In this episode, Mason Reed interviews presenter and commentator Iona Stephen (https://www.ionastephen.com/) , who is a frequent contributor to networks including CBS and Sky Sports and host of her own YouTube series, On the Road With Iona (https://www.youtube.com/@ontheroadwithiona) . Iona shares her journey from starting out as a professional golfer to becoming a prominent broadcaster in the golf world. She discusses the challenges of balancing her travel schedule, the intricacies of golf broadcasting, and the importance of teamwork behind the scenes.
Iona also opens up about the injury that ended her playing career, her decision to share her story publicly, and how she found new opportunities in life after golf. As she shares her transformative journey with golf, she shows how she redefined her relationship with the sport after such a challenging period. She reflects on her childhood influences that shaped her drive and determination, her unique position in the broadcasting world, and her commitment to storytelling that captures the essence of golf.
Invested in the Game is an original podcast from Charles Schwab (https://schwab.com) . For more on the show, visit schwab.com/TheGame (https://schwab.com/OnInvesting) .
If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts (http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1810238683) .
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The comments, views, and opinions expressed in the presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent the views of Charles Schwab.
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(1025-ZGXA)
IONA STEPHEN: What I do think to be
true is that we should never just be one thing in life. It’s OK to reinvent
yourself. And I think that it’s a great gift in life to know that you can become
something totally new if you want to. MASON REED: I’m Mason Reed, and this is Invested in the
Game, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Each episode we tell the story of remarkable
people who have committed their time, resources, and emotional energy into making golf the
wonderful—and sometimes maddening—game that it is. Hello there, and thanks for tuning in
to a new season of Invested in the Game. I’m thrilled to be speaking with
Iona Stephen on today’s episode. You may have seen Iona interviewing
players at the British Open or the Ryder Cup on behalf of Sky Sports,
and she’s turning up more and more on your TV and your computer through her
coverage of the Augusta Women’s Amateur, the Masters, and her content series on
YouTube called On the Road With Iona. You’ll understand very quickly when you
listen to her why she’s had so much success. She’s smart, she’s charming, and
she’s golf obsessed—all while also being extremely driven. She’s
one of those people that, to me, would have been successful no matter what
she did. It just so happens she chose golf. Though her professional career was derailed by
a very bad wrist injury, she was not deterred, and thankfully, she’s right in the middle of the
golf world where she was always supposed to be. I hope you enjoy hearing her story and the inspiration and life lessons
it provides as much as I did. Hello, Iona. Welcome to Invested
in the Game. Thanks for being here. IONA: Absolute pleasure to be here,
Mason. Looking forward to a chat with you. MASON: Yes. So anybody who follows
you on social media, or on YouTube, or on the old-fashioned television knows
that you seem to always be on the move. Why don’t we do this: Where are
you now? Where have you been? And where are you going? What’s a quick
little like slice of your travel life? IONA: Haha! I’m currently in London. In the last
few weeks, I’ve been in Scotland for the Scottish Open and Ireland many times. Tomorrow I’m going
to Wales for the women’s British Open, the AIG Women’s Open. And then from there, I’m going to
Slovenia, then to Spain, then to Switzerland, and then back to Ireland for the Irish Open
before eventually I head across to America for the build-up to the Ryder Cup. So that is a
little slice of my life in the next few weeks. MASON: Unbelievable. So before we ask you,
you know, slightly more serious questions, how do you keep track of all this? Do you
have a little Google calendar? Like, what is it that … how do you know all that … where to
be and what airline you’re on? How do you do this? IONA: I have an amazing assistant called Ola, and
she deserves a shoutout. So I’d be completely lost without her, and she keeps me on the straight
and narrow. But I have an amazing team. My colleagues and who I get to work with at
Sky Sports, they’re fantastic and help with a lot of the logistics for the broadcasting side
of things. With my life, it’s little surprise probably, now you understand why I called
my YouTube channel On the Road With Iona. MASON: Haha. IONA: And I also have a fantastic team
there who helps. So really it’s a team effort. You know, I couldn’t do this
on my own. It’s a whole team thing. But as you know, the professional golfing
world, where I’ve sat on both sides of the ropes now with a microphone in hand as a commentator,
it’s like a traveling circus. So we all kind of move along together. You know, we go from one
stop to the next, and you generally pick up the cadence and the rhythm of it, and it kind of feels
natural to me now, which is probably worrying. MASON: Yeah, that’s funny you mention
that. I always think … you know, we sponsor the PGA Tour event at Colonial—the
Charles Schwab Challenge—and when we go up there, it’s interesting to watch all the trucks
come, and the equipment, and the media, and it’s all on an exact schedule. And then the
tournament ends, and it’s like a wand is waved, and the whole thing just disappears and
heads somewhere else. Just rinse and repeat. IONA: Yeah, it’s absolutely remarkable, and I
think … I always say that I think the players, at the very least, every single player that
earns PGA Tour card or DP World Tour card or LPGA Tour card should take a day or half a day
to come and see what happens behind the scenes in the TV compound, because we have a few
players that retire and then come and join us in the commentary box or players that give
