Controversial comments tee off Asian golf rivals
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
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Stephenson, no stranger to controversy, caused an international furor when excerpts from an article in the November edition of Golf Magazine, due out Tuesday, were published in USA Today.
Stephenson was quoted saying, "Asians are killing our (LPGA) tour" with "their lack of emotion" and "refusal to speak English when they can speak English."
Stephenson also criticized Asian players for ignoring pro-am partners and "sneaking out" of pro-am parties, and suggested the LPGA might need a "quota system."
She later clarified "Asians" to mean the Koreans so prevalent this year in the upper echelon of the LPGA. Four of the top six players on the LPGA money list this year are of Asian descent. Se Ri Pak, Grace Park and Hee-Won Han are Korean, and Candie Kung is Taiwanese. Asians have won nine LPGA tournaments this year.
Stephenson said in a post-round news conference yesterday that she was surprised her comments were presented as racist, but she did not back down, saying the Korean golfers need to be part of the marketing of the LPGA.
Reaction to her comments was swift.
Sweden's Annika Sorenstam, playing in the Samsung World Championship at The Woodlands, Texas, told the Houston Chronicle that Stephenson's comments were "pathetic."
"I think the LPGA is stronger than ever, and I think as an international member it's important to have international players because it shows this is a world tour.
"I totally disagree with what she said. It's sad that it was said, and I enjoy playing with Se Ri (Pak). All the Asian players have done a lot for the tour and raised the level of golf, which is why we're here. It's pretty much a pathetic comment."
Park, who was born in Seoul and grew up in Hawai'i and Arizona, also took exception to the remarks.
"She has her own opinion. I just don't like the fact she picked on Asians and I'm Asian," Park told the Associated Press. "She should come and play with me. I have great emotions. She made her points, and if that's how she feels, well. ... Everybody has their own opinions, and Jan stated her own."
Se Ri Pak told the AP she did not think Stephenson meant what she said. "There are a lot of talented players coming from all different kinds of countries," Pak said. "The LPGA is getting better. I think it's a better thing for the LPGA."
Stephenson, 51, is playing in the Turtle Bay Championship this weekend on a sponsor's exemption. She is the first woman to play in an official Champions Tour (50 and older) event, and is tied for 74th after an 8-over-par 80 in yesterday's first round.
In a state where Asian Americans make up the largest ethnic group — 41 percent — Stephenson started her day at 4:30 a.m. She took some 15 calls from international media outlets and sponsors wanting to know "what I had done," Stephenson said. "I was like, what have I done?"
The Australian said she was "absolutely devastated" by the reaction. She admitted the excerpts were accurate, but was surprised that people perceived them as racist and annoyed that many positive statements were left out.
"I'm not taking those comments back, I just resent the fact that they were presented in a racist way," she told Golf Channel. "I certainly didn't mean that. What I mean is that they need to help, they need to love the LPGA. They need to remember that this is their future.
"Right now the LPGA is for them, and they need to do what it takes. ... I've been there and I know what it takes."
Stephenson said she had asked the magazine to retract her quote about "killing the tour" because she "didn't mean it that way." But while she tried to clarify the situation last night, she hardly backed down.
"It's not because they're Asian but because they are the top players," Stephenson said. "They are the ones on the leader board that everybody keeps saying, 'Who are they?' It's the LPGA's responsibility to market itself, but if these girls won't be marketed, what are you going to do?"
Three-time senior Player of the Year Hale Irwin said he refused to "step into the viper's nest." But Dana Quigley, another co-leader, jumped in with both feet.
"If the Asians are ruining the tour, it's because they're beating them. They are damn good. Then they've got to find a better way to market the tour, because those are the best players in the world now — the Asians — and they've got to be playing," said Quigley, later making Sorenstam an exception. "You can't sit there and blame them for it. You've got to find a better way to market it and bring in a lot of Asian sponsorships."
There is also Michelle Wie, Hawai'i's Korean-American 14-year-old who has popped up on men's tours and everyone's golf radar the past few years. As the sun went down on another strange Jan Stephenson day, she brought up Hawai'i's gifted teen. "I am a little concerned for America's future," Stephenson said. "The colleges are full of international players. Thank God we've got Michelle Wie."
Stephenson's beliefs that the LPGA needs to "promote sex" and that homosexuality hurts the tour have put her in the public eye in the past, and were included in the Golf Magazine article. But it was her latest comments that struck the loudest chord.
Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043.
