Jan Stephenson - Part 1 (The Early Years)

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle.

Mike Gonzalez 0:13

Then it started to Welcome to another edition of FORE the Good of the Game and Bruce Devlin. I'm not sure there's an interview I've been looking forward to more than the one we've got this morning.

Bruce Devlin 0:24

Well, we've got a uh a very special young lady. Uh I first met this young woman when she was 18 years old. She's uh she's been uh one of the greatest imports into the United States as a female golfer, and it is indeed a great pleasure to introduce Lady, Lady Jan Stephenson, a three-time major champion winner. Jan, thanks for joining us. Mike and I look forward, as he said, look forward to interviewing you. Thanks for coming.

Jan Stephenson 0:54

Thank you. It's my pleasure. It's nice to see you again, Bruce. I've known you a long time.

Bruce Devlin 0:59

Yeah, it's been a long time.

Mike Gonzalez 1:01

And we're going to talk a lot about that, I'm sure. Uh, Jan, as we've talked about, what we typically like to do is just uh take a trip down Memory Lane. And Memory Lane will start in Sydney, Australia. Uh, growing up as a young girl and eventually getting acquainted with the game, I'm sure, through your parents. But tell us a little bit about uh uh back in the day.

Jan Stephenson 1:24

Well, a long time ago, my parents were both very athletic. Um my father was um he played cricket for Sydney, so he was at the Sydney Cricket Ground and he played a lot of cricket and then of course rugby in the winter time. And my mother was a really good tennis player and a professional dancer, so I had pretty good genes to start with. And my father was convinced I wanted I was going to be a professional athlete. And so he wanted me to, well, first of all, we started training to be a swimmer because swimming was one of the most popular things for Aussies. And uh, and I and I wanted quite a bit when I was seven and eight, um, playing, I mean, swimming, but I remember when I had to train one day and it was like July, so it's the middle of winter, and I jumped in the water before school to train with my father. My father, you know, took me before school, and and uh I jumped in the water, it was so cold, and I hate cold water. And I was like, I I came right back out and said, I quit swimming. I'm not gonna be a professional swimmer or a for Olympics. And so I said, You've got to find something else because I can't stand the cold water. And so then he said, Well, I maybe you should be a great tennis player. You know, you could be a good tennis player, Margaret Court. You know, we have so many good uh Australian tennis players. I'm thinking back then John Newcomb and a whole bunch of them, Rod Leva.

Mike Gonzalez 2:47

Rod Lever, yeah.

Jan Stephenson 2:48

And he and they were all quite young, and so he said, you know, maybe you'd be a good tennis player. So he started me training with tennis. And we at that time we had a weekend house that my parents had bought a weekender, um, about two hours north of Sydney at the Central Coast, which was a little sleepy was actually probably more of a surf town than anything, but that's where we used to go on our holidays. And so my parents bought a block of land there, and so he would take me to the tennis courts, and then he started playing this new sport called golf. And I was so upset that he wasn't gonna watch me play tennis that I would sneak off and watch play watch golf. And then my parents got really into golf, so they would play all the weekend, and I'd be having to play this tennis, which I didn't really want to do because I wanted to be with them. I I loved, you know, I was with my dad all the time. And so um one right as they were building the house, there were a lot of snakes up in Central Coast because it was pretty much bush back then. And so on Saturdays when my parents would go play the weekend comp, uh, the competition, it was a mixed competition in the afternoon, uh, we were supposed to go to the movie theater. So my brother, who was two years younger than I was, so now I was just turned nine, and he was only seven, I we would be dropped off at the movie theater to go watch movie while they play golf, and then we'd have to walk back to the club after after the movies. But my brother was at that time, because it was a at the country, the there was a like a trailer that would come from the reptile park. And if you caught a live snake that was poisonous, you got money for it, and they counted it by per foot. And my brother was never afraid of snakes. And he said, you know, if we do that, we could make some money rather than go to the movies. And I said, Yes, and I can I can get I can watch golf and and collect golf balls because we're going in the bush. You get the snakes, and I'll get the golf balls and we'll have a lot of money. So we wouldn't go to the movies, we'd sneak off to the golf course and watch golf, and I'd be, I had a stick and I'd be practicing, and my brother, we had um, he had a big shoebox to catch the snakes. And then one day somebody said to my father, I don't know why you're making her play tennis. She has such a good golf swing, and he said, You need tennis. And he went, No, no, she's out here all the time swinging and selling golf balls. So one day, instead of going to play golf, they waited around the corner of the movie theater. And so when we were dropped up at the movies, we'd wait like 10 minutes inside. And then as we'd run around the corner, my father was there and said, You're busted. And said, What is going on? It's so dangerous. And I was like, Well, I really want golf. And he goes, If I let you play golf instead of tennis, you've got to promise you'll never change sports again because otherwise you're running out of time to be a professional athlete. And I went, Okay, I promise golf is it. It's the last time. And so I started playing golf, they you know, cut some clubs, which is typical. And my parent, my dad worked for the government now then for the transport department. So and my mom worked at a um a dress shop. So they took one of the old, you know, you'd know Bruce, you know, when they have like to Koji or to Bondi Beach, it was on a big canvas roll and they'd roll it where they were going next. So they would break all the time. So my brought, my father brought an old one that was broken, and my mother made me up a golf bag. And um, we got some clubs cut down, and I got some lessons, and I loved it. So I'd play in the junior golf course court, I'd play in the junior comps in the morning. I wasn't allowed to play in the afternoon ones yet, but then I'd get to play in the Sunday comp. So I loved it. And uh and my my brother started at the same time, but he wanted to play other sports, he wanted to play basketball and football, and he didn't like that I had to go before school and after school and practice golf. He wanted to go with the boys in the bus. So I um I got hooked on it right then.

