LPGA
 

1) What's up with Yani Tseng ? She's a mere shell of the golfer she was a couple of months ago, when she was winning everything & intimidating the rest of the tour.Lately she can't crack the top 10. Today, she's 14 over in the Open.

2) Is Michelle Wie just a product of hype from when, as a teenager, she tried to crack the men's tour ? Her putting is atrocious.After a nice round on friday, she ballooned to 7 over yesterday; and she has 4 bogeys today already.

3) Are the American women destined for a long run of also-rans ?

Here's my two cents worth:

1.Yani Tseng - she is living proof that once you've mastered the golf swing, the game is 90% psychological. (David Duval and Tiger Woods also know that ballpark.)
Some type of "Demon" is bothering Yani. It is showing in her body language.
She has all of the talent in the world, but some event that we don't know about has happened. Yani also has some type of arm injury that she may be protecting.

2. Michelle Wie - has a swing that most of us would die to have. However, she's living proof that at the pro level, the short game is king.
The old saying "You drive for show, and putt for dough" comes to mind.

3. American Women - Dottie Pepper hit the nail on the head yesterday when she said "American women are being outworked."
Simply stated, Asians have an unbelievable work ethic in sports.
They practice, practice, practice.
American women have as much talent, if not more.
They are not putting in the hours that the Asians are.
That is unfortunate.
Personally, and perhaps I'm identifying a bit of bigotry in my own personality that needs working on, I have a harder time pulling for the Asian players than I do for the Americans.
I don't like to think of myself as racist, but the LPGA has identified a part of me that is. I don't like it. But it is what it is.
On the other hand, I, a true hacker, marvel at the likes of Choi, who weighs no more than a 110 pounds soaking wet, and how she smacks that ball so far and straight. I envy that ability.
But I have to keep reminding myself, she's probably spent 8 hours a day for years, honing that ability.

Greyfox, you're absolutely right about the Asian women vs the Americans. They work harder.
It mirrors the educational arena. I feel Asian students are way more focused on their studies than Americans & it all stems from family & the priorities they set for their children.

I'm not the first to say Asians have ruined the LPGA. They play through their rounds like robots showing little or no emotion. Then at the end of the day if they win, all but a few need an interpreter to be interviewed. I've found that in the past few years the interview is often skipped all together. Many of the events no longer exist and sponsorship has dwindled. There's a reason for that and I believe this is the main one. Call me racist if you like, but it's quite plain as day.

I don't think its a racist statement at all. It's pretty much spot on can't argue your position even if I wanted to debate it.

Considering how much the american public adored Yao Ming and Linsanity your robotic analysis hits it right on the head. Americans as a whole want their athletes playing in this country to at least make an attempt at learning English. It surprises me because many countries make English mandatory as a second language. That didn't happen in Japan till 2011. One would think if you were serious enough about becoming a pro athlete learning the language where you might play becomes a necessity.

One problem.
The L.P.G.A., while playing the majority of it's events in the United States, considers itself, and advertises itself, as A GLOBAL Tour.
Events are scheduled in:
The United States ........15 events
Kuala Lampur
South Korea
Taiwan
Japan
Mexico
Thailand
Singapore
Canada....... 3 events
Australia
France
England

The majority of Asians on the tour are Koreans.
To their credit, most of them are speaking English.
The Asians are doing a far better job at language aquisition than the American ladies are at speaking foreign languages.
To the L.P.G.A.'s credit the overseers of the Tour are providing some English classes for foreign players.

Your making my point and this is coming from a guy who supports all women athletics.

Eighteen events are held in North America where English is the primary language. Lets add two more counting England and Australia. I'm an old toad but when I went to school the only two options were Spanish and French. In the far east the second language is usually English.

Good job by the L.P.G. A. but if they can do it for English wouldn't it be fair to also tutor people in Chinese, Korean, or Japanese?

I don't follow the LPGA much but maybe you can tell me how many females go overseas to play and who foots the bill.

Nobody should be forced to learn a language at any time during their life. But for the game to survive and grow top notch players should make an attempt to learn a language that is their bread and butter. K.J. Choi and Y.E. Yang speak enough that they can get endorsements and have people cheering for them on American soil.

I learned sign language at the age of thirty because there was no other option to communicate with my son at the time. The female players certainly have a choice but they lose the right to complain about the purse money being offered and the number of events.

Read the article and see page two about the language problem: http://www.forbes.com/sites/montebur...emale-problem/

Most of the Americans go overseas.
Each player is responsible for her own expenses.
Their earnings come from standings in any given tournament.
They are "businesswomen."

Excellent article Whan gets it and now it falls on the players. American players should also get language instruction there is no reason not to. If a threesome is going overseas regularly each individual should try to learn a separate language so that they can help each other.

How many American players are on the tour? I can't imagine a player ranked higher than forty making the trip.

To keep a debate going this is part of the problem. Tiger and Phil go overseas and get a nice chunk of change just for showing up. American players rarely go over to Europe unless they are compensated. I just looked at the LPGA list and #40 made 174k, #60 made under 100k.

http://espn.go.com/golf/moneylist/_/tour/lpga/page/2

Would you give up 5%-10% of your yearly earning just to have a minute chance to make your initial investment back?

Canarsie, do you know what Google is?

If you want to know how many Americans are on the tour, you can count them yourself at http://content.usatoday.com/sportsda...s/moneyLeaders

Note that there is only 1 American in the top 13 of the money leaders.

American women in short skirts are almost extinct. There are a few left (Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis and Christi Kerr are a few), but seldom are they seen because they're not winning. This has to be killing the ratings.

I'd guess you've not been watching Big Break Atlantis.

Similar to what happened to distance running, once the east africans begin to dominate the events in america the ratings began to drop and now in the USA distance running is more of a boutique sport with the american runners finishing far behind.