us … are generous enough to maybe join us, if they’re actually part of the tournament, for like
half an hour. And without fail, they all come, and their jaw is on the floor, and they’re like,
“I had no idea. You know, I had no idea that there were thousands of people working behind the scenes
to bring this golf to television and to networks around the world. And maybe I’ll be a little
bit less grumpy at the cameraman next time.” MASON: Haha. IONA: It gives them a bit of perspective. And
I think, you know, it still amazes me that we manage to pull these shows together because the
things that go wrong are pretty hectic. And you think like, “This is going to be it. This is
going to be the day that it all falls apart.” And every single time, you know,
we manage to bring the show on air, and for the viewers at home, they have no idea
of the chaos that’s going on in live television. It’s absolutely incredible. And it’s thousands of
people coming together to make it all go round. MASON: And I don’t think people understand how
difficult it is to just produce a broadcast for golf, whereas if you’re shooting basketball
or football, English football, anything, like you have fixed cameras, you sit in a booth,
you say what you’re looking at on the … imagining trying to put cameras to capture 140-something
people’s golf shots on 18 holes across hundreds of acres of land with wires everywhere. It really
is complicated. And it’s further complicated for someone like you who has to think about
how to say something in about 15 seconds after walking all around a golf course, if it’s
relevant. You may not even be seeing everything. I mean it’s … maybe that’s your next content piece
is like behind the scenes of a golf production. IONA: Yeah, yeah, I think people would be
really surprised. You know, we definitely have the easy part of the job, you know, doing
the stuff to camera, and certainly commentating, the technical side of it, is really, really
tricky, you know, get the … understanding how to listen to, you know, multiple voices, standing in
the right place so you don’t put the player off, understanding all this machinery you’re
carrying around your waist that weighs about eight kilograms and making sure your
mic’s not on, your mic is on when it needs to be on. So there is technical aspects to it,
but the amount of work that the technical team put in is absolutely enormous. And really they
become like a family because they’re out there traveling for like 25 weeks of the year. And
I genuinely take my hat off to them. And I’m in awe of how it all comes together. It
is absolutely remarkable. It really is. MASON: A lot of consistency.
We had, a few episodes ago, had Dottie Pepper on who, you know,
an icon of broadcasting as well. IONA: Yeah. Absolutely. MASON: And she said a lot of the same things.
And then the way she talked about some of, not just the people she works
with, but mentors in broadcasting, it really did feel like a tight knit
community, a family, if you will. IONA: Oh yeah, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting
Dottie a few times because I do a couple of years—a couple of weeks a year, rather—for CBS.
I work for CBS at the Masters and, you know, Dottie is an icon and particularly for other
female broadcasters. You know, she’s paved a way really for others, and to see the way that
she’s had a voice in the men’s professional game for many, many years and earned so much
respect is … it’s really, really inspiring. MASON: We’ll put a pin in that because I’m
going to come back to that in a little bit … IONA: OK. MASON: … to talk to you a little bit about …
not about Dottie Pepper, but about broadcasting. But before I do that, if you Google your name,
the title “internet personality” comes back. IONA: Really? MASON: And yeah, I don’t … oh,
you’ve never done it. So OK. IONA: Haha. MASON: Somebody’s going to have to let you know
what happens when they Google you. But it says, “internet personality,” and how
would you describe what you do? I don’t know if that’s sufficient. I
mean, that’s probably an element of it, but it’s difficult to describe what you
do. What would you put on the internet? IONA: Hahaha! That is so
strange, “internet personality.” I would say that I’m a golfer, and I’m a
storyteller. You know, I’m a professional golfer, although I don’t compete on the tour anymore.
And you know, my journey in professional golf was much shorter than I wanted it to be
because of a career-ending wrist injury. But I kept my pro status, and I didn’t play,
didn’t touch a set of golf clubs or a club for like three years. But more recently, I’ve been
able to play a bit more. And I still have my pro status because I felt there’s a few things,
a bit of unfinished business, and also I really enjoy teaching and coaching, although currently in
my life, I don’t have a lot of time to do it, but I hope I will in the future in another chapter.
So I’ve hung on to my professional status, and I still really enjoy playing golf, and thankfully
my wrist is playing ball a little bit more. Last year I played a couple of professional
events, and I went to open qualifying, and I’d still … like, this year, I haven’t
been able to try open qualifying again because my schedule’s not allowed me. But I’m
going to play a few Rose Lady Series events which is a fantastic female tour in the
U.K. founded by Justin Rose and his wife. So I still have fun on the
golf course to have, and very, very grateful that I still have a
relationship with the game when I thought that playing the game was over with my
injury, which was very serious. And, you know, I’ve had multiple operations on my wrist and
things, so it’s not really been a fun journey. But outside of that, I’m a broadcaster for Sky
Sports Golf and very lucky to be part of the team there. And I’m a presenter. In the U.K.,
we’d call it presenter. I think in the States, maybe you’d say an anchor. I’m not sure. But
the sort of in-vision person that welcomes the viewer along and says, “Hello and welcome
to day one of the Charles Schwab Challenge,” for example. And actually, I did present
the Charles Schwab from the London studio. So I wasn’t on site, but I was presenting the
tournament for Sky in the studio in London. And then sometimes, I’m a commentator.