Bruce Devlin 7:04

Well, that's interesting.

Mike Gonzalez 7:05

Now, Bruce, we've heard a lot of our guests talk about having little side business collecting golf balls as kids to make money, but a side business collecting snakes for money, that's a first for us.

Bruce Devlin 7:15

That's right.

Jan Stephenson 7:16

Yeah, and I'm still scared to death of snakes. I when I was down there last month and I was hiking, and my brother said, just make a lot of noise. He's because actually he became, even though he worked for the fire department, he became the snake catcher when people would say they found a snake in their house or they'd and he would actually go and catch the snakes. He's still never afraid of them.

Mike Gonzalez 7:34

Oh boy. So you probably had your own little bag of shag balls, I would think, at some point, huh?

Jan Stephenson 7:40

Oh yeah, I I loved practice, I always have, and and uh we always had you know golf balls, and back then it's it's still one of the things that I do that I that my caddies all laugh at is that when I'm on a par three, I would never news, use a whole tea. I always look for broken teas because we had bags. I don't know if you did it, Bruce, but we'd have a bag of broken teas for par threes and a bag of regular teas. And of course, practice bowls that you know, with if we if there was water, we'd have to use an old bowl. And so it was kind of funny because I still don't use an I feel really guilty if I take a whole tea on a par three.

Mike Gonzalez 8:19

I may be one worse. You know, they've got these martini teas now, right? These sort of plastic martini teas. And I've got little short tea. Well, yeah, my daughter buys them for me every Christmas. I probably have a lifetime supply now, but you you got a little short plastic one or a long one for the for the driver. And the other day I'm playing secession, Bruce. I left one on the ninth T, right? So I tee off on 10. It's it's it's par fives going opposite directions. I actually ran back over to 9T to pick up my golf team.

Bruce Devlin 8:51

When you got to the top.

Jan Stephenson 8:52

I understand that. They're very expensive. I've I have so many teas. In fact, because when you play all these events, you know, you get teas, you know, when you play a champ tournament, you get so many of these bright teas with all of the you know, the logo of the of the tournaments. I would bring them all home, and now I sell them at my actually it's a dollar donation for 12 T's to go to the charity because I have so many teas.

Bruce Devlin 9:15

That's a good idea, actually. Great idea.

Mike Gonzalez 9:18

So who was teaching you the finer points of the game at this young age?

Jan Stephenson 9:23

We had a a pro, he actually only just passed away. Um his name was Cole Barnes. I don't know, and uh he he taught me the the the you know the first things about golf, and then I practiced a lot. He always put me in against the boys, and then my dad was the captain of the club. So he put um he he would put uh floodlights up on the putting green, and so all the money I was making from selling golf balls, I would play skins game against the boys at putting. The girls never wanted to do it, so I played against the boys.

Bruce Devlin 9:56

Why not?

Jan Stephenson 9:57

That's probably how I got to be such a good putter. In fact, I'm a better putter now than when I was on tour.

Bruce Devlin 10:02

Oh, well, that's interesting.

Mike Gonzalez 10:04

Conventional, conventional grip, or did you go with one of those modified claw things?

