Why are South Koreans on the LPGA Tour held to higher 'personality' standard?

While the golf world remains abuzz at the fact that they can now shamelessly swim in the waters of Natalie Gulbis bikini photos - hell, Golf.com officially has become FHM for the week - there is one other interesting issue that came from Ms. Gulbis’ victory at the Evian Masters.

It was - and remains - my contention that the influx of South Korean golfers on the LPGA Tour has actually helped the game. My thinking is thus: While players like Jeong Jang are not crowd favorites in the U.S., the South Koreans in the LPGA have, and continue to up the ante in the game with their hard work and ability. More than ever in the LPGA, victories are truly earned, and someone like Annika Sorenstam or Lorena Ochoa won’t be winning tournaments just by showing up. They need to bring their “A” Game as it were.

I wrote about just this line of thinking for WorldGolf.com Magazine. And the comments that came in were expected, but something did occur to me - a great deal of them are just plain using false rhetoric.

In sports, particularly in sports in the U.S., winning matters. For some reason, however, when it comes to South Koreans on the LPGA Tour, personality is what’s really important, if you listen to many WorldGolf.com readers and others. Just being good is not enough, they need to speak the language fluently and have “personality.” The overall contention then is that South Korean golfers are bad for the LPGA because they aren’t exciting enough for American viewers.

I call BS.

I won’t go so far as calling racism, but I understand why others would. Because the fact is this - South Koreans are unappreciated and unpopular on the LPGA Tour to some because they’re different. They look different. They are from a completely different culture, and they speak a completely different language. It has very little to do with personality or speaking skills.

Think about it. How exciting is Phil Mickelson off the course? Or Jim Furyk? How exciting is Morgan Pressel, Sorenstam or Ochoa? Winning and contending is what makes them exciting. Look at the British Open, Andres Romero was as exciting a golfer that existed on the planet that final Sunday. How’s his English?

Say what you will, but the whole “South Korean Golfers don’t have enough personality” meme has become an urban legend. All other athletes in the U.S. are judged on wins and losses, but for some reason, the women from South Korea need to be able to juggle and do stand-up routines as well as contend and win.

Maybe in the end, the influx of South Koreans will really hurt the LPGA. But it hasn’t happened yet. And if it does, it won’t be because they don’t have enough personality. It will be much deeper than that.

–WKW