So at the Open Championship, I was an on-course commentator. So I was inside
the ropes commentating on, you know, Rory McIlroy on the final day, for example. And
I’ve had some unbelievable experiences doing that. And outside of live television, as I said, I’m
a storyteller. And I’ve created a platform on YouTube called On the Road With Iona, and
that’s where I have a home for some of these stories. And that’s really been a huge
joy in my life in the last year and a half. MASON: So not “internet personality.” Haha! IONA: Haha! MASON: It’s going to have a lot of
slashes. It’s this slash this slash this. IONA: Yeah. MASON: That’s awesome. A lot of people in your position or
who have similar spaces in the golf world … a lot of people learned at a very, very, very young age. That’s not the case with
you. Didn’t you pick it up kind of later? IONA: Yeah. MASON: And how did that happen? IONA: So when I was growing up, I’m
the youngest of three—I’ve got two big brothers—and when we were growing up, me
and my childhood, when I think about it, was just loads of sports, you know, all
the sports. But sadly, not golf. It wasn’t, you know, a game that … my dad had kind of given
up golf. You know, the classic working too much, had kids, stopped playing golf. And actually, he
played a 3 when he was like in his 20s. So was a really good golfer. When he had a family,
he stopped playing, which is really sad. And so we didn’t play. We did play squash,
and at school I played all the sports that were available to me. So in the U.K., we had
field hockey. We had lacrosse. We had athletics, squash. And I took quite a few of them
actually to international levels. So I competed at quite a high sort of junior
level, and I really just loved sport. But it wasn’t until I was 19 that I was
introduced to the game of golf. And I took it up, and within a matter of moments decided that
I wanted to play this game professionally. And to cut a very long story short, four
years later, I turned professional off a handicap of +4 and got partial playing
status on the Ladies European Tour. So you know, I just fell in love with the
game. It was later than most, but I think that the multi-sport background gave me a lot of
the hand-eye coordination, and I needed to really refine my skills. And when I turned pro, there
was no denying I still had a lot of learning to do about the game. But I was under pressure
because I was already kind of in my early 20s, and it was like this sort of, “If you don’t turn
pro now, well, when will you turn pro? You can’t turn pro when you’re 30. I mean, nobody does
that, so you better turn pro now,” kind of thing. There was playing opportunities.
There was a fantastic tour in Spain called the Santander Tour, and I
went over there and played quite a lot. And then I, you know, I was just really, I just
getting going, but I had this pain in my wrist, and I had this injury that was developing in
my right wrist. And it was just devastating to be honest, because, you know,
sport was my big love. And you know, I had enough talent to enjoy playing the
game professionally. How far I could have gone with it, we’ll never know now. But I
was ambitious, and I wanted to give it a go, and I felt like it kind of got robbed from
me—and that hurt really a lot at the time. But as ever in life, sometimes there’s
a bigger plan, and thankfully around the corner was an even bigger and equally
as exciting opportunity. And I’m very, very grateful for that. And it’s been an
amazing life so far. So it’s … you know, I’m having a good life, and I’ve
got a lot to be grateful for. MASON: So you’ve brought up the injury, and you
know, at this point you’re still very young, but it’s impossible to tell your story so
far without that. That was a big moment for you. And if I remember correctly,
you shared that very publicly, I think, like you were very vulnerable. It was
very emotional. I think it got a lot of views on the internet. I mean
it was a very public experience. Thinking back on that now, why did
you choose to be so open about it? And as you think about it now, has it
gotten easier to talk about than it … IONA: Oh yeah. MASON: … than it was then, or is it … OK. IONA: Yeah, it’s got a lot easier to talk
about. I mean, I couldn’t talk about it without getting really upset about it for a
long time. And actually, I didn’t share the journey until … well, that video I think
you’re referring to, I shared, must have been two years ago. So it took me quite a long
time to share that video and to say … you know, by this point I’d been working in the media for
like maybe three and a half years, and you know, 99% of people had no idea that I actually had
tried to play and had played golf to a high level. And I remember very clearly sitting on the sofa—it
was like in December—I was sitting on the sofa, and I just started piecing little snippets of
old little clips from the rehab that I had in my phone. And I just sort of pieced this
thing together, and I was like, “You know, maybe I’ll share this to the world,” like my
audience that I’d grown, so they know where I’ve been and what’s led me to this point—because
actually it was really a story … or a piece of gratitude in how grateful I felt because I
had just recently presented the Ryder Cup. So I presented the Ryder Cup in 2023, so it must have
been in December of ’23 that I posted that video, and I just couldn’t believe it really. I was
sitting there thinking about the year I had had and like how my life had just changed so much in
such a short space of time. And I was looking back at these videos of me having my second surgery,
