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#11 Carolyn Bivens

November 30, 2008
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Bivens contends inaction will reduce non-English speakers' earning power.

Early on she was given a contract extension, and in June she touted the tour's assuming ownership of the McDonald's LPGA Championship. But Bivens' year hit several speed bumps in the second half. The Fields Open in Hawaii and the Ginn Tribute in Charleston, S.C., said they wouldn't be back in '09. ADT made a similar call. In August irate Korean players leaked word the tour was imposing an English-proficiency standard next year that would revoke playing privileges for non-compliance. The tour backed off, but only after Bivens defended the policy, at first balking at the board's unanimous vote to abandon it. Unclear is the response of Seoul Broadcasting System, sponsor of the SBS Open and, in the rights it pays to televise LPGA events in Korea, the tour's single-largest revenue stream.