South Korean members’ experiences on the LPGA Tour: The first decade after Se Ri Pak's appearance in 1998

Abstract

This study explored the experiences and perceptions of South Korean players on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour with respect to stereotyping and discrimination. Specifically, we investigated South Korean Tour members’ perspectives about interactions with their fellow golfers, LPGA officials, and members of the media. A combination of group and individual interviewers with 11 South Korean women who played on the LPGA Tour were conducted, and data were analysed using Hatch’s nine-step inductive analysis method. Researchers identified six themes based on patterns in participants’ responses regarding their experiences. These themes included: (a) inconsistent enforcement of rules regarding use of native language during tournament play; (b) inconsistent enforcement of rules regarding interactions with parents; (c) lack of English fluency impact upon pro-am experiences; (d) limited media coverage; and (e) lack of English fluency limiting self-advocacy. Participants perceived that their race and lack of English fluency impacted their overall experiences, in particular the treatment they received from other tour members, tour officials, and the media. Participants’ perspectives demonstrate the prevalence of the “yellow peril” and “perpetual foreigner” stereotypes during this era of the LPGA Tour.

Keywords

LPGA Tour South Korean professional golfers stereotyping racial discrimination sports globalization

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bae W (2012) Investigation of Korean female golfers’ success factors on the LPGA Tour from 1998 to 2007. The Sports Journal 15(1): 1–19.

Blauvelt

(2003) Stephenson says Asian players hurt LPGA. USA Today , 10 October, C-13.

Claussen

(2010) The LPGA’s English proficiency rule: An-e-yo, Kamsa-Hamnida. Journal of Legal Aspects Sport 20: 135–150.

Creswell JW and Poth CN (2016). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches. London, UK: Sage Publications.

ESPN (2008) LPGA Tour will suspend memberships if players don’t learn English. Available at: https://www.espn.com/golf/news/story?id=3553888 (accessed 28 March 2023).

Fabos B (2001) Forcing the fairytale: Narrative strategies in figure skating competition coverage. Sport in Society 4(2): 185–212.

Fong

(2002) The Contemporary Asian American Experience: Beyond the Model Minority. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Golf Digest (2019) Hank Haney weighed in on a Korean named Lee winning the U.S. Women’s Open. It didn’t go perfectly. Available at: https://www.golfdigest.com/story/hank-haney-weighed-in-on-a-korean-named-lee-winning-the-us-womens-open-it-didnt-go-perfectly (accessed 28 March 2023).

Hartsock

NCM

(1987) The feminist standpoint: developing the ground for a specifically feminist historical materialism. In: Harding

(eds) Feminism and Methodology. Bloomington, ID: Indiana University Press, pp.157–180.

10.

Hatch

(2002) Doing Qualitative Research in Education Settings. New York: State University of New York Press.

11.

Kawai

(2005) Stereotyping Asian Americans: the dialectic of the model minority and the yellow peril. Howard Journal of Communications 16(2): 109–130.

12.

Kessler

(2003) GolfTalk: Jan Stephenson. Golf Magazine , 1 November.

13.

Kim

Walkosz

Iverson

(2006) USA Today’s coverage of the top women golfers, 1998–2001. Howard Journal of Communications 17(4): 307–321.

14.

Kim

(2012) Producing Korean women golfers on the LPGA Tour: representing gender, race, nation and sport in a transnational context . PhD Thesis, University of Toronto, Canada.

15.

Kim

Wang

Deng

, et al. (2011) Accent, perpetual foreigner stereotype, and perceived discrimination as indirect links between English proficiency and depressive symptoms in Chinese American adolescents. Developmental Psychology 47(1): 289–301.

16.

Kwon

(2006) Se Ri Pak, golf, and nationalism: unnatural articulations in the context of IMF. Korean Journal of Sociology of Sport 19(1): 101–116.

17.