my third surgery. You know, I remember having wounds in my legs because I was getting these stem
cells taken out of my legs and then injected into my wrist. And I remember just being in such
a deep, deep hole with trying desperately, like absolute desperation, to fix this injury
because playing professional golf, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I was like just in
this absolute state of desperation, and little did I know that I was going to have to eventually
surrender and give up the chase for fixing it and surrender to the fact that sometimes the body
has other plans and that life has other plans. And little did I know there was this unbelievable
opportunity and adventure just waiting for me around the corner. And if I hadn’t had that
injury, I would never have known that because I would have just kept tunneling down the
professional golf road. And who knows where that would have led me? We’ll never know. But
what I do know is the adventure I’ve been on since 2020 really has been absolutely remarkable
and truly a gift. And I am so lucky. I’m one of the lucky ones, Mason, and it’s been amazing,
and I’m very, very grateful. And I think that video that posted in 2023, which yeah, it did
go quite viral. It had millions and millions of views. So I really didn’t expect … it’s funny,
the internet. And as an internet personality, you think I would know more, but I didn’t expect
that response, and I think it was just really a piece of gratitude and thanks and hopefully
sharing a bit of hope for people who put their eggs in one basket and think, “This is my thing,
and if this doesn’t work out, then life’s over.” Just a reminder that there’s actually
maybe just another basket waiting to be picked up just after and around the corner,
and that’s certainly the story I’ve had so far. MASON: Well, that’s a great life lesson, no matter
what you do, when you could have narrowly defined yourself, you know, you at least have to be open
to what would happen if that changes—whatever it is, if that’s work or certain things in
your friends, or it could be lots of things. When you made the decision to stay
in and around the game of golf, did you think about getting a desk
job? They’re lovely, I must say. IONA: Haha! MASON: Were you committed when you—I guess
I don’t want to put words in your mouth—when you started to feel like you had to surrender
to at least the professional playing dream, were you then saying, “Well, I’m
going to stick around this one way or another. I’m not leaving the world
of golf”? How did you go through that? IONA: Well, I’ve always been a maverick in life—I
will say that—and tend to find my own path, much to my family’s horror. But I was absolutely
determined that I would not be anywhere near golf. It had broken my heart, and I could not bear to be
around … I couldn’t even bear to see a golf club. So I got rid of all my golf stuff, and I packed up
shop and said, “No, like no more golf,” because it was like a bad, bad breakup. Like imagine a big
love and a bad breakup and then being forced to see your ex every day. Like, that’s bad news. So
you need to find a new environment and new space. So I got really into triathlon, actually,
and duathlon. I start … I picked up cycling, and I trained as a personal trainer. I got a
diploma in sports nutrition, and I decided that I wanted to go into like optimal health, like
health optimization. And I was so determined to still try and fix my wrist. So there was
definitely like an ulterior motive there, but it wasn’t in the context of golf anymore.
Like I was struggling to brush my own teeth. I couldn’t brush my own hair. Like my wrist was so
painful that it was affecting my day-to-day life. So I was determined in my early 20s that
my wrist could not be like this forever, like absolutely not. And I’ve
refused to take no for an answer, but I accept my fate with golf. So I accepted
that golf wasn’t going to be a career for me anymore. And I’m kind of an all-or-nothing
person. So if I wasn’t going to get the chance to try and become like the best and become an
LPGA player, I didn’t want to be a part of it. So yeah, I got really into training. I became
very physically very fit, like the fittest I’ve ever been in my life. And I started coaching
some spinning classes and just really trying to figure out my next move. And I really was getting
into kind of health optimization and trying to, I suppose, something that’s always been big part
of my life, is just trying to live a really good life. Like how can we make the most of the time
that we have here? And a lot of that comes in my belief from good health. And if you have good
health, then you have good opportunities, and the world is at your feet. But if you don’t have your
health, then life can become very hard. And I’d had a tiny, tiny taste of that with my wrist,
you know, and it had been quite debilitating, and I had to learn a lot of things left-handed,
and I was trying to find a way around it. So I was actually in the process of
setting up a, like an optimal retreat camp in Switzerland with a friend of mine
who was a CrossFit trainer in where I was living at the time. We were setting up these
retreats to the Swiss Alps where you could go and basically optimize yourself, and I
was really going down this kind of route. And I got a phone call from a producer at IMG
inviting me to be the presenter for a golfing TV show called Golfing World. And Anna Whiteley,
who was the presenter, was moving to America. MASON: Wait, is this like your ex … is this
like the ex showing up after a while and then … IONA: Yeah, I saw the ex calling, and I was like, “Hell no. Like this bridge is burnt, baby.
