History Books Fail The Woman Who Humbled A Golfing Great

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday February 2, 2008

Philip Derriman

THE Scottish-American golfer Tommy Armour recorded an odd Australian golfing fact in a coaching book he wrote in the 1950s.

"There was an elderly woman in Australia who confined her golf to putting," he said.

"And she'd beat the best of them at it. She defeated [Walter] Hagen in a putting contest."

We all know about Hagen, the great American golfer of the 1920s, but who was the elderly Australian woman?

History doesn't seem to have recorded even her name, which is a pity because beating Hagen at putting (probably when he came here in 1930) was quite a feat. It was a feat that Donna Caponi, twice US Women's Open winner, couldn't match. Caponi, now an American golf broadcaster, recalled a private putting contest with Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson. They beat her comfortably, which puzzled her.

She knew that male pros with their extra muscle would always outplay females on the fairways, but she couldn't think of any biological reason for women not having as good a short game as men.

For former Australian golf star Jan Stephenson, though, it's all a fact of life. As she said in an interview with the US's Golf Magazine, "The women are not the best players - the men are. The women are not the best athletes - the men are." Her conclusion: that women golfers must at least match men in promoting themselves as personalities and in flaunting their sex appeal if they've got it.

Stephenson is a commentator on ABC's telecast of the Women's Australian Open. The ABC has 25 cameras at Kingston Heath providing 18-hole coverage - refreshingly, without commercials - and it's brought Stephenson and Jane Crafter, both former Australian Open winners, from the US to head the broadcast.

Stephenson said golf in the US was recovering from a TV-ratings slump. Why the slump? "Because golf is so competitive everybody's like a robot, they're not showing their emotions - and it's so far away," she told the Herald. "What they [viewers] want is to be up close ... get to know who the golfers are."

In the US, TV viewers either had to have an American to support for patriotic reasons, or they needed to know the players well enough as individuals to be able to choose one to cheer. The latter worked for her in the 1980s.

"We showed our emotions, happy or sad. I talked to the gallery and had a lot of fan contact. Everybody knew everything about me off the course as well. So we were distinct personalities and our ratings were enormous.

"New young [female] Americans are doing well - Natalie Gulbis, Paula Creamer, who are pretty and attractive. They're doing a lot of media to show their personalities. Natalie has got her own reality show."

Stephenson saw similar potential in Australia's young female pros.

"We did a photo shoot this week, and these girls get it," she said. "They're talented, but they're beautiful. Being a celebrity makes a lot of money for you personally, but it also helps to promote the sport."

So why should men watch the women in action today and tomorrow?

"Because the average man can identify with the way we play," Stephenson said.

"We play from the men's tees, not the pros' tees. We hit the ball as far as an average man does, but we score better because we do have good short games. The women don't bomb it like the PGA pros, they have to chip and putt a lot. They're coming in with three and four irons, which the guys never do except for par fives. If you watch a women's tournament you're going to learn more because it's the way an average person plays."

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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