20 Questions: Jan Stephenson

Robert Crane cornered the constantly touring Jan Stephenson at her home in Fort Worth, Texas. He reports: "Besides being one of the top money earners on the women's golf tour, Jan is the sexiest woman athlete in professional sports. She reminds me of an Olivia Newton-John--only made out of bricks. To clear up an image problem in her native Australia, Jan had a television crew film a portion of our interview as part of a special to be televised back home. I think she's afraid of becoming too Americanized."

1.

[Q] Playboy: You could be a model or an actress. Why are you golfing?

[A] Stephenson: There are millions of pretty girls and great actresses, but it's very difficult to be a top golfer. It's so disciplined and I'm so emotional. Most of the people who do well in golf do so because they're not emotional. They're boring people. It's such a challenge for me to control myself.

And there's nothing in the world like winning a tournament. That's what it's all for. It happens so rarely; the game is handling the fact you get defeated most of the time. So, when I finally succeed, I get goose bumps. It's the greatest.

2.

[Q] Playboy: If you hadn't made it to the pro golf circuit, what would you be doing?

[A] Stephenson: I'd be a dance teacher. I love to sweat and heave and breathe and hurt and burn and get dirty. I've done something physical all my life. When I was seven years old, my dad wanted me to be an Olympic swimmer. I would train until I hurt. When I was eight and a half, he decided he wanted me to be a tennis player. I hated it. When I got to golf, at least I could do it at my own pace and I was my own boss. A lot of people are amazed at how hard I work out. There's something good about getting all dirty and grimy and nasty and then showering; you feel twice as clean.

3.

[Q] Playboy: Are you a bad loser?

[A] Stephenson: Yeah. But golf has made me grow up. I used to be very immature. I was a big star in Australia; I always won and I was really obnoxious about it. When I came over here, I was a nobody, and it took me a long time to get to the top. I was so convinced I would win the world championship last year. But I finished second, made $26,000 and was miserable. I cry a lot. If I have a bad round, I'll burst out crying. If I'm not in contention, I hate it.

4.

[Q] Playboy: What is the reaction among fellow golfers to your off-the-links activities?

[A] Stephenson: I'm very misunderstood. I do so much promotion and press for tournaments and for the Ladies Professional Golf Association. Anything I do, even for myself, is helping the L.P.G.A., as far as I'm concerned, and a lot of the girls don't see that. Actually, it's much tougher to do the promotions and the glamor part than just to play golf. I would love to be able to play and have nobody bother me.

5.

[Q] Playboy: Does flaunting your sexiness get in the way of your credibility as an athlete?

[A] Stephenson: Last year, I rebelled and wore pants on tour. People were complaining that they weren't seeing my legs, but I thought they might realize that I'm a golfer--before anything else. When nobody knew me, I wore tiny tank tops and short shorts. When I got to be known as a golfer, I stopped that. Now it doesn't matter.

6.

[Q] Playboy: How do you deal with the women's movement?

[A] Stephenson: I get a lot of negative mail from women. But no one is more independent than I am. Nobody is as much a boss of his career as I am. I would love to have somebody open my door all the time. Normally, I'll be renting a car at two in the morning going to some little town to do an exhibition the next morning and there will be no one to help me with my bags and I'll have to walk across a dark parking lot. As soon as there's a man around, I forget how to open the door really quickly.

7.

[Q] Playboy: Which male golfers can you beat?

[A] Stephenson: There's no comparison between male and female athletes--period. If you put us on the same tees, any male player on the tour could out-drive me, because power is so important. If we hit the same irons to the green, I think I could beat them all. Tom Watson's a fantastic putter, and putting is probably the worst part of my game. I work so hard from tee to green, I don't have the hours to spend on the green. When I came over here, I was such a good putter and had such a bad long game. I've overcorrected. But if we all hit five irons in to the green, I'd beat them every time.

8.

[Q] Playboy: How do male golf groupies approach you on and off the course?

[A] Stephenson: Off the course, men will interrupt my dinner and ask if I'll have a drink with them. There's no way. Often, they'll tell me off. They think I'm a bitch. It's just that my private time is very important and I'm really a very private person.

On the course, I love the attention. It annoys the girls a lot. It helped me in a tournament last year in Hershey, Pennsylvania. I started about five shots back on Sunday. I bogeyed the first two holes. I had been putting badly all week, but then I made a 30-footer downhill for a birdie. The next hole, I two-putted for another birdie. Later, I made a 15-footer for yet another birdie. A lot of the guys in the gallery started screaming, "You're going to win. We know you can win. Please birdie." My galleries seem to be getting louder and louder. The guys coming out are younger and younger, and half of them don't know anything about golf. They get drunk, and by the fifth hole, they're loud and obnoxious. I love it. They scream, "We love you." Anyway, they convinced me I was going to win the tournament, and I did.

One guy wanted to get to know me so badly that he told everyone that we were secretly married and I didn't want anyone to know. He's crazy. He's not allowed to come on the golf course anymore.

Another guy left me a wedding bouquet in my locker with a note saying, "Please meet me at the church at 9:30 in the morning." All the girls loved that. On the Sunday of the tournament, he showed up dressed in white and carried a bouquet of white flowers all around the golf course. How embarrassing!

9.

[Q] Playboy: Have you ever had sex on a golf course?

[A] Stephenson: [Long pause] No. I wonder why not; maybe because it's my office. I love to do things that are exciting and different. I've had sex in a lot of places. I wouldn't want to have it in the bunker, because of (continued on page 182)Jan Stephenson(continued from page 117) the sand. I'd kind of like to have it on the green; it would be nice and soft.

10.

[Q] Playboy: What are your favorite and least favorite features of your body?