Jan Stephenson 10:11

My short game is probably better only because I after I got mugged, I lost so much power. But and I decided that was when I was going to be a a a better short game because even though I, you know, I was always known for my ball striking and my iron play, and when I putted well, I won. So I really never worried about it. But as soon as I when I got in the car wreck in 87 and I broke the ribs in my in my left side, uh Nicholas told me that instead of trying to play with broken ribs, why don't you why don't you take off till they heal? You shouldn't be. I was trying to, I was actually did an exhibition with him, and well, we were taped we were getting taped up, and then I mean with the microphones, and he goes, Why have you s why do you have so much tape around your ribs? And it's like because they're broken and they won't heal. Every time I hit balls, they separate. And he goes, You can't play like that. So I he made me say, he said, you need to take two months off or however long it takes to heal the ribs, and take the sh the weakest part of your game and fix it while you're waiting. So, which was my short game. So I took two and a half months off, even and I was number one at the time, I didn't really want to do it, but I was I was really struggling getting better. And so I took two and a half months off and I became a really good putter. And all I did was put, put, putt. And then I came back and won, finished second, the third, last tournament, and then won the next the last two. So it was worth it. And then after that, I was a great, a good putter.

Mike Gonzalez 11:38

Yeah. So back to being that was in 87.

Jan Stephenson 11:41

So I went most of my career not being a great putter.

Mike Gonzalez 11:44

Well, you know, we just had a guest, uh, Bruce, uh and I don't remember who it was now, uh uh, but mentioning we were talking about, you know, uh uh Kathy Whitworth's passing and talking about Mickey Wright, and the subject Mickey Wright came up. They said, you know what? If Mickey Wright had been able to putt, she'd have won 200 tournaments.

Jan Stephenson 12:02

Yeah, her short game was the worst part of her game, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 12:05

Yeah. So so back to the young age, and uh this has come up a lot with the many of our guests. It's interesting, sort of the common threads you you hear through talking to all these great champions. Tell us about uh how you felt about the solitude of the game of golf as a youngster.

Jan Stephenson 12:24

Well, I was always a bit of a loner anyway. If I wasn't around my parents, I didn't really want to be anyone and I with anyone else. And I it was hard because none of the girls wanted to play against me because I beat them, so I spent most of my time playing against the boys, and I but I went to an all-girls school, so um they didn't do and it was an academic school, so they didn't do any sport there. So it was it was easy for me to just when we got up to the central coast, up to Shelley Beach, that um I could I'd play 54 holes a day on the weekend. I just loved it. So I just would play around and around and around and around. I just loved it.

Mike Gonzalez 13:04

Yeah, it just seemed to be a common thread. A lot of our a lot of our greats that we've talked to about uh the appeal of just uh having that time to themselves to think and focus and enjoy practicing on their own, hitting balls, shagging, you know, picking up their balls. Somebody somebody just recently talked about how much fun it was just going out and picking up their balls. I think that was Podrick Harrington talked about that.

Bruce Devlin 13:25

Yeah, that's true.

Jan Stephenson 13:26

Oh no, I hated that part. I didn't like that part. You know, my my uh after school we'd have to, but my father didn't like if I'd hit them very quickly. He'd say that you scott you can't hit sausages. You've got to really, you know, really know what you're working on because I hated hitting the balls, so I would take my time on that. But uh there's something about it. I mean, I still don't really care for social golf when I have to play with my friends. They don't understand it. I'd much rather hit balls and send it to my coach and go on video and look at it and compare it. And with all the great new stuff we have now, it's fun to do. But yeah, I I don't like to play social golf.

Bruce Devlin 14:04

So going back to uh the early days, there I th I think a common common thing that we've seen, Jen, is that you mentioned about uh you know your tennis and and the other sports, but most most of our great players enjoyed the team sort side of sport, but apparently you're not you're not one that enjoyed that.

Jan Stephenson 14:26

Oh no, I didn't like team sport because I hated having to rely on someone else. So all my sports were pretty much individual. You know, I mean, even I actually tried to quit golf um when I was like 13 because I would after I'd I'd play in the junior golf in the mornings, I still wasn't allowed to play in the afternoon, the the adults comp. And so my brother and I would go to the beach, and he was even though he was only like 11 or 12, he was a really good surfer. And I now I think he was only like 10 because I was 12. And um and I would borrow everybody's surfboard and and um the boys might have been a little bit older, like 14, 15. So I would borrow their surfboards in the afternoon and surf. And I'd love that too, because I was already a really good swimmer from when I swam when I was seven. And uh I I came back and they said, you know, you're such a good surfer, you could be a professional surfboard writer. So I went to my parents and said, This was at towards the end of the summer, I've become so good at surfing that I think I want to be a professional surfboard writer. And my parents were horrified, um, you know, because number one, it's dangerous and there's not much money in it. And but he knew because he had for, you know, because of the way he handled the tennis, where he was like, uh, you know, no, you can't, you've got to pick one sport. And then I went, okay, I'll pick golf. So he knew if he forbid me, you know, to play to surf, that I'd probably, knowing me, want to surf for sure. So he made me a deal, and it was towards the end of the summer anyway, it was probably March. And he said, if you break your handicap by the time you turn 13, which is right before Christmas, my my birthday's on the 22nd of December, he said, I'll buy you a surfboard. And I went, okay. So then, of course, now we've got all winter to go. I can't surf. And all of our competition for golf tournaments was in the winter, and I started winning everything. And then I was practicing so hard so I could break my handicap from I think my handicap was 12, and I had to break it to single figures before I would get the surfboard. So I practiced so hard. And then on my birthday, I broke my handicap to nine. And my father was really upset because now, you know, we'd made this deal and I'd get a surfboard for Christmas for my birthday. And so I broke it, it was a big celebration, and my my dad said, I guess we better pick out a surfboard for you for your crew for Christmas. And I said, No, no, no, I need a sandwich so badly, I can't get out of the buckets. And so apparently my parents said they broke open a bottle of champagne that night when I went to bed because they said we avoided a huge catastrophe.

