"Such nonsense represents nothing short of blatant and specific racism."

On the LPGA's planned English-speaking requirement, John Huggan becomes the first to drop the "r" word in a major publication, talks to a player who offers a fresh perspective and drops the mini-bombshell that Commissioner Bivens has instituted a new rule requiring media background checks. Anyway, the "r" word part:

Now, quite apart from the obviously tricky legal aspects of such a distasteful and questionable move – and the equally self-evident irony in having those who, like, routinely mangle the, like, English-language on a, like, daily basis, claiming the upper hand in any linguistic argument – such nonsense represents nothing short of blatant and specific racism. Note that, despite today's LPGA tour being more diverse than it has ever been, only the Koreans were summoned to answer for their perceived verbal shortcomings.

Just why one nation should be singled out is not difficult to discern. For the US-based LPGA, the by-now routine domination of the tour by foreign-born players – a group largely made up of Koreans – is something of a commercial problem. Twenty-four LPGA events have been played so far this year and in 18 of those a non-US national has finished first. Seven of those 18 victories – including the two most recent major championships – have been recorded by Korean women.

For Middle America, such a phenomenon is the golfing equivalent of sleeping pills. For it is a sad and insular fact of life that Wally Hamburger III and his wife, Betty-Sue, have little or no interest in watching an apparently homogenous group of "furrners" beating up on homegrown twinkies like Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis and Cristie Kerr.

He also talks to Catriona Matthew who offers this common sense attitude:

"To me, the whole thing is a bit odd in that I can't think of too many players – Korean or not – to whom this would apply. After two years on tour, 99 per cent of the players know enough English to get by. Which begs the question: Why is the LPGA bothering?

"In most cases I have found that the players can understand English but they are less comfortable speaking it in a public forum. That is understandable. It's easy to get something wrong in a second language. The bottom line is that the LPGA has more important issues it could be focusing on."