game over. Levin snatches the trophy right from Parr’s hands.
You think Parr would be crushed, huh? For a while, perhaps, but now it is really no big deal. Stuff happens. Really, who cares?
Pick your cliché.
After all, it’s golf. Nothing more.
When I first met Andrew Parr during my days as the media director with the Canadian Tour, I realized that besides being an enormous talent, the native of London, Ont. had one of the coolest names in golf.
Parr. Get it? Thought so.
These days, par, eagle, double-bogey or birdie, life is all about perspective for the 24-year old.
You see, not all that long ago, Parr was living the dream, so to speak, one of Canada’s top prospects in his initial season on the Canadian Tour, negotiating that curve that leads straight to the PGA Tour.
Then life dealt a brash reality check.
Last fall, the 25-year-old suffered a stroke and for a while was temporarily paralyzed on his right side.
Stroke is a pretty common term in golf lingo. Just not in this sense.
“I learned a lot about life and what really matters that day,” Parr told me Sunday.
“In a lot of ways, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Huh? A stroke before your 25th birthday? A good thing?
Kids at that age aren’t supposed to have that kind of perspective. This kid does.
The lesson, if you can call it that, seems to have inspired Parr, not pulled him the other way. There he was Sunday afternoon, yet again chasing that first crown, finishing seventh at the Desjardins Montreal Open.
Andrew Parr. Perseverance personified in a towering 6’4 frame.
That hurdle, the one a heck of a lot more important than birdies and bogeys, is cleared. Yesterday’s news. And Parr isn’t about to look in the mirror lamenting his misfortune. Parr has recovered and is back playing the game he loves. Others, he notes, aren’t nearly as fortunate.
Life, as they say, is too short. Yep, another cliche.
“Everyone has challenges,” says Parr of his battle. “You just have to accept it and keep going.”
Spoken like a true champion, trophy or not.
Worried if Tiger can bounce back? Hank Haney has no concerns…
For those of you in the Tiger brigade wondering if the best player on the planet will return to form after going under the knife, fear not, my friends.
If his coach isn’t concerned, nor should you be.
Renowned coach Hank Haney, who just happens to mentor Woods, was in Montreal Wednesday, conducting a clinic and three-hole exhibition with defending Desjardins Montreal Open champion Brent Schwarzrock of Georgia.
One day before the opening round of the Canadian Tour’s $200,000 tournament, Haney took a few minutes to discuss Tiger’s progress – gee, surprise, surprise – and he didn’t seem exactly nervous discussing how long it may take before Tiger is, well, Tiger.
“It’s going to take some time and he is going to need a lot of practice,” Haney said. “It’s not that the injury is terrible, but it is a surgery that takes a long time to rehab and come back from.”
“But Tiger’s work ethic speaks for itself. He visualizes so much what he will do and rehashes it in his mind. He’s still practicing. He’s just not hitting balls.”
And while his recovery seems to be the stuff of barstool conversations, I’m not overly convinced that Woods will pick up where he left off once he returns. The real answer will come when he needs to put that wonky knee to the test four times a week, but hey, I am sure Haney knows more about his pupil’s health than I do. So what do I know?
Haney also discussed the tough setup of certain golf courses, which is once again a hot topic following last week’s gong show at Oakland Hills. It certainly doesn’t hurt when you have Tiger Woods in your stable, but Haney sees no issue with throwing an intimidating test at the PGA Tour every once in a while.
“Depending on who you talk to, some people want to see eagles and birdies while others like to see the course get the better of the players,” reasoned Haney. “You can’t satisfy everyone. At the end of the day, I am concerned about one thing. What’s best for Tiger.”
So, in a nutshell, golf courses are fine, just like Tiger Woods will be in the New Year.
If Haney’s guess proves true, the rest of the PGA Tour has about six months to temporarily steal his crown.
After that, it’s curtains.
One bad shot, not nerves, cost J.B. Holmes any chance of win at Oakland Hills
For a while before the final round began at Oakland Hills Sunday, it appeared as though J.B. Holmes was poised to win his maiden major and give U.S. Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger something to think about before he uses his picks to round out the team that will go up against those big, bad Europeans in Kentucky next month.
Yes, it looked like it may be J.B.’s day in Michigan.
Well, for about 20 minutes anyway – or however long it took him to put up that that triple on the opening hole of the day.