Mike Gonzalez 17:08

Yeah, probably so. So you're let's say 12.

Jan Stephenson 17:13

I still own like three or four surfboards. I refused to give them up. But as soon as I got here and could afford it, I bought all these surfboards when I had a place over at Cocoa Beach.

Mike Gonzalez 17:22

Ah, interesting. So uh you're 12 or 13 or so, and and I'm just wondering, as a youngster growing up in Australia, what sort of golf you were exposed to outside your own little world at the club? Uh was there golf on television? Were there famous players in Australia that you were able to watch and emulate? What were you exposed to back then?

Jan Stephenson 17:46

Well, back then, uh I was going to school in downtown. When I was at high school, I went to Fort Street High School, which is an academic school, and um it was downtown. So I would, I would actually at lunchtime, I would take the bus down to the Sydney Library. Um and they, because Golf Digest and Golf Magazine were so I think they only had one then, I think it was Golf Digest, it was so expensive. I think it was like $15 for a magazine. But they had it at the Sydney Library, so I would go there at lunchtime and pour through it and see Bruce's name, and I'd see Margie Masters, who was the first woman to go to Australia, and so it was really, and I would look up their scores and see where they were, and it was like that's gonna be me one day. So I I was really fascinated with that because it wasn't as big as obviously the tennis players, and so I would watch what they were doing all the time.

Mike Gonzalez 18:40

Yeah, probably read about Bruce Crampton and uh uh you mentioned bunkers, you must have run across Norman von Neida.

Jan Stephenson 18:49

Of course, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 18:51

His name has come up a lot, you know, as we talk about even to Gary Player and players like that that you know learns their bunker play from uh from Norman.

Jan Stephenson 19:00

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 19:01

So take us through a little bit of your junior career because now it's time to start entering some really serious competitions. Uh 1964, you're 12 years old, and you go on a run in the New South Wales School Girl Championships.

Jan Stephenson 19:16

Yeah, I started winning the School Girls Championship. Uh because I think I won six, and um, it was they always say five, but I actually won six. And it was I was really lucky because even though I was at a school that didn't have any sports, it was all academics, the headmistress was a big golfer, so she would um allow me to take time off to go play in all of the amateur events, and and then so the deal was as long as I did my homework and could keep up with the classes, I was allowed to take off to represent you know my state or go play in all of the national championships. And so um I actually because I was left alone so much, and nobody wanted to room with me because everybody was between 18 and 22 when I was a teenager, I always had a room to myself because nobody wanted to room with me. So they would all go out to wherever, like if we were in South Australia, they'd go to wine tastings, and obviously I couldn't do it. So I got so far ahead on English and history and French because I was reading myself that I finished up getting honors in all of those because I had nothing else to do as to study. I I was I struggle with math because I had to do that on my own. But um it was it was I I you know became even more of a loner. And then as I started winning, I was not popular as a winner with the Ladies Golf Union because my mom, as I said earlier, worked for a dress shop. And I mean she later on became just she went um and became a bookkeeper uh for the man. And his name was Mr. Klein, and he owned a little dress shop in Balmain where we lived. And and um she would I would go up there and pour through all of the the books in Italy on all the latest fashions, and so I would draw everything I wanted, and I could go buy the fabric because I always had money from winning skins games. And um, I would buy the fabric and my mom would make me up outfits. And of course, the the latest golf union hated it because whatever the fashion was. I mean, one time it was gaucho pants. So I showed up at gaucho pants and they wouldn't let me in the clubhouse because then I was like, well, wait a minute, you know, I mean, they have to be everything had to be when you're on your knees, it only could be two inches above your knees, but these were below your knees, but they they would look like pants, and they said, No, you can't come into the Australian, it was one of the the finals, and then it wasn't allowed in Royal Sydney, so then they stopped, they'd banned me from going into the golf to the clubhouse to have lunch. So I really became even like more of a misfit because they wouldn't, they wouldn't, they didn't like what I was doing. They're like, it's not golf clothes, you can't wear that, and so um then the the The media got really behind me because I started winning everything and they wouldn't put me in any of the teams. And so they kept saying that's you know, this is it's it's really, you know, it's not right, and um, you shouldn't be choosing, you know, the wealthier kids, even though Jan's winning. So then there was so much pressure put on them that the ladies' golf union, the Australian golf union put together and said, we're gonna do a series of trials. Rather than it be on personalities, we're going to or golf swings that we don't like or whatever, we're going to do it just by whoever wins the trials that we're going to go down that list. Kind of like you do now with you know, Ryder Cup or President's Cup, and then you only have a couple of choices from the captains. And I wanted to represent my country so badly, and I kept get missing out. They kept deliberately saying, Oh, she's too young, she's different, she's she she's way too young to be representing the country, even though I was winning everything. So they put this trial together, and it was big news in the papers. And it was like, whoever wins the trials is gonna represent the country, and I was so excited. So I played in you know the Australian Open and all of the state championships, and you got points for each one. And um I I won them all. So everyone in the paper is gonna say she's gonna be number one player to represent. And so three years in a row, I won all of the trials and I never got picked.

