Golfer says comments
were not racial slursJan Stephenson, here for a tourney,
explains her remarks on Asians
Jan Stephenson knew something was wrong the minute her bungalow telephone started ringing at 4:30 yesterday morning.
Calls from many major media outlets across the country sought a comment on her remarks that Asians are killing the LPGA Tour, not what it was like to be the first woman playing in a Champions Tour event.
"I turned my phone off," Stephenson said last night.
Her managing partner, C.J. Roberts, said he lost count at 14 before deciding enough was enough for one day.
"I was so churned up this morning. I was so upset, I wouldn't read the articles (that appeared in several major newspapers yesterday morning). I was absolutely devastated. They're saying that I am racially prejudiced. I was, like, insulted. That's totally incorrect."
But you can hardly blame news organizations for wanting to know what the three-time major winner from Australia was thinking when she made various remarks about the Asians' impact on the LPGA.
"This is probably going to get me in trouble, but the Asians are killing our tour," Stephenson said for the November issue of Golf Magazine that hits newsstands Tuesday.
Four of this year's top six money winners on the LPGA are Asian.
"Their lack of emotion, their refusal to speak English when they can speak English. They rarely speak."
Stephenson was most upset at the idea that it was taken as a racial slur and said as much many times during a rambling interview following yesterday's opening round at the Turtle Bay Championship in Kahuku. She shot an 80 and trails the leaders by 12 shots.
"I actually tried to call (Golf Magazine after reading a review) and say that 'killing' was the wrong word," Stephenson said to a small gathering of reporters. "I said for that same article that the Asians are beautiful, they're talented. But you must support the tour and do whatever it takes.
"It's come out of a totally different light. My quotes are (accurate), but I also said a lot of good things," she said. "But the things that I think were bothering me, I see the attendance at our pro-am parties. And I see them go in, get their names ticked off and sneak out the back. They don't do what they're supposed to do.
"You shouldn't have to police it. I'm taking attendance and I see it. The people who do the right thing, the Nancy Lopezes of this world who go to pro-am parties and support it. Annika Sorenstam is a very private person, but as a top player, she knows what has to be done," she said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jan Stephenson watched a tee shot during the first round of the Turtle Bay Championship yesterday in Kahuku. Stephenson, who became the first woman to play on the Champions Tour, said Asians are "killing" the LPGA Tour. Her comments appear in an article in the November edition of Golf Magazine, due out Tuesday.
Stephenson pointed out that her partners in Jan Stephenson Inc. are Asian and that she's trying to hire two Asian women to promote her new clothing line.
"So obviously it's not a racial issue with me in the least," Stephenson said emphatically. "That's the part that's actually insulting to me. I'm trying to do clinics with Michelle Wie. I'm excited to be doing that. For them to turn around and say this is a racial issue is really, really insulting.
"Yes, I'm very surprised (by the furor). There are a lot of good things I say about the golf tour (in the Golf Magazine article), about the LPGA, about the players," she said. "I chided these girls, not because they are Asian. They're the top players. They're the ones on the leaderboards that everybody keeps saying to me, 'Who are they?' It's the LPGA's responsibility to market them. But if these girls won't be marketed, what are you going to do?"
Several members of the Champions Tour were asked to comment on what Stephenson said, but weren't interested in being embroiled in the controversy. Defending champion Hale Irwin, who shares the first-round lead, refused to comment.
"I'm not getting in that viper pit," Irwin said.
He added that he had no problem that Stephenson, 51, was the first woman to play in an official senior event.
Currently living in Windemere, Fla., Stephenson has won 16 LPGA tournaments, including three majors. She has earned more than $3 million in her career and called playing in this week's Champions Tour event a publicity stunt to help promote senior women's golf.
"This might turn it around," Stephenson said. "This might make them aware. This might bring it all to a head. And I'm not taking those comments back. I just resent the fact it was (interpreted as) a racial slur because I certainly didn't mean that when I said it. What I mean is, they need to learn to love the LPGA."
