Gordon with Isao Aoki and Gordon's son Thomas at the Senior British Open, 2003, played at Turnberry.

The Power of Language

There is a buzz of expectation in the international media about a young female Japanese golfer by the name of Ai Miyazato. Needless to say, she has been an icon in Japan for two years already and enjoyed a stellar amateur career before that. Yet, until she started to succeed on the international stage the radar screens of the non-Japanese media remained blank. Nothing new. Cultural differences aside it is all to do with language, or, for the time being, her current (apparent) deficiency in a particular language; English.

Assuming she follows the detailed strategy that has (presumably) been mapped out for her by the not inconsiderable team of family members and others who trail her everywhere, English will have been mastered by the time she appears on the LPGA Tour; possibly as early as 2006 should she be able to by-pass their qualifying school. Those advising, I assume, will have learned from the mistakes of the past in this regard, most noticeably her countryman Jumbo Ozaki, a blue whale in his home pond but a minnow internationally principally on account of an insular approach to cross-cultural understanding and communication.

Indeed, turn back the clock nearly thirty years to 1976 and The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, and Miyazato's closest parallel might be found. There, a swash-buckling 19-year-old Spaniard by the name of Severiano Ballesteros came within a brain cell or two of winning. Only inexperience and his naturally cavalier approach prevented him from doing so. Johnny Miller played well to lift the Claret Jug, admittedly, but had Ballesteros given a little more thought to position off the tee there was no-one who could have beaten him.

The teenager was incredibly charismatic and there was immense and unknown potential. Properly guided, he could become the world's best golfer, but�c�c.And here lies the issue that haunted Ballesteros for many years, and may still today - he was unable to communicate by himself to the English language media. Even when he could, a few years later, it was monosyllabic, severely limited and often misconstrued. He was taken advantage of, and he hated it, as was evidenced on many occasions during a tumultuous career.

Mark McCormack tried to sign him as a client in the development period, but failed. Perhaps he set the language pre-condition bar too high? In any event, Ballesteros went his own way, closeted by family and 'friends'; it cost him a great deal. Of course he won millions of dollars in prize money and became a champion several times over, but he missed the opportunity to win more Major championships and rake in millions in endorsement deals that could have flowed his way had he been comfortable with the English language and, consequently, life in the United States. After all, three of golf's four Major championships are played in the United Sates and without proper preparation, and therefore time invested in-country, they are very difficult to win.

Shigeki Maruyama is doing very well on anybody's reckoning, but once again he could do so much better internationally if he could master English; for now 'the smile' hides this deficiency. A Major championship is not beyond his grasp but should it happen the endorsement value will be Japan-centric, not international. K.J. Choi is another talent of high quality who has a linguistic mountain to climb, but whilst the money flows in he is very unlikely to strap on his crampons.

On good authority, Michelle Wie is comfortable speaking Japanese as well as Korean and her native American-English. Not only can she play the game more than competently and looks good doing so, she is clearly preparing herself for global endorsement domination. Tiger does well in Japan and Korea, no doubt, but how much better could he do with the language skills apparently being honed by Wie when not studying for grade 10 exams and seeking the perfect golf game. Presumably mandarin will be added to her cultural repertoire should China ever fully embrace golf as a game and not just as a business facilitator and to attract inward investment.

The Asian Tour, that extraordinary confluence of egos, conflicts of interest and marketing hype but very little substance, has stumbled along on weak foundations since its re-birth in 1995, disintegration in 2003 and second awakening the following year. What it has lacked, and one important reason why it will continue to struggle to be any more than a feeder tour or a playground for those never able to make the top flight, is a star player with good communication skills. So many of the other issues could be hidden if one indigenous star with international appeal could be nurtured. Ballesteros did it for the European Tour at a time the (U.S.) PGA Tour was laying its omnipotent foundations.

The LPGA Tour roster of exempt players is littered with girls from Korea and other Asian nations. There was some disquiet amongst the home-based representation that such an influx was hurting the tour because of their lack of communication skills. Probably unfair, but interesting that the issue surfaced in public and had to be addressed by the LPGA board as a matter of high priority. After all, sponsors pay significant amounts of money for the privilege of naming rights to LPGA tournaments. Certainly they want the winner to provide the CNN sound-bite for broadcast in 'more than 210 countries and territories around the world'. "What a thrill to win the [ ] Classic"; not too much to ask, surely?

A picture might paint a thousand words, but in the competitive world of entertainment, and professional golf is no different in this respect from Hollywood or the NBA or NHL or David Copperfield, the characters must engage the paying audience. The skill they portray is one part only of a package. Incomplete and it will diminish the overall value. Tiger is close to being the complete package; Ai Miyazato can aspire to be and perhaps Michelle Wie will be.