In an interview on Adelaide radio station 5AA with AFL identity Graham Cornes on Wednesday night, the 27-year-old South Australian, who now lives in Los Angeles suburb of Bel Air, raised the old issue of lesbianism in women's professional golf.

"The tour has got so much better with so many young stars and great players. But the mentality, unfortunately, amongst the media and the industry hasn't changed," Rawson said.

"They still think we're at 25 years ago, you know, when the tour was full of, you know, a lot of dykes and unattractive females that nobody wanted to watch. It's totally changed but they still won't give us TV time."

It was an indelicate remark, no doubt made without thought of its consequences. In 1995, English golf commentator Ben Wright was sacked after 23 years with the American CBS television network for comments, which he denied he made, to a Delaware newspaper. "Let's face facts. Lesbianism in the sport hurts women's golf. When it gets to the corporate level, that's not going to fly."

Rawson, who last year made just $US62,000 in 13 events (missing the cut in eight) in her rookie year on the US LPGA Tour, was talking to Cornes, who is a family friend; her father Jim played in a premiership with Glenelg in the SANFL. Word of the interview reached Royal Pines on the Gold Coast where the ANZ Ladies Masters is being played.

After she signed for a second-round two-under-par 70 for a three-under total at the halfway mark, she came to a media conference where she was asked whether she regretted the remarks and also if she felt it was offensive to those LPGA members of 25 years ago.

"I wasn't talking about my opinion at all. That's not how I saw the tour 25 years ago because 25 years ago I was just two years old. I was just making a reference to how society sees women's golf as a whole, not necessarily women's golf in Australia," she said.

"It's just amazing how many great young players we have out here yet society and the media here hasn't caught on to that and taken advantage of that. That's what I was talking about.

"Perhaps I should not have said it. I was talking about what I'd heard or what people have told me. That's what society has unfortunately believed. They haven't come out and seen what we're about, how much we've grown."

Rawson continued to insist the view she'd expressed wasn't her opinion, but that of society. An apology for her remarks wasn't immediately forthcoming, rather saying she was caught off guard by the radio interviewer.

Then, finally, she said it: "I hope I haven't offended anyone. That's not what I wanted to do. I'd never want that to happen. I sometimes get heated, passionate. It's my job."

Rawson received no sympathy from ALPG chief executive Warren Sevil, who sat through her media grilling - after which she burst into tears.

"She was not misunderstood. She said it," Sevil said later. "She did not preface her statement with it being the opinion of society so it had to be perceived as her comment. From my perspective it's disappointing because she made those comments. I took them being about the Australian media and Australian golf industry."

Rawson, the 1999 South Australian and Victorian junior amateur champion, attended the University of Southern California and turned professional in late 2004. In four years on the Ladies European Tour, her best finish was second in the 2007 Swiss Open. But the headlines she's created are photo shoots as a professional model, which she lists as another career path. She says she used interviews accompanying the glamour photographs as a way to spread the gospel of women's golf.

But, then there have been the other interviews, like the one in Men's Health magazine in September last year.

A section of the article read: "'I have penis envy,' Rawson lets slip as she sits in the corner lounge of an upscale Manhattan hotel. 'I could never be with a woman, because I'm just fascinated by what men can do with their bodies that we can't.' She says this loudly, as if she's often asked about the lesbian subculture that exists in her line of work - professional golf. Then she leans in conspiratorially, whispering, 'This interview will definitely get me in trouble."'

Yesterday she said of that article: "I do envy men. I think if I was a man, I'd be a bit different. It was just a comment. Silly really."

The ALPG can take no action as Rawson is not a member. She says: "I live in America and I'm unable to come back and play in the events. I also have another career. I do modelling, I do writing. It's hard for me to come back."

She is playing in the Masters as a member of the LET, which co-sanctions the event with the ALPG.