On Aug. 20, the South Korean members of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) gathered for a meeting during the Safeway Classic in Portland, Ore. Their attendance was mandatory. Along with their parents, translators and agents, the members listened as Commissioner Carolyn Bivens announced a new policy: Effective 2009, all members of at least two years’ standing would be required to demonstrate basic proficiency in English and pass an oral language evaluation. Members who failed the test would face suspension.

South Korean golfers Jeong Jang, 28, and Seon Hwa Lee, 22, were present at the meeting. Though both speak English, they disagreed with the punitive nature of the policy, says their agent J.S. Kang, who spoke on their behalf.

“From our players’ standpoints, they believe that it is important to learn English and to continue to improve their English,” said Kang, vice president of Sterling Sports Management, the company that also represents South Korean members (and twin sisters) Aree and Naree Song. But, “they all thought the penalty was ... an overreaction.”

Jang and Lee also regretted that Bivens chose to inform them of the policy at a meeting that only South Korean members were required to attend. (According to an LPGA member, the other international players were informed of the policy the next day through memos posted in their locker rooms.) “No other countries were there,” said Kang. “And they felt that would lead to a perception that the policy was unfair.”

The players were right. Five days later, Golfweek magazine reported that Bivens disclosed the policy during a mandatory meeting for South Korean members. The leak sparked a frenzy of media reports implicating that the policy was discriminatory against foreign players, particularly the South Koreans who represent the Tour’s largest international group. Elected officials and community leaders quickly spearheaded protests. Title sponsors such as State Farm urged the LPGA to take a second look at what they felt was an unnecessary policy. Civil rights organizations speculated it could violate state and federal law.

The public relations blunder left the LPGA scrambling to formulate explanations, and on Sept. 5, they announced that the penalty provisions would be rescinded, and that a revised plan would be announced by the end of the year. In a statement, Bivens said, “There are other ways to achieve our shared objective of supporting and enhancing the business opportunities for every Tour player. In that spirit, we will continue communicating with our diverse Tour players to develop a better alternative.”

The LPGA declined KoreAm’s repeated requests to provide additional comment.

Now, more than a month since the LPGA introduced its short-lived policy, the dust has hardly settled. What began as a general meeting announcement in Portland has quickly escalated into a hotbed of controversy that echoes the nation’s long-standing dispute over race, culture and language.

And it’s a debate that has the ethnic Korean members of the LPGA arguing both sides.