Talking to Holmes Monday in Montreal, where he was in town to conduct a clinic and take part in the pro am in advance of this week’s Canadian Tour Desjardins Montreal Open, he simply shrugged his shoulders and chalked it up to one of those days.
Don’t even mention nerves.
“I wasn’t really nervous at all,” he said. “Hey, I just hit a bad shot and didn’t have any luck on that hole. Henrik (Stenson) hit one over there and ended up making par.”
There was plenty of grumbling coming from Michigan at how tough Oakland Hills was playing and Holmes went one further.
“It was the US Open the first two days, and the British Open the last two,” said Holmes, referring to the nasty weather that pounded the already-intimidating Oakland Hills over the weekend.
To make matters worse, in order to squeeze the final major of the year in before dark Sunday, Holmes, like most of the leaders, had to play 36 holes on the final day. And while he wasn’t bellyaching about the misfortune, it was obvious Holmes would rather have slept in Sunday.
“It’s a pain when you have to go through that in any tournament and even more frustrating in a major,” Holmes admitted, referring to the weather delays. “And then to do 36 holes is an awful lot to ask.”
As for Oakland Hills being set up like a U.S. Open?
“It seemed like they didn’t even change the pins. It’s almost unfair. I can tell you not a lot of guys like playing that course.”
One thing is almost certain. J.B. Holmes may have posted a final-round 81 Sunday but he didn’t lose the golf tournament as much as Padraig Harrington went out and won it.
With any luck, Holmes was watching the PGA Championship trophy presentation before he boarded his flight to Montreal.
Sooner or later – and probably the former – his time will come.
Golf in the Olympics? You bet…well, sort of
At the risk of being banished to the men’s loo with a sponge and bucket of water or, worse, finding myself on the soup line Monday morning, I’m calling out my esteemed employer, Peter Mumford, when it comes to golf and the Olympics.
Simply put, golf should be an Olympic sport. No questions asked.
Well, with an asterisk.
That asterisk? Keep the pros out of the Games.
Rest assured, no matter how many governing bodies there are in golf, one thing seems a pretty safe bet. Golf is well on its way to be included in the 2016 Olympic Games , if lobbying heavyweights such as the PGA Tour, R&A, USGA, LPGA and Augusta National get their way, as they tend to do.
Hey, I’m all for golf in the Games. Should you choose not to stick a fork in your eye and opt, instead, to watch archery, equestrian, fencing, trampoline or synchronized swimming, then surely you aren’t turning the channel when the boys – and gals – step up to the tee in the gold medal match.
So, yes, in that regard, golf, one of the most popular sports in the world on a global scale, should receive an invitation to the most flamboyant jock bash on the planet.
Now, at the risk of pontificating the rights and wrongs of the modern Olympic Games, that doesn’t mean Woods and Weir, Garcia and Els, Singh and Casey, should be taking part. Last I checked, they’ve got their international bragging rights with the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup and World Cup.
You see, it’s a concept that the IOC hasn’t quite grasped yet, but the Games are still about the amateurs. Or at least are supposed to be. The Olympic Games, what they stand for, are not about Roger Federer or Maria Sharapova, LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, Martin Brodeur or Alex Ovechkin. It may seem like a flimsy analogy, and maybe I am just an old-fashioned guy, but if you earn a paycheque – let alone millions – playing your sport, keep your rear end at home. You don’t belong at the Olympics.
I don’t have the answer, nor do I get paid to try to rationalize one, but I do know that the PGA Tour and the rest of the alphabet gang should halt their march towards 2016. If you’re looking to make golf an Olympic Sport, do it for the right reasons. Off the top of my head, conduct the 2016 World Amateur Team Championship for Olympic gold, silver and bronze.
Logistically, it is more complex than that, of course. But it’s a start.
Give the kids that have worked all their lives for their one moment of Olympic glory the opportunity to bask in that moment, instead of getting their dreams crucified by millionaire athletes who just couldn’t fathom the true ideals of the Olympic movement.
Bring golf to the Olympics, a stage to showcase the best athletes in the world.
But, damnit, do it the right way.
Leave the pros at home.
PGA Championship prediction? Oakland Hills will keep players honest…
Before I prove how inept my predictions skills are by picking who I think will be hoisting the Wanamaker trophy Sunday, the more prevailing storyline at Oakland Hills seems to be just how tough the Monster is going to be to tame.
That could be THE story at this championship.
Tiger not here? Pittance, I say.