Bruce Devlin 23:25

Yeah, that's nice.

Jan Stephenson 23:27

And I was really upset, and of course, the media loved it because now I became this controversial figure. And I remember the last the last one that was at the Australian, it was the the New South Wales match play. And I'd already won the New South Wales stroke play, I'd already won um Australian Australian juniors, the state juniors, and so this was the match play for the senior match play. And I was in the finals, and I showed up in the first round, I showed up in in mini pants, in mini short uh mini little mini shorts. Um and they went, this is horrifying. So they said, you can't come in the clubhouse for lunch. So I changed into gaucho pants. And I said, okay, I can come in in these.

Bruce Devlin 24:12

No, you can't come in with it.

Jan Stephenson 24:15

Yeah. So they would not allow me in the clubhouse. So this was the 36 hole finals, and I was already only, I was already three or three up, I think. And I so I couldn't have lunch. And by the time they told me that, and I changed, I had to change in the car, they wouldn't even let me in to go to the toilet. And um and I was so upset that um I had to, my mom had to take me down to the to the street, uh, my parents, and so I could just go to the toilet, they would not let me in the clubhouse at all to go to the toilet, and I've got to play 36 holes. And I've already played 18 without going to the restaurant. So I put my gaucho pants on, and um I was so so pissed off with them. So I'm like, I cannot afford to not win the last the last of the trials. And so I finished up winning 10 and 9.

Mike Gonzalez 25:05

Oh my!

Jan Stephenson 25:05

I was so mad.

Mike Gonzalez 25:07

Oh my.

Jan Stephenson 25:08

And that made it worse because now they still didn't pick me. They made me a non-playing, non-traveling reserve so that they could say, we picked her. And I remember going to the Royal Sydney when they made the announcement of the team, and I drove myself. Obviously, I was 16 or 17, and I was so excited because I knew I'd won, you know, I'd won this the series. The media were like, she's an amazing player, she's gonna represent our country great. And it was um, and I was really excited to go. And I wore like a long dress, I didn't, I didn't, you know, get them all upset. I wore you know very conservative clothes. I drove to Roll Sydney and I was standing standing there when the media role there, and they announced the team, and they went, non-playing, non-traveling reserve is Jan Stevenson, and I started crying, and I couldn't stop crying. I cried then I left, I left after they did that, and then um I I cried all the way home. And I don't cry very often, but I cried all the way home. I got home, I cried in my parents' arms, I cried for a week, and I said, I don't know what I have to do. And so I decided at that time that I would probably um move to England and represent England. I still had never thought about really being pro. I'm gonna move to England because England had already had sent me at the English Golf Union, I think I don't know what they were called golf union, I think it was the RNA. They wrote me a letter and said, Um, we would like you to represent England if you want to, if you want to change your citizenship, we will take you. And so I really considered moving to England because the Australian Golf Union would just would not accept me. And the media, you know, they loved it because I was always in trouble. And it was always front headlines, you know, Jan Wien's another trial, and they turned their back on her. And so it I really had a bad relationship. And so Carrie Packer had said, no, I yeah, by now I'd graduated high school and I'd gotten a scholarship to go to college. Of course, I'd studied so much on my own. And um I didn't know what I was gonna do. So Carrie Packer said, why don't you go play in the British Open? And or the British, I think that it wasn't even open then, I think it was the British amateur. And you can you we're gonna poke you up as a as a journalist. And so they just started Australian Golf Magazine at the time, and so I he I went to University of Sydney for um journalism for a year with with they paid for it, and I I didn't accept the scholarship. I just took that and became a cadet journalist, and so I traveled with um with other magazines, so they didn't want me to just do golf, so then I had to go do race cars, so I had to go down to Bathurst and and interview people from Bathurst, and so I got really into it, I loved it. Then I did um a lot of singers and with the magazines that Carrie owned, and then I got my own column with Australian Golf Magazine, and so that's actually probably when I met you because I think I was working for them at the time.

