LPGA's Asian golfers lift silence on racism risks

ATLANTA (Georgia) • Players of Asian descent have won eight of the past 10 Women's PGA Championships, but there is nothing cookie cutter about the winners.

They include Feng Shanshan of China, who has worn tailored cow print pants to reflect her fun-loving personality, and Park Sung-hyun of South Korea, who had a Korean word on her bag that translated to "I am different".

More than five dozen Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are also LPGA Tour members, more than any league or tour in North American professional sports.

Their convergence on the Atlanta Athletic Club this week for the third women's Major of the season throws into stark relief both their ascendancy and ancestry.

The golf course is roughly 15 minutes from two of the three massage businesses where eight people, six of them Asian women, were fatally shot in March in a crime that encapsulates the escalating violence against Asians in America during the pandemic.

The rise of anti-Asian hatred and bias has jolted the players out of their silence.

For years, these women have endured microaggressions about their names, their appearance, and even their success.

At a time when Asians have been scapegoated in American communities for the spread of the coronavirus, players of Asian descent who show no fear on the golf course have grown uneasy, and outraged, enough that they are speaking out about what it means, and how it feels, to be Asian in the United States right now.

"I'm scared every time I see the news that it could happen to me," said Tseng Ya-ni, a two-time Women's PGA champion and the first player from Taiwan to become the world No. 1.

Tseng, 32, was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2012, but in 2021, she feels helpless.

At home in Taiwan, her family also frets. "Every time they see the news they say, 'Are you okay there?'" she said.

Nine-time LPGA Tour winner Choi Na-yeon, one of its 25 members from South Korea, has in the past travelled to events in America accompanied by her mother. But she advised her not to bother coming to the US for her tournaments this year, even if, or as, travel restrictions are loosened.

"I was thinking it's not safe for her to be alone when I'm focusing on practice," Choi said. "She can't speak English, so she'd be stuck in the hotel because I wouldn't want her going out."

According to a national report released by Stop AAPI Hate, 6,603 incidents of anti-Asian violence, harassment and discrimination were reported to the organisation in the previous 12 months ending March 31. Verbal harassment (65.2 per cent), shunning (18.1 per cent) and physical assault (12.6 per cent) led the recorded incidents.

After the March shooting, the LPGA Tour released a statement in support of the AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) community and Choi received an internal e-mail, which she said was sent to all the players, advising them to be careful when venturing outside the Tour bubble at all tournaments.

In March, Mike Whan, the departing LPGA Tour commissioner, said there had been isolated incidents involving Asian players away from tournament venues over the years, including some in which the Tour's security detail had to get involved.

The Covid-19 protocols in place during the past year have provided a protective membrane. Players have been prohibited from dining or socialising outside the tournament grounds or their accommodation and tournaments have had few, if any, spectators.

But their environments are not airtight, and pandemic protocols are easing, increasing interaction between the players and the public.

The players find themselves distracted by worries about the safety of their loved ones - and of themselves.

Mina Harigae, 31, a four-time California Women's Amateur champion from California whose parents are Japanese, said: "I'll be honest. I got so scared I went online and bought a self-defence stick."

NYTIMES