Like you take this … take it somewhere else.” MASON: “I left you a long time ago.” IONA: Yeah, like, “no, no, no.” There
was definitely some like Usher song I was wanting to play like, “You’re not getting this
back.” So actually when they invited me to go, I actually said no. And I was like, you
know, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Like I’m not interested in being around golf. I could
think of nothing worse. And they were like, “Well, listen, would you just come for a
screen test? You know, come for a screen test and then say no.” So I agreed to go for a
screen test, still in a bit of a huff, you know, like kind of feeling a bit huffy about it all. And
I did screen test, and I thought, “Well, you know, that isn’t going to lead anywhere. Like someone
else will be biting my arm off for this job.” And within a few days, I got a call
from the producer, Rob Phillips-Knight, who I saw last week actually at the Open,
and he said, “We’d like you to invite you to Mexico to the World Match Play to come
and interview Phil Mickelson and Molinari,” who had just won the Open, “and we’d like
you to be the presenter.” And I was like, “Absolutely not. Like that’s definitely not
going to happen, and thanks, but no thanks.” So this guy, Rob—he’s so nice, and he was
such a lovely guy—and he was like, “Look, how about you just come for the week, just see it
as a free holiday to Mexico. And if you like it, great. If you don’t, no hard feelings.” So
I agreed to do that. And I’m very pleased to say that I got over myself and my hard
feelings, and I had the most amazing trip in Mexico. And the end of the week, after I
had interviewed Phil Mickelson and interviewed Molinari and Dustin Johnson—all these guys
that were right at the peak of their powers at that time—I got home and I was sitting with
a coffee in my hand, and I thought, “That was pretty great. That was quite good, and they’ve
paid me to do that. That was pretty win-win.” So they offered me … they said, “Look, can we
offer you a partial contract and whatever you feel is right. We don’t want to put too much pressure
on you.” They were so great about it. Thankfully, I got over, you know, my feelings, and I
recognized the opportunity, and I agreed to become the presenter for this show called Golfing
World. It was a TV magazine show. We traveled all over the world. That was in 2019, second half
of 2019. And it really was the best year of my life. And it just completely transformed any
ideas I had about not being able to be involved in golf anymore and not being able to be near
golf. It was like exposure therapy, if you will. And you know, I managed to slowly
reimagine my relationship with golf. And it absolutely is different from the
19-year-old, 20-year-old, 21-year-old, you know, that was full of ambition to be,
you know, the next Lorena Ochoa or, you know, the next Catriona Matthew. I wanted to be
a golf player. I wanted to play the game. And this new relationship was born in 2019, and
it’s become something beautiful and brilliant. And you know, now I’m more in love with the game
of golf than I ever have been. And it’s truly been an amazing journey, but a lot of it is about
that willingness to surrender and recognizing that we might think we’re in control of everything,
but actually, sometimes there’s more going on, and it’s OK just to surrender and see
where life takes you, because sometimes it can take you somewhere really, really
beautiful—and it has for me in many ways. MASON: Did producers, or the BBC, or anybody,
did they see something in you, or things in you, that you didn’t know you had or that you
weren’t aware of—skills or other things? IONA: I think you’d have to ask them that, Mason, because I don’t know. But I think they liked
that I had a really rich knowledge of the game. I think that really helped. And they probably
could recognize that my love of the game, and therefore my knowledge of it,
was very authentic and very deep. So what was great about that is
that all that love … you know, I was a real deep student of the game. Like I
was completely obsessed with golf when I was learning it because I started late. I was trying
to prove that you didn’t need this10,000 hours, and that you could actually, instead
of learning through trial and error, you could study and learn and understand,
you know. And I could make you laugh with the notebooks I have. I have thousands of
notebooks when I was learning the game of golf. For example, I went to a B&Q, which I
guess would be like your Home Depot, and I got all this clay. And I used to do things
like I made a clay mold of my grip—so I had my grip, and I molded it. And I’d have like six of
them, like one in my car, one in my living room, one in my kitchen. So whenever I was like sitting
in traffic, I’d be practicing my grip, and I’d be like absolutely nailing the fundamentals because I
knew that I was short on time—or I thought that I was short on time. In hindsight, I wasn’t really.
You know, we’ve always got more time than we think. But I was such a deep, deep student of
the game. And I loved understanding the swing and trying to understand it. It annoyed me in the
beginning when coaches would say things to me and I wouldn’t understand because so much of golf is
so technical, and these coaches can use a lot of jargon and words that are just gobbledygook.
And I’d be going, “I don’t know what swinging from the inside or an attack angle of plus
four, like, what does that even mean?” Like, I just didn’t really understand, and it drove
me nuts. So I needed to learn, learn, learn. And so, yeah, I suppose, you know … and I loved
the professional game too, and I watched a lot of golf. So I think in the beginning they probably
enjoyed that knowledge that I had and could see that would be really useful in the context of
interviewing players and doing pieces to camera. MASON: There’s either going to be people
extremely inspired by you or really mad at you that you got to a +4 in that quick of a
time, which is an area that 99.7% of golfers never get to anyway, much less in three
or four years. Hopefully it’s inspiring. But I was going to ask you this earlier,
but you’re hitting on some of these themes now which is—where did you get this
drive and determination, because again, I don’t want to put words in your mouth, it
feels like you’re either highly competitive, or you’re trying to prove something or someone
wrong, or it’s … because you don’t make clay molds from the Home Depot, or H&Q or whatever it is, and
you don’t leave golf and then go talk about the health optimization in Switzerland. Where did this
come from that you’re just so on your front foot? IONA: Oof. I don’t know if I’ve
ever had to really think about that, but I’ve certainly asked other people that. I think my childhood, you know, so much of
our character and our traits are developed in our childhood, you know—and I was the youngest
of three. So even to get involved in the game with my brother is like I had to be good, you
know, and I remember very clearly my brothers were great athletes in themselves, you know,
brilliant cricket players and rugby players and very natural sportsmen. They used to kick a
football outside our house against the garage, and my eldest brother, Jamie, would say that I
couldn’t play. And my middle brother would say, “Yeah, like, she can play. Let her play.” And
Jamie would say, “She’s not good enough. This isn’t for little people. This is a serious game.”
And then my middle brother would say—the blessed classic middle child, he was always keeping the
peace—and he was like, “Well, how about we give her a shot? Let her take some penalties.”