Bruce Devlin 28:28

That was, that's when you met me, yeah.

Jan Stephenson 28:30

And uh, but anyway, the US the the latest golf union said if you go play in the British, the British uh open, or I guess the women's open, women's amateur, um, we're gonna take your your your amateur status away. And I said, why? I'm I represent the Mirror and Australian magazine. And they said, No, we know you're doing it just to get free um free travel to go play. So we're gonna take your citizenship if you do it. So they tried everything to ruin my life. And so um in 19, I actually called the latest golfs union and um and said, You win, I'm gonna I'm gonna turn pro. And actually when later on when they asked me as as an Australian Open Champion to come to the latest golf union, they were all still there. And I said, you know, I uh in my in my speech, because they were so afraid when I was gonna get up there and tell them how horrible they were, and I said to Mrs. Bridges, who the Pat Bridges is the name of the state open trophy, I said, you know, I have to thank Mrs. Bridges and all of the uh committee, because if it wasn't for you turning me down, I'd probably still be an amateur.

Mike Gonzalez 29:42

Well, something tells me that at that young age there was a little bit of you that relished being a rebel.

Jan Stephenson 29:50

I got used to it. You know, I don't know if people say that because, you know, of course, once I got here, I was a controversial figure too. And I I mean, luckily I probably was used to it, so it wasn't that big a deal. And I and you you do get used to the attention, there's no question. And and I didn't, you know, I didn't obviously I didn't have to wear those clothes. I could have been very conservative, and and even, you know, for a long time I wouldn't wear golf clothes, I would do whatever I designed or whatever you know I had made. I had my clothes made for a long time. Um and so and I represented uh Le Coque Sportit for years, and that was only uh that at that time they only had um stretchy clothes because they were for uh professional or um the bicycle people for you know the front, the all of the bicycle stuff in Europe and tennis, and everything was stretchy, and nothing is stretchy in golf at the time. So they, you know, I and I actually represented that country company. I had to wear their clothes, but they were very tight, stretchy. Now everything's stretchy and tight.

Bruce Devlin 30:54

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 30:54

Yeah, you were ahead of your time, actually, weren't you?

Bruce Devlin 30:57

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 30:58

So uh you're winning, you're winning, you're winning, you're winning. Uh but uh as you described, uh a lot of disappointments in terms of how you were treated and getting chosen for for the the national teams and so forth. I can remember Bruce Podrick Harrington Jan probably spent 10 or 15 minutes having analyzed how committees work and and do their selections because he went through he had the same experience you did. He won everything, he won everything in Ireland, and he gets picked for a GBI team, or should get picked, number one player in the British Isles. Didn't get picked up, didn't get picked. And he he's given a lot of thought to this the how these committees work behind the scenes. It was fascinating to listen to him. He'd given a lot of thought, but he had the same experience you did.

Jan Stephenson 31:46

Isn't that that's amazing? I didn't realize that because I know some of the team members would go, you know, you've got to tell them how nice they look, and you know, you can't and I've always been pretty outspoken anyways. And of course, once I wrote those articles about how um how biased they were, of course, that gave me no shot of ever getting on the team.

Mike Gonzalez 32:07

Yeah. So take us through the transition. You're you're you're you're winning a lot of uh uh junior and then amateur sort of uh play, and but at some point the thought turns to I might want to do this for a living.