[A] Stephenson: I like my flat stomach and my eyes. I absolutely hate my thighs. If I don't work out, they get flabby.

11.

[Q] Playboy: Who are some sexy male and female golfers?

[A] Stephenson: On the women's tour, Nancy Lopez has a certain kind of sex appeal, especially since she's lost weight. There aren't any men on the tour that I think are sexy. I think baseball players have wonderful bodies; golfers don't. But what I want in a man whom I live with is totally different from what I want to look at. Now, among baseball players, I've got to go with Jim Palmer. Unfortunately, I feel like I never got off the ground with Jim. I did a cover with him for a sports magazine. When he arrived, my hair was in curlers and my face was real white and one of my eyes was swollen. I'd been in Florida, and I was allergic to all that pollen. I looked like hell. Jim said, "You're Jan Stephenson?" Thank you. He looked gorgeous. He had a suntan from spring training, and he was wearing a tuxedo. I had to stare into his eyes for two hours while they took pictures. I couldn't find a thing wrong.

12.

[Q] Playboy: Defend the proposition that golfers make better lovers.

[A] Stephenson: Maybe it's because they have such a good touch. In golf, you have to be good in all areas: You have to be powerful, be strong, have stamina and be able to control yourself. Plus, you have to have an unbelievable touch. All those things are important in making love--especially discipline and patience.

13.

[Q] Playboy: Is Jan Stephenson too much for one man?

[A] Stephenson: Yeah, there's no doubt about it: I'm a handful. It's very difficult for one man to handle all the "me"s. I couldn't have a man who wouldn't want to participate in my career in some way. Otherwise, I'd never see him, and it's fun to share. When I win, I want everyone to feel as good as I do. When I'm down, I need a man.

14.

[Q] Playboy: Your private life has been making news for quite a while. What's going on?

[A] Stephenson: That's a good question. I was married last September in Fort Worth to Eddie Vossler, after my marriage to Larry Kolb was annulled. Eddie and I had been living together for years, but one day I said, "I'm gone. I'm mad. 'Bye, I'm leaving." I figured that if we didn't have a piece of paper saying we were married, we didn't need a piece of paper saying we were divorced. I thought it would really hurt Eddie if I married someone else, and I married Larry.

[A] The whole thing had started when Eddie hired Larry to help me with our business. Larry turned around and, I believe, took advantage of us. He had me convinced that he absolutely adored me. I'd just broken my foot, so my golf was gone. I had to restructure my life. Larry said he'd be my valet and he'd cook for me. I'd get up to go to practice and he'd cook breakfast and do my laundry. He was basically a servant. I thought, This is great; this would be great as a marriage. He said all he wanted was to marry me. So I thought, I'll agree to marry him just to keep him quiet. I was thinking maybe it wouldn't be so bad. I tried to make the best of it, but I couldn't stand him. He drove me crazy.

[A] The marriage was annulled. The judge recognized the fact that Eddie and I had had a common-law marriage. Larry refused to accept that, mainly because he thought that if our splitting were declared a divorce, he could get half of what I'd earned. I'd quit before I'd let him have a penny. His appeal was denied. He could reappeal the annulment, but I don't think he will. I always thought he had it planned that way from the beginning. He got lucky with timing. He loves publicity. And he had misled me about Eddie.

15.

[Q] Playboy: Why do golfers dress so badly?

[A] Stephenson: Golf is so old-fashioned. People are getting more modern, but the golf clothing hasn't come along with it. It's really sad. Tennis clothes are beautiful. I hate to wear golf clothes. The colors are horrible. It really takes away from the game.

16.

[Q] Playboy: How do you give yourself strokes?

[A] Stephenson: I have an insecurity problem. When I look in the mirror with no make-up on, I think, I'm no big deal. It really concerns me that I'm not good-looking. When I want to give myself a stroke, I dress up, go out and somebody will tell me I look great. That'll pump me up pretty good.

17.

[Q] Playboy: Are overweight people kidding themselves when they golf for exercise?

[A] Stephenson: No. Admittedly, if you stop for a hot dog and potato chips and you drink beer all the way around, then you're kidding yourself. But even with a golf cart, it's unbelievable exercise. You're out there for five hours--so you're not eating for five hours--and with the swinging, the bending over, you burn about 350 calories an hour. Running, maybe you burn 700 in an hour--but that's a lot of running. Golf stretches your stomach muscles. It's not strenuous. It doesn't build tight muscles, but it builds long ones.

18.

[Q] Playboy: Do your breasts ever get in the way of your swing?

[A] Stephenson: No, not at all. I don't notice them at all.

19.

[Q] Playboy: How does a guy get to carry your clubs?

[A] Stephenson: He has to keep his mouth shut. I may bend a little for men off the golf course, but when I'm on the course, I'm the boss. My dad is caddying me now, and he never says a word about golf. But that wasn't always true. Once, I threw some grass up and asked him, "The grass is downwind, isn't it?" He said, "It's against the wind." He was looking at the flag blowing toward us and I was throwing the grass up at the tee. Well, the wind was swirling. We were a little behind and it was time to tee off, so I took a club according to his advice and it flew to the green. The wind was coming downwind. I blew the hole, chipped it up almost in the hole and--on purpose--missed the putt to show him that it was his mistake. Sometimes, I'll ask, "Which way is that wind?" and he won't say a word.

20.

[Q] Playboy: OK, once and for all, what's the difference between a hook and a slice?

[A] Stephenson: I would prefer to be a hooker any time. Most people are slicers; that is, they hit the ball left to right, because they're in bad positions. A hook--where the ball veers right to left--comes from a powerful position and you're still going to get a lot of land. If you slice the ball, you're doing a lot more wrong. If I were a slicer, I'd be dead. So it's good to be a hooker.