Politically incorrect golf: Top 10

5. Jan Stephenson, 2003. ‘Asians are killing women’s golf’

If she had been a higher profile golfer and her target had been another ethnic group, Jan Stephenson, an Australian golfer, wouldn’t have been allowed to play professionally again.

In 2003 she was asked ‘Does the LPGA have problems?’ and this was her answer:

‘This is probably going to get me in trouble, but the Asians are killing our tour. Absolutely killing it. Their lack of emotion, their refusal to speak English when they can speak English. They rarely speak. We have two-day pro-ams where people are paying a lot of money to play with us, and they say hello and goodbye. Our tour is predominantly international and the majority of them are Asian. They’ve taken it over.

‘If I were commissioner, I would have a quota on international players and that would include a quota on Asian players. As it is, they’re taking American money.’

The comments led to a debate within the LPGA, but as ESPN said at the time: ‘Race-based quotas to limit the number of a certain minority in a sport? Discrimination solely on the basis of ethnicity? Appalling. But for her unfair generalisations, Stephenson got … nothing.’