Jan Stephenson 32:24

Well what happened was I got I after I turned pro, and I um one of the players that actually was very controversial as well, her name was Diana Thomas, and she was married to a club down at um her he was the director of golf at Canberra Country Club. So I would go visit with her, and we won the the National Forsymps together, and she was very controversial, really pretty, wore short, short little dresses, and and she was my idol. I loved her, Diana, and she was fantastic, and so she's like if we both turned and we got an offer when I actually was going to turn pro because she was the same, she was very controversial, and they did put her in teams because she was a she was 10 years older than I was, but she um, you know, and I was just too young. But they so she said we've got an offer to play in Japan for a lot of money. I mean, I think we both got like 3,000 each, which was a lot of money back in the 69, in the 6 late 60s. And um I and so we I turned pro and we accepted and we went to Japan. And I played really well. I finished in it was the World Ladies. I finished um in the top ten, so I made even more money. And that's actually Pete Peter Thompson was doing an event, we did an exhibition in there and got some more money in Japan. So I came back feeling pretty good financially. And um, and they just it's just started the Australian LPGA, or they called the ALPG. They asked me um the year before if I would join, and I said, no, no, no, I'm gonna stay an amateur, I'm gonna represent my country. So after I get turned pro, I'm like, I'll think about it. So I'm like, I've got enough money, I'm gonna go to America. So I flew to Atlanta. I wrote a letter because you know there's no internet or any of that, as you know. So I wrote a letter to the LPGA, and they said, you know, this is where it is, it's in Atlanta. I flew to Atlanta, um, had to get a taxi because I was way too young to get rent a car, and I stayed in a cheap motel, which was a huge mistake. And um I and and you know, in those days you had um what do you call those things? Gosh, you know, the the travelers checks. Yeah, for example, you know, because I didn't have a credit. So you had travelers' checks, he paid everything in travelers' checks. So I had all these travelers' checks, and I was so paranoid that my my clubs and everything would be stolen. So I would take everything to my hotel room every night, and then I'd either walk to a restaurant or I'd take a taxi to eat. And I took a taxi one one night to go have dinner, and when I came back, my clubs and all my clothing had been stolen. And um I'd only played one round in the in the qualifying. I'm still obviously gonna make it, and now I had nothing, and I was so frightened that they did that, um, they stole everything I had. And so I took a taxi to the golf course as I figured that's the only place that's safe. And I spent the night in the locker room, um, and I was so scared, and I of course I didn't sleep, and then the next morning I had to buy some clothes in the at Pro Shop, which were ridiculously expensive, and I wasn't used to that. Anything and and so I was spending all of you know a lot of my travelers' checks, and I called reverse call to my parents, and I was saying, I I hate America, I'm never gonna do this, I'm not coming back. So I missed qualifying by a shot, and I I had to I had nothing to I I traveled back to Australia with nothing. I had the clothes I just bought, and um I remember I I got on the plane and I said, I'm never coming back, I hate America. And so then I turned pro and I mean then I joined the Australian LPGA, and so I started playing. There was only 10 events left. I I played a couple, I actually quit for like six months first. I said, I'm I'm done with golf, I'm never gonna play again. I hate golf, I hate this world. And so my dad was really smart because what he did was he said, Well, you're gonna have to get a real job now. Um, because I hadn't ever worked and you know, at a job. And so he said, and you know, this is what you're gonna do. So he made me so he booked me, he had gotten me a public relations job with the bank, but I had to be there from nine till five every day. And I have never done that. I'm an outdoor person, I've always been on my own, so now I had to do all this work as a public relations, which was actually I'll look back now, it was probably a good job. It's just that it was to me, it was punishment to be doing anything from nine to five. And then at night he booked me being a barmaid to pour a beer. So I've done two jobs, absolutely hated it. And um, and so June Daly Watkins contacted me and said, Why don't you why don't you come be a model? And I'm like, Oh, no, that's more like it. Um so she put me through a finishing school first. She said, You've got to do my first course on finishing school, which was probably the best education I've ever had. That was how to speak, how to walk, how to dress, um, how to put makeup on. It was the best three, that was a three-month course at night, and I loved it. And I and that she can't she put that was um complimentary. She said, I'm gonna give that to you because you're you know a famous figure, and it was fantastic. And then she said, to be a professional model, you are gonna have to pay for it. So that's why I had to use my money. And I absolutely hated working for the bank. So once I once I graduated her course, I quit the bank. I couldn't take it. So I really didn't have that much money. So then I went, okay, the only other way I'm gonna do this. So we got a few jobs in the and um, of course, I got in big trouble because you know, it was using my golf. Um you know, it's so it was I was always in trouble for that. And so then um I joined the Australian LPGA, and there was 10 events left. So I won, I won the first two, and then then the last ones were the Australian, the Victorian Open, which they still have, the Australian Open, and uh oh no, the Australian LPGA Championship. And so I I did 10. And the last few is just like they do nowadays for the men and women, all the American women came out. So we had uh Donna Capone and Carol Jo Scala and a bunch of you know players that were not the big names because they didn't get enough appearance fee, but quite a few of the players came out and I played with them and I won um the last four events in a row, and including the two majors, the Victorian Open and the LPGA championship. And they went and I won the last one by 10 shots. And everybody was like, What are you doing in here? You've got to come to America, and I said, I hate America, and then I'm like, I don't know if I have enough money, and that was right when I met you again, Bruce. That's when I met you. Yeah, and you were well, I'd actually knew you before then, but then I I think it was in Canberra um that it was maybe the Australian Open you were playing.