And they would test me out and be like, “Are you good enough to take part?” And you
know, I’d have to rise to the occasion if I wanted to be part of the game. Otherwise I was
stuck inside, like making jam with my mum or, you know, doing something like that. And I
wanted to play the game. So I think having two elder brothers was a real gift. And you know,
the fact they were really sporty helped me. But I think I remember very young, like being the
only girl in a family as well, it’s an interesting dynamic because what my brothers were like thick
as thieves, you know. They were like best friends, you know, and they were inseparable. And I was
always on the outside trying to break in, like, “Can I join in?” And my family used to say on
my like death stone that it would always say, “Me too,” because I’d always want to be
like, “Me too, like, can I play as well?” MASON: Yeah. IONA: And you know, I think that shapes the way
that you approach things in life. And I suppose there was, from a young age, like this needing to
prove myself. But I do distinctly remember from a very young age, like probably from about 11, I’m
going to say, I remember thinking, “Just one day, like, I’m going to be excellent at
something.” And my love was sport. And you know, I remember watching the Olympics,
and I remember seeing Kelly Holmes winning the double gold at the Olympics. And there are other
things I can remember that really inspired me when I was a kid. And I think that’s why visibility and
young kids watching sport is so powerful. Like, here in the U.K. yesterday, you probably
saw that England won the Euros in soccer, in football. And the women, this is the women’s
team, and you know, the number of young girls that will have inspired is just out of this world, you
know, incredible the impact these things can have. And I do remember for whatever reason when I was
little, my brother says he remembers the day that it changed. He said he remembers the day that
is like he watched his little sister like become just some sort of focus on another level. And I
remember the time I was like 12, I used to go out running before school, and my dad, my mum, like
they were not doing these things. Like my dad was an architect and, you know, kind of worked a lot.
He wasn’t waking me up in the morning and saying, “Come on then, let’s go and do this.” You know,
I remember begging my dad to take me out after school to hit extra hockey shops with me in
the top of Calton Hill, which is this hill in Scotland. And he remembers those fondly, and
he did it, you know, he’d do it. But it was really … there was an internal drive that I’d be
asking him, “Please Dad, come and do this with me. Please Dad, can we go to the swimming pool and
have a race?” I just had this absolute desire to try and see how far I could go with something.
And that was always just, I guess, part of my DNA. And probably I could put it down to the dynamic
of being the youngest and the only girl in that, in this sort of sibling lineup, really. That’s
about the only thing I can put it down to. MASON: If it’s not that, I don’t know what
it would be. That that has all the makings of drive and wanting to prove that you can
succeed. Has … Jamie is your oldest brother? IONA: Yeah, Jamie. MASON: Does he ever ring you and say, “Hey you’re doing OK,” or is he still busting
your chops and saying you could do better? IONA: No, he’s … well, listen, I became the
first female commentator in an EA Sports game, and that was the day I earned Jamie’s respect. MASON: Haha. IONA: So the day I did that, he was like, “OK …” MASON: “Finally.” IONA: “… you’ve done it. You’ve done it.” MASON: You’re like, it wasn’t
presenting the Ryder Cup in Rome … IONA: No. MASON: … it wasn’t interviewing Justin Rose;
it’s getting to be a voice in the EA video game. IONA: 100%. MASON: OK. IONA: And the day my dad got really proud of me
was when I got a deal with a lawnmower company. MASON: Haha! IONA: That was the day he was
like, “That’s my little girl!” MASON: Yeah, she made it. She finally
has made it. She got the lawnmower deal. IONA: Haha, yeah. MASON: I want to talk a little bit
about the difference, if there is one, or the murky area between like factual
journalism and your opinions. And I guess, through the lens of when you’re on course
reporting is one area I’d like to hear, where you’re supposed to be our eyes when we’re
watching, or you’re telling us things we can’t see, but do you ever think about where your
opinion fits into that? And then I want to … I guess in your case, you have other channels
where you can share your opinion. So how do you think about the difference between
you as a, you know, reporting facts and where that happens and you as someone who may
have thoughtful personal opinions about golf? IONA: Yeah, it’s a great question, and it’s a
path you have to tread very carefully. You know, when I’m wearing my Sky Sports golf hat or CBS
hat, you know, there’s a real differentiation between are you the question asker, or are you the
question answerer? And actually, in the world of broadcasting, I’m 90% of the time the question
asker. So there is very few occasions where I’m actually really offering up a very strong opinion.
You know, I think the viewer expects me to have a knowledge and a credibility. And I think the U.K.
