The LPGA Tour boasts players from all over the world, and it wants all of them to be able to speak English.

The LPGA will require players to speak English starting in 2009, with players who have been LPGA members for two years facing suspension if they can't pass an oral evaluation of English skills. The rule is effective immediately for new players.

"Why now? Athletes now have more responsibilities and we want to help their professional development," deputy commissioner Libba Galloway told The Associated Press. "There are more fans, more media and more sponsors. We want to help our athletes as best we can succeed off the golf course as well as on it."

The tour held a mandatory meeting with South Koreans last Wednesday at the Safeway Classic to inform them of the new policy, which was first reported by Golfweek magazine. There is no such rule on the PGA Tour.

There are 121 international players from 26 countries on the LPGA Tour, including 45 players from South Korea.

The South Koreans were informed of the rule, however LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens has not given them — or anyone — a written explanation, Galloway said.

But the message already appears to be lost in translation. The magazine said every South Korean player it interviewed believed she would lose her card — not be suspended — if she failed the English evaluation.

Galloway said the LPGA is a "global tour and is not targeting any specific player or country."

BASKETBALL

TISDALE'S LEG AMPUTATED

Former NBA player Wayman Tisdale had part of his right leg amputated Monday because of bone cancer.

Tisdale, 44, revealed on his Web site that the surgery was scheduled for Monday in Oklahoma City.

"Everything went well," Tisdale's wife, Regina, told The Associated Press last night.

Tisdale, a 6-foot-9 Tulsa native, who was a two-time All-American at Oklahoma before spending 12 seasons in the NBA, first learned he had cancerous cyst below his right knee after he broke his leg in a fall at his home in Los Angeles on Feb. 8, 2007.

EX-BLAZER DIES

Former Portland Trail Blazers center Kevin Duckworth has died. He was 44.

Duckworth was scheduled to hold a basketball clinic in Oregon when he died Monday night. The cause of death was to be determined by a medical examiner, but the Lincoln County sheriff's office said there was no indication of foul play.

SWIMMING

SURGERY FOR TORRES

Five-time Olympian Dara Torres may appear ageless, but she has endured her share of physical problems in the past year leading up to the Beijing Olympics.

The 41-year-old from Parkland, Fla., is scheduled to undergo shoulder surgery today in Boynton Beach. It will be her third surgery in 10 months.

Dr. Joseph Chalal of Performance Orthopedics of the Palm Beaches will repair a partial tear in her right shoulder.

In November 2007, Torres had surgery on her right shoulder to remove a bone spur that was digging into her rotator cuff. Two months later, she had minor knee surgery.