More interesting, perhaps even fascinating by the time Sunday afternoon rolls around, is just how much of the field Oakland Hills will have eaten up and spit out.
It should be fun. Or gruesome. Perhaps a little of both.
If you don’t keep it straight on this track, you’ll be going home early. The Monster, as it is ominously dubbed, leaves no room for bad shots.
Want to see par turn into a double? Hit it into the thick stuff.
The 260-yard, par-3 ninth has double or triple bogey waiting for those who can’t keep it straight. Oakland Hills has one par-4 over 500 yards, and three that are just a few paces short.
Yikes.
This, my friends, should make the PGA, regarded as the least important of the four majors, one heck of a spectacle to watch.
Now on to who will be crowned the champion in Michigan.
Unbelievably, it’s been almost eight decades since a European won the PGA Championship, although there are a few from the other side of the pond who are more than capable of ending that slide this week.
Off the top, one would be foolish to bet against Padraig Harrington, who would make it three major wins in just over a year by finding the winner’s circle this week. Longshots, if you want to call them that, could be Lee Westwood, coming off a runner-up showing last week at the Bridgestone Invitational, Paul Casey and Sergio Garcia.
But the European drought will continue at the PGA Championship. With an unforgiving Oakland Hills ready to punish those who can’t find the fairway, this should come down to who finds a four-day groove with the flat stick. Not that there aren’t any Europeans capable with the putter, but I’ve got my pick on who will have a magic touch around the greens in Michigan.
I’m predicting Lefty will be that guy.
As I wrote only yesterday, with Tiger on the shelf, this is Phil Mickelson’s time to shine. With the world watching, Lefty will make it count to salvage the final major of the year.
To make it even more interesting, it will be a battle of the southpaws, so to speak, as Canadian Mike Weir, playing not all that far from his hometown of Bright’s Grove, Ont., will make a valiant push for his second major championship but will come up a stroke or two short. Weir is anything but long off the tee so most figure he doesn’t stand a chance here, but his soft touch around the greens should keep him around for the weekend. Jim Furyk also has the tools to fare well at Oakland Hills and should be kicking tires with the leaders on the final day.
It should be a wild week at Oakland Hills, with many in the field humbly heading home after getting it handed to them by The Monster.
Phil Mickelson won’t be one of them.
Lefty on centre stage, but needs to bring down the house
This is Lefty’s time to get it right.
With two wins in this weird and wacky PGA Tour season already under his belt, most would agree that Phil Mickelson has enjoyed a pretty decent run in 2008.
Then again, this is Phil we are talking about. In his own words, it has been an OK year. When you are Mickelson, you raise the bar a little higher than most.
Which is why Lefty wants a win at Oakland Hills this week to make an “OK year” a “great year”.
With Tiger Woods relegated to the living room couch for the next few months, this is Mickelson’s time to steal the show for now. As long as Woods is still playing, Lefty will always be, on the best of days, second best.
This isn’t about the alleged rift between Woods and Mickelson, if there ever was one. No one should really care if Tiger has issues with Phil. Until next spring, they won’t be running into each other in the locker room, on the first tee, in the scoring tent. If the two don’t see eye to eye, it doesn’t matter. Not right now.
But this is Phil’s time, if he can take advantage.
Last week at the Bridgestone Invitational, he had the chance. Going toe-to-toe with another perennial heavyweight, Vijay Singh, and Mickelson could not close the deal, no thanks to a three-bogeys-in-four-holes end to Sunday.
Now comes the PGA Championship and one last chance for a major in 2008. Mickelson, who heads into Thursday second in the World Golf Ranking - behind guess who? - and third in earnings, can make his statement that he will carry the U.S. torch into the Ryder Cup. A decent showing here – let alone a win – could vault Lefty past the surprising Kenny Perry into second on the money list.
And, in his own words, turn an OK year into a great one.
Mickelson has almost done it all in golf. He has a cult-like following unlike any other. If there was no Tiger, Mickelson could be the best golfer of his era. But that conversation is moot. Not gonna happen.
But finally, Phil has a chance to take centre stage. This could be his time.
Mickelson needs to meet the challenge head-on. He may never get a chance like this again.
Fairways Web Editor Marty Henwood spent more than six years as the Media Relations Director with the Canadian Tour and has been involved in sports journalism for more than a decade, including stints in newspaper, radio, new media and media relations. He will offer his unique take on the world of golf, with nothing and no one off limits.