Words MARK TOWNSEND
By the age of 19, Iona Stephen had never played golf. With two big brothers, the Scot was always sporty growing up and she would represent her country at hockey at under-21 level, as well as excelling at squash. But she then went to university to study architecture in order to get a ‘proper job’ and a professional career seemed unlikely. In 2014, however, the Commonwealth Games would visit Scotland. In the hope of increasing the host country’s medal chances, a sport transfer scheme called ‘Gold for Glasgow’ was introduced that offered elite team athletes the chance to transfer to individual pursuits, and Stephen put herself forward. She had just tried her hand at golf with some of her hockey team-mates and had also been to watch the Women’s Open at Carnoustie in 2011 and had been transfixed. The only problem was that golf is not part of the Commonwealth Games.
“They pointed me in the right direction and I had some lessons with Kevin Craggs, who was a real motivator and he said that I had all the natural ingredients. Everybody thought I was mad, including my own family – Ihad never played and I wanted to become a professional. But I had a feeling in my gut that this was what