viewers certainly, by this point, five years in, they know like I’m completely absorbed in this
game, and I’d like to think I’m a hard worker. I do the work, and you know, they can count on me
for bringing a good report to them from the ground that’s been well researched and presented in a
way that’s unbiased, I suppose, and factual based. We have guests, you know, I think … I’m trying
to think what you call them in America, but you maybe call them an analyst … I
mean, if you’re an analyst or a guest, you know, that’s more when you’re in
a position where you’re being asked your opinion. And I do actually play
that role a couple of times a year, but it’s very rare that I would wear that
hat. And that’s been a conscious decision. And at the beginning of my broadcasting career, I
remember very clearly sitting down with my boss, Jason, and saying—he explained this
to me in black and white—and he said, “You’ve got a chance to have a really great career
in broadcasting. But the way broadcasting works, you’re in a unique position because normally we
have presenters that come quite often from like journalism school. And you know, they may be able
to present American football. They could present the soccer, they could present Formula One;
and they come into golf. Or we have, you know, a guy that’s played 15 years, won twice on the
PGA, and he’s coming in and sitting as an analyst or as a guest, you know? But you’re kind of a
hybrid of the two, and you’ve got to fit in both camps. But you need to make a decision about which
you’re going to nurture. You know, are you going to be the question asker from an informed place,
or are you going to be the question answerer? And you’re going to have to need a damn good reason
why people should trust what you’ve got to say.” So I looked at my career and my life and my
journey that I’d had, and also my skill set, and I decided—and with Jason as a mentor and as my boss
and advisor—that I would nurture being a question asker. So that’s where I’ve developed into the
role of the presenter where I would have two guests alongside me in the studio, and normally
I’m drawing out their opinions and their thoughts. Occasionally, because of the way the team
is, you have to be able to wear every hat in a broadcasting team occasionally, because
you just don’t know. Like somebody might get ill, and they might say, “Look, can you
do this?” You have to be able to adapt and be OK with that. But generally
speaking, I’m the question asker. In a commentary role, you’re literally just
stating facts. You’re saying what you see. You know, and again, the voice I’ve developed
as an on-course commentator … rarely when I’m commentating on men’s golf, rarely will
you, if ever, would you ever say … you know, I would never say like, “I wouldn’t play it like
that.” I would actually never use the word “I.” It’s something that I’m not to do. It’s not
something you’ll hear very often, certainly in British broadcasting. It’s always “we,” or
it’s the plural term because I am the eyes and the ears and the voice of the viewer really. And
I’m trying to say, you know, like, “We’re a bit surprised about that.” Very rarely would I make
it about me, but I’m saying what I see, and I’m trying to describe things. I’m trying to find
interesting ways to tell the viewer in a visual way what is going on. And that’s really exciting.
It’s a really, really fun thing to try and do. And like the final round of the Open Championship,
Rory and Matt Fitzpatrick … that day I was commentating on Matt Fitzpatrick. I’m sure
it was with Rory. And Matt pulled his shot at the third hole. It was a par three, and
it landed in a little divot. And you know, I could have just said like, “Ball’s in a divot,”
you know, there it is. But you’re constantly like, “This is a bad, bad lie. Like hard luck,
Matt. Now he’s got no chance of getting this up and down. He’s short-sighted. He’s
got no green to work with.” But your brain is going constantly into a creative space of
like, “How can I describe this better in a way that other people haven’t?” And you can’t
do that all the time, but in that instance, I guess being around Ireland and all the tales of
Ireland, I managed to come up with, “He’s found a golfing relic of a round gone by.” And it’s like
just an interesting way, or like different way, of saying the same thing, you know, and that’s
the challenge of commentary. It’s not really about my opinion, but it certainly requires effort
to be creative. And I love, I love being creative with this game and certainly with my vocabulary.
It’s really stretched my vocabulary in a brilliant way. And you learn about the words you lean on,
and they get highlighted. “Are you aware that you use the word ‘wonderful’ a thousand times a
day?” Or whatever your lean-on word is, you know? MASON: Haha, right. And you say “like”
to bridge things and you’re like … IONA: Yeah, or you say “um” in between
everything. So you pick up on these things, and feedback’s important in
that sense. But you know, the challenge of on-course commentary
is definitely a creative challenge. And then On the Road With Iona as a
separate platform is somewhere where I would maybe develop more of a voice and
more of an opinion about certain things. But On the Road With Iona isn’t an opinionated
channel. It’s a space that’s been designed to hopefully inspire and uplift people through
golf. And that is the essence of that channel. So the voice I try to have in that space is
very authentic. It’s definitely my voice, but it’s away from any political agenda or any
like controversy. We don’t jump on click-baity things. You know, that’s not the style that we
have. We try to have it as a place for good and, you know, to hopefully spread a bit of love
and more love and more joy in the world. And we use golf as the vehicle to do that. So
hopefully that’s answered that question. MASON: Yeah, but do you think that 300
years from now when they talk about all these different characters and golf through
the years that your small contribution might be about authenticity and positivity within
the game, maybe when it was needed in the world or something like that? I mean, do
you think about that as something you’re depositing and leaving behind here on
this earth or in the space of golf or …? IONA: Yeah, yeah, I think so. I think what
inspired me as well to create On the Road With Iona was the idea that we wanted
to create some time-capsuled pieces. So we wanted to speak to people who have
done remarkable things in the game of golf and outside the game of golf and time-capsule
them in a way that in a hundred years from now, or maybe 500 years from now, people think,
“Thank goodness that interview exists.” And you know, I feel like we’ve had a couple
of really special interviews. Butch Harmon’s interview was a particularly special one. We
did one recently with Sam Torrance, you know, one of the greatest Ryder Cup legends from the
Team Europe side of things. But that was the inspiration, was to capture people’s stories, to
give them a place to have a home. So it wasn’t really about me in the channel, but by default, by
creating these stories and giving people’s stories and lessons from life a home in a really beautiful
space. You know, we try to create the pieces that are quite well-curated and good production values
and in the hope that, in a hundred years from now, these stories will outlive us all. And you
know, there’s so many greats from the past that we don’t have. Like imagine if we had like a
really good interview with Ben Hogan or, you know, great characters from the past. And we don’t have
them, but we have the means to have them now. And you know, I wanted On the Road With Iona to be
a home for a lot of these time capsule pieces. And I also like to … occasionally we get
guests. I love to capture their thoughts at that moment in time. So it’s not just
people at the later stage of their journey, but also the interview we did with Adam
Scott, for example, is a lot about his longing to win the Claret Jug and to win the
Open. And I thought about the value of that, if he actually goes on to win the Open, and how
valuable that would be as a piece of content. MASON: Well, he was in the mix at
the U.S. Open. He’s an inspiration for people that aren’t 22 years old
and swinging it 130 miles an hour. IONA: Yeah, totally. He’s an inspiring guy. MASON: A couple of final questions for you. You
mentioned this earlier, and at the risk of getting extremely deep or existential, do you think that
the injury was part of some other bigger plan? Or do you think that life just kind of unfolds,
and that just sent you down a different road? IONA: I’m not sure I really have the answer
for that yet, because what I do think to be true is that we should never just be one thing
in life. And I believe that it’s OK to reinvent yourself time and time again in life. And I
learned a lot, and I was inspired to think this way through the … Michelle Obama’s book,
actually, Becoming. And in the book—the very opening chapter is worth a read if you don’t
make it to the whole thing, because it’s quite a big read—but she talks about the fear that
we have sometimes in life to reinvent ourselves because as a kid you’re always asked what you
want to be when you grow up. And you know, there’s this pressure to become one thing, and
it’s like if you don’t become it, then you failed. You know, that could be a fear that kids have
and certainly a fear that I had, you know? I dropped out of university, you know? I
changed university. I said no to a scholarship at Syracuse University to play field hockey,
to put all my eggs in one basket to become a professional golfer. And it failed. And I failed.
