The broadcaster and former plus-four amateur talks candidly about the injury that ended her playing ambitions, and why women should stop feeling guilty about the time golf takes.
Iona Stephen features in the first episode of Her Game, a new podcast series profiling women working across golf, recorded at the AIG Women’s Open with host Georgina Black.
Stephen came to golf later than most. Growing up in Scotland, she played hockey, athletics, squash and rugby rather than golf, and it was not until she joined a sport transfer scheme at Glasgow University, set up to boost Scotland’s medal chances at the Commonwealth Games, that she picked up a club. A visit to watch the AIG Women’s Open, where she saw Paula Creamer, Kylie Henry and Catriona Matthew play, changed her mind about the sport. Within a few years, working with Scottish Institute of Sport coach Kevin Craggs, she had turned professional off a handicap of plus four out of Wentworth.
An injury ended that path. Stephen lives with chronic pain in her wrist, which she says restricts how much she can practise even now. She still plays to a high level, and admits it can be difficult watching players compete at the tournament she once dreamed of winning outright. “It’s still working around an injury,” she said. “I’m always compensating.”
A new role on the other side of the microphone
Broadcasting became Stephen’s way back into the sport. She works as an on-course commentator, carrying up to seven kilograms of kit and taking instruction through an earpiece from a producer while covering live golf. She was given the honour of presenting the 2023 Ryder Cup from the first tee at Marco Simone, a moment complicated by a power cut in the TV compound moments before she was due to go live. She got through it, she said, because of the preparation she had put in beforehand.
Live broadcasting has produced its share of mishaps. Stephen recalled once calling world number one Dustin Johnson “Donsson” on air, and referring to Minjee Lee as “Minmu”. She said viewers respond better to presenters being themselves, slip-ups included, than to attempts at polish.
Why golf still matters
Stephen was reflective on why women in particular can feel they need permission to spend time on the course. She argued that four or five hours away from work or family commitments can feel indulgent, and that this feeling, rather than lack of interest, is often what drives women away from the game in their twenties and thirties. Golf, she said, has given her lasting friendships and a sense of sanctuary beyond her career.
That thinking sits behind Tuesday Links, a women’s golf travel company she co-founded with Rosie Bailey after Bailey identified a gap in the market for female-focused group trips. Its first flagship event takes place in Scotland this month, with guests travelling from the US, UK and Ireland for a week built around golf alongside hiking, sauna and cold-plunge sessions and an equipment clinic. Stephen said the aim is a slower pace than the traditional golf trip, describing it as less about back-to-back rounds and more about the wider experience.
Iona Stephen features in the first episode of Her Game, a new weekly podcast from GolfMagic presented by Georgina Black, recorded at the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
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