Bruce Devlin 39:30

Yes, it was.

Jan Stephenson 39:32

So, and we were there, and and uh your manager was there, was was his name Dan? No, no, um your agent anyway, and then Dan, then Dana Quigley was there.

Bruce Devlin 39:45

Right, right. Remember Quigley? Yes, I do. I remember Dana, sure.

Jan Stephenson 39:49

Well, Quig was so sweet, and um, and they're all like, you you can turn pro, and then your wife Gloria said, There's no way you're too nice, they'll eat you up and spit you out. And I'm like, well, apparently she didn't know how tough I was. So um she said, I've known some of those players, and they are tough, and you're you're not gonna be nean enough to make it. And I said, I think I can handle it. So anyway, um, luckily your agent and you and Quig, because I took Quig's number and and then I the the next qualifying was in Miami um that in January, and I still couldn't rent a car, so he rented the car for me, and then you put me up, um, you said you need to stay someplace safe. Because I remember telling him what happened last time, and he goes, You've got to stay in a safe place. So you booked me a rumor, gave me got me a great rate at Jorrell.

Mike Gonzalez 40:45

Right.

Jan Stephenson 40:46

And um, so I can plus I came earlier. He said, You can't come like two days before the event. So all your advice was great. So I came like a week before, got to know everybody at Jural, and they were great. They let me keep play and practice for free. But I was still very questionable about America. I didn't know if I liked it. So the trouble was I paid up front with my travelers' checks and had my return ticket, and and I was still kind of skeptical about America. And I remember I was so homesick, and everybody was carrying on because the Dolphins were in the Super Bowl, which was in Miami. And I'm like, these people are crazy about football. It was very strange, you know, into it. And I was so scared to go outside the gates after what happened. So I practiced a lot. So I made quali I qualified and made some money that first week. I qualified for the tournaments this time, and the second tournament was the one that turned everything around because it was a match play event and they only had two qualifying spots, and everybody else had qualified the year before. And it was, and if you if you made it to the finals, I think you had three matches you played, and then if you made it to the final, that the finals was a was 10 players, so they didn't do it to just one final. There was 10 players, and then you played stroke play event for that last one, and it was called the it was in um Port St. Lucie, and it was called um this what do you call those stamps?

Mike Gonzalez 42:10

The S and H S and H green stamp.

Jan Stephenson 42:13

S NH green stamp, that was the sponsor. Yeah, and it was so funny because I remember when I when I qualified, they gave us thousands of these stamps, and everybody goes, What are you gonna do with them? And I was like, Well, I don't know what they are. So I gave them all away, and then I found out that you could get stuff with them. You know, I was like, oh my god, I could have got an iron and all of these things, and the players were like, She doesn't want them. And I'm like, No, they're just stamps. I'd have thought they just went in a book. They did, but you got stuff for it. So the players always thought that was funny that they tricked me into giving me all of my point, all of my stamps. But anyway, that was a turning point because I wouldn't have been able to get to the event without lending it, getting me a rental car. So he he rented the car for me. And then um, he was your agent. I I don't remember his name. I thought it was Dan, but I can't remember.

Mike Gonzalez 42:58

Okay.

Jan Stephenson 42:58

So he was a big help. And then um I won all my matches. I won, you know, I made the qualifying. There was a there was only two spots, and there was like 52 girls playing for those two spots. So I was desperate that I had to um I had to make it because I was already spending too much money. So the good thing is I I qualified and I won all my matches, got to the finals, and I made a big check, which turned me around. And then everything was going great. I love, I was, I I got on tour, I had some money now, because when it got time for the qualifying school, right before qualifying, I had spent the Darrell came and said, You need to you need to pay your bill. And I said, I paid it up front. They said, No, your phone bill. Well, I'd been calling my parents every night from the hotel room. And so my bill was like almost three thousand dollars for the phone.

Mike Gonzalez 43:51

Oh my.

Jan Stephenson 43:52

And I'm like, Well, that's almost all the money I came with. And they said, you know, you um you have to pay the bill. So and and you had to show the LPGA that you had five thousand dollars, it's like I'm not gonna make it. So um I what I did is I I took a taxi to the airport and I turned in my return airfare, which you were allowed to do back then, to have enough money to make it to qualifying school. So um if it hadn't you know, I I I actually had to make it or I would have had to call my parents to get home, and I would never have done that.

Mike Gonzalez 44:26

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 44:47

Whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway. Then it started to slice just smidge offline. It headed for two, but it bounced off nine. My caddy says long as you're still in the state, you're okay. Yes, it went straight down the middle, quite away.