But that doesn’t necessarily make me a failure. You know, it’s that that particular quest, it
didn’t work out. But that is OK in life. And I think that sometimes we don’t celebrate that
enough. We don’t say, “Listen, like, you really, really tried,” and that is ultimately what
matters in life. Because if you’re not failing, then you’re arguably not trying enough things, you
know? So I think it’s OK to become many things. And you know, Mason, I hope that we have another
chance to chat in five years, and we can chat about what we’ve both become in the next five
years, because who knows what is next, you know? And I think that it’s a great gift in life to
have the courage to know that you can become something totally new if you want to—and
to give it a go, even if it doesn’t work out. And certainly, that’s what my life and
my little journey has taught me so far. And I think to strap yourself into something,
go for it 100%, and if it doesn’t work out, then you should still feel really proud
of yourself that you gave it a go. MASON: It’s incredible how many lessons
we extract out of golf. I know we can get these lessons from lots of places, but it
never stops giving us all these amazing, useful parallels and metaphors
for life. Thanks for sharing that. Final question I want to ask you, which I ask
everybody—when you think about the future of golf in any way that you want to think about it, what
makes you optimistic about golf looking forward? IONA: I think what makes me optimistic about
golf looking forward is the connection that it brings with people—you know, me and you
here today. And I think that the world, you know, the digital world that’s in this digital
revolution that we’ve experienced in our lifetime, but now more than ever with phones everywhere
and smartphones in kids’ hands—and, you know, AI is a whole other, like, chapter that’s
evolving in front of our very eyes—you know, the digital world is so powerful and
really overtaking a lot of the time that we have for connection. And golf for
me right now is the greatest thing in the world for connecting with people and connecting
together with family and friends and getting out somewhere where you can put your phone away.
And I personally think that’s very exciting. If it’s professional golf, the way that it’s
continuing to grow in both the men’s and the women’s game, that continues to be a big, big
light and an inspiration for people taking up the game, you know, that’s so important. And
I know that golf’s growing as a sport, and that makes me feel real hope. And I see friends of
mine that had no interest in golf taking it up and getting into it, whether that’s just as a range
golfer or, you know, casually doing it at small, short, nine-hole courses, whatever. I think
that to be part of the game of golf is truly one of the most brilliant gifts in life. And
I really, really mean that. And I think it gives me great hope for people that live for the
next 50 to 100 years, for the next generation, for my kids that are yet to come, for their kids,
for the next generations, because we still need to put our phones down and connect with one another.
And I think that golf’s a great excuse to do that. MASON: I couldn’t have said it better,
and you have matched everything that I’ve ever believed about the game, but
much more articulate coming from you. Based on what you said earlier about all of
your travel, I very much appreciate the time, particularly during an Open week. And good
luck. The list of things to say good luck for, I don’t even know—for broadcasting, for
On the Road, for your professional game, which we hope to maybe see a little bit
here and there, and for your future career, which it sounds like might be more
engaging golf lessons or teaching where … IONA: Haha. MASON: … without quite all the technical
jargon. So thanks so much. Appreciate it. IONA: Thank you so much, Mason. It’s been a joy. MASON: So that’s it for us
today. Thanks for listening. If you want to give Iona a follow on Instagram,
her handle is @ionastephen—it’s all one word, I-O-N-A-S-T-E-P-H-E-N. And be
sure to check out her website, ionastephen.com—and her YouTube channel, On the
Road With Iona. I’ll have links in the show notes. For all of Schwab’s golf content, including our
films, tournament news, and promotions, check out SchwabGolf.com. If you’ve enjoyed the show, which
we hope you did, we’d be really grateful if you’d leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating
on Spotify, or feedback wherever you listen. We’ll be back with a new episode in two weeks. For important disclosures, see the
show notes or visit schwab.com/TheGame.
