Player Q&A with Terry Pilkadaris

In the first of our new monthly Player Q&A series, we talk to Australian Terry Pilkadaris – not only the winner of three titles on Tour but also runner-up on nine occasions. It was a good time to speak to him as he had just come out of lockdown in Melbourne and has recently been nominated into the Asian Tour Tournament Players’ Committee.

This week the lockdown was lifted in Victoria – for the second time this year. You must be relieved. How difficult was the experience for you?

It was kind of hard. We got through it. You can’t do anything. We had a lot of restrictions: we could only travel 5km, that was the maximum we could travel, and we could only get out for an hour of exercise a day. So it was quite strict. We were locked down 23 hours a day so you look forward to your one hour of exercise.

What did you spend your time doing?

I got engaged in late August! In lockdown, Victoria and I were spending all this time together and we were getting along really well so I thought we should do the right thing. She has been great to me, we have travelled the last couple of years together out on Tour and she has been an absolute delight to be with. We have had an absolute ball.

And, I have been doing my PGA of Australia accreditation. So I was doing assignments and things like that. It is called a bridging course, so I get qualified to teach, be a club professional, and manage a pro shop.

I was teaching online as well, so people would send some stuff in and I would do some work with them.

When was the last time you played golf?

I think I played a game in June. I have basically played 18 holes since the Bandar Malaysian Open in March. I played a team event with Peter Wilson and we lost on the 19^th hole and I thought, right that’s me done for now. I have been a Touring professional for 21 years and when you have no tournaments in sight there is no interest in practicing. The big thing is the thrill of the competition and we haven’t had that for a while.

But I needed a break as I was burnt out. We didn’t really stop from the end of last year. A six-week break would have been fantastic but unfortunately it’s been a lot longer, everyone has been struggling and locking down, so I have had a longer break.

Difficult to say but what are your plans?

We have just got to wait and see what happens with events. I think I would have got a start this week on the European Tour in Cyprus. There are a couple of events there. The problem we have though is I have not picked up a golf club since June, and haven’t been able to step foot on a golf course for 12 weeks. And then I would have to quarantine when I got back home – sit in a hotel for two weeks. It wasn’t a viable option to fly all the way to Europe and back. The problem with that is they also limit the number of people flying back into Australia – so it could take longer to get back.

How were you playing before lockdown in March?

I was playing pretty good. I had a top-10 in Hong Kong in January. I finished middle of the pack in New Zealand in March but I was running out of gas: I think I only had 10 days off between the Australian PGA at the end of last year and then Hong Kong this year. I was looking forward to a break but now it is frustrating, I wanna get out and play again. I will do some teaching and when we get a definite idea of when the tournaments come I will start prepping.

Have you been working on your fitness?

Yes. I am four to five weeks into a 12-week programme. It is a club head speed programme, so I am working with Paul Mews, who is a long-drive guy ranked in the top-five in Australia and also a personal trainer. He has written up some programmes for me. So I have increased my driver head speed by six miles an hour and we want to get it up to 10 miles an hour quicker – so we are on our way. It is a 45-mnute programme, five days-a-week. There is a lot of body weight stuff and band work. When I get back on Tour this will help me get some extra distance which will be a huge bonus. I need an extra 10 metres. But doing all these burpees I realize I am not 25 anymore. I don’t know what happened, I remember being 31 and now I am nearly 47!

This weekend will be the 16^th anniversary of your win at the Sanya Open – which came a week after you won the Crowne Plaza Open in Shanghai. You must still remember those amazing two weeks well?

Absolutely. The first one, Crowne Plaza at Tomson Golf Club. We had played the BMW Asian Open there in May and as soon as I found out it was on I thought I can win this one because I liked the course and it just suited my eye. Leading up to it I was playing well and should have won the Korean Open but finished fourth and finished second in the Taiwan Open a few weeks later. I just played nicely and didn’t make too many mistakes. It helped the course was set up like a Sandbelt course in Australia – the greens were fast and firm.

Sanya was a different type of golf course, it was windy, but I was shooting the lights out and playing well. I ended up in a play-off with Clay Devers and I remember his caddie looked as if he had 10 Red Bulls, he was just bouncing off the walls and was really pumped up, more than Clay. I won it on the second play-off hole after hitting my second to a foot. Clay had a 40 footer for birdie and after he missed he picked up my marker and congratulated me but the ref stepped in and said no no I had to putt out. But I tapped it in and all of a sudden it’s back-to-back wins. Wow! It was bizarre.

The Korean Open was a big influence. I had the lead and I was playing with Ernie Els – who was number three in the world at that time. I was going toe-to-toe with him. I was leading by four at one point and had a one-shot lead going into Sunday but I made triple on 14. But I was talking to Ernie afterwards and I asked him what do you think of my game and he was full of praise and that gave me the confidence to go on.

This week you were elected to the Tournament Players’ Committee of the Asian Tour. What are some of the things you are hoping to achieve?

I have been out here long enough and feel like I can contribute. It’s going to be a lot of work and I am looking forward to it. I want to go more on the players perspective and I have some ideas on what I would like to see happen. Having been out here 21 years I have seen how some things have worked and how some things haven’t worked. But I am really looking forward to getting going once the Tour is up and running. I definitely feel revived and ready to go!

Ends.

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