Kwon

Kim

(2006) Globalizing LPGA, the international division of sports labor, and women’s golf in Korea. Korean Journal of Sport Science 17(1): 95–108.

18.

Ladies Professional Golf Association (2022a) LPGA comes back stronger than ever with 2021 tour schedule. Available at: www.lpga.com/news/2020/lpga-comes-back-stronger-than-ever-with-2021-tour-schedule (accessed 11 November 2022).

19.

Ladies Professional Golf Association (2022b) Official money. Available at: https://www.lpga.com/statistics/money/official-money (accessed 12 November 2022).

20.

Lapchick

(2006) Promise to prominence for Asian athletes. Available at: sports.espn.go.com/espn.news/story?ie=2449595 (accessed 2 May 2015).

21.

Lavelle

(2011) One of these things is not like the others: linguistic representations of Yao Ming in NBA game commentary. International Journal of Sport Communication 4(1): 50–69.

22.

Lee

Joo

(2005) The portrayal of Asian Americans in mainstream magazine ads: an update. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 82: 654–671.

23.

Lee

(1996) Unraveling the ‘Model Minority’ Stereotype: Listening to Asian American Youth. New York: Teacher's College Press.

24.

Leung

(2013) Jeremy Lin’s model minority problem. Contexts 12(3): 52–56.

25.

Maguire

(1996) Blade runners: Canadian migrants, ice hockey, and the global sports process. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 20(3): 335–360.

26.

Marchetti

(1993) Romance and the ‘Yellow Peril’: Race, Sex, and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

27.

Mayeda

(1999) From model minority to economic threat: media portrayals of Major League Baseball pitchers Hideo Nomo and Hideki Irabu. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 23(2): 203–217.

28.

Miller

Rowe

McKay

, et al. (2003) The over-production of US sports and the new international division of cultural labor. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 38(4): 427–440.

29.

New York Times (2003a) Asian golfers at home in LPGA. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/01/sports/golf-asian-golfers-at-home-in-lpga.html (accessed 9 October 2022).

30.

New York Times (2003b) Stephenson apologizes for remarks on Asians. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/12/sports/golf-stephenson-apologizes-for-remarks-on-asians.html (accessed 2 October 2022).

31.

New York Times (2006) South Korea becomes new face of LPGA. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/sports/golf/06lpga.html (accessed 10 October 2022).

32.

Paek

Shah

(2003) Racial ideology, model minorities, and the ‘not-so-silent partner’: stereotyping of Asian Americans in U.S. magazine advertising. Howard Journal of Communications 14: 225–243.

33.

Park

Gabbadon

Chernin

(2006) Naturalizing racial differences through comedy: Asian, black, and white views on racial stereotypes in rush hour 2. Journal of Communication 56: 157–177.

34.

Shin

Nam

(2004) Culture, gender roles, and sport: the case of Korean players on the LPGA Tour. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 28(3): 223–244.

35.

Sung H, Yang YA and Kwon KD (2018) Female Korean golfers in the LPGA tour: Positive and negative outcomes. Asian Journal of Women’s Studies 24(1): 106–127.

36.

Swigonski

(1993) Feminist standpoint theory and the questions of social work research. Affilia 8(2): 171–183.

37.

Takagi

(1992) The Retreat from Race: Asian-American Admissions and Racial Politics. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

38.

The Korea Times (2008) LPGA rescinds plan for English requirement. Available at: https://koreatimes.co.kr/www/special/2008/09/600_30655.html# (accessed 28 March 2023).

39.

Wong

Lai

Nagasawa

, et al. (1998) Asian Americans as a model minority: self-perceptions and perceptions by other racial groups. Sociological Perspectives 41: 95–118.

40.

Yuen

Chin

Deo

, et al. (2005) Asian Pacific Americans in Prime Time: Lights, Camera and Little Action. Washington, DC: The National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium.

41.

Zhang

(2010) Asian Americans beyond the model minority stereotype: the nerdy and the left out. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 3(1): 20–37.