At the very top level of golf, the money can be eye-watering.
Millions upon millions in prizemoney, private jets, courtesy cars and more: The potential payoff for grinding away, and achieving success on lucrative Tours around the world, can plunge golfers into a new reality altogether.
Watch the final two rounds of the WA Open LIVE on Fox Sports, available on Kayo from 17–18 October.
Between October and March, the carrot dangles Down Under for players who dare dream of living that reality — where prize funds can range from the USD$4 million on offer at this week’s DP World India Championship, to the whopping sums of more than USD$20 million at the majors.
By comparison, this weekend at the WA Open, players will compete for a total prize fund of AUD$200,000.
But players in the field know that just one good week could secure elevation from the PGA Tour of Australasia to these big-money events.
While waiting for these opportunities in the quieter months of the year, the life of those professional golfers, not yet enriched by the PGA Tour’s – or LIV Golf’s – deep pockets, takes on a far more grounded image.
For the likes Jack Munro, Dimi Papadatos and James Gibellini, those are months to turn to a variety of side hustles — at least when not playing a single day pro-am or heading overseas.
“I played a long time overseas, for years in Asia, over in Europe for quite a long stint, and then a couple years on the Korn Ferry (Tour), and once I lost my status, I had a little bit of time at home,” Papadatos, a four-time winner on the Australasian Tour, said.
“Playing on the Aussie Tour, it’s a really good schedule, but it’s not a big schedule, so there’s a lot of time to fill, and I thought it’d be a great opportunity – golf’s booming – and it’d be a good industry to get involved in.”
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Papadatos’ foray into golf business is an indoor golf simulator centre in his home region of the Central Coast. Success of InSim Golf in its first year has led to the opening of a second location.
“I was hopeful it was going to go alright. We’re going pretty good and we’ve had a lot of interest in the Central Coast,” Papadatos said.
“We opened the one in Tuggerah up, and it was quite popular, and a lot of people were coming up from the southern end of the coast, inquiring when we’re going to open one down their end, and so we thought, ‘we might as well roll the dice and give it a go’.
“So now I’m really in deep.”
Supported in his efforts by the close-knit Aussie Tour community – especially on social media, where Papadatos claims videos of him in a builders belt are genuine hands-on-the-tools moments – Papadatos believes work offers balance in the unbalanced world of professional golf.
“I do appreciate what I do. I always have, but golf’s pretty brutal when it’s not going well. I think it’s nice to have the balance,” he said.
“Every day is not dictated by how you go on the golf course. I can always get into some emails and start thinking about prioritising other things.”
Prioritising is important, too, for Gibellini, who returns to the Australasian Tour this season after a trip to Q School, and multiple stretches away from tournament golf following a battle with vertigo.
A former Queensland representative teammate of Cam Smith, Gibellini is now based in Victoria where he juggles tournament starts with a role on the railways, teaching golf, and a burgeoning baking business headed by his wife, Miranda.
“My wife does this as well, but we’re track force protection coordinators, which is like safety work in the railway where basically any labour that needs to be done in the Melbourne metro network, you need protection set up,” Gibellini explains.
“It’s all night shift most of the time, so I’ve been doing that for eight years now. I feel like I’ve got two or three lives that I live.
“James the rail worker, James the quality control cookie-eater and James the golfer, and then there’s James the coach now.”
The quality control role also involves occasional work at market stalls for Bake with Mimi, as he aims to learn the business ropes in real time – no doubt a similar experience to that of his wife when she was told he plays golf for a living.
“Probably laughed at that, true,” Gibellini said when discussing the shoe now on the other foot.
“She’s been a great supporter of my golf … I feel like I’m returning the favour as much as I can.
“At the start when she said she was going to sell cookies. I asked her how much she was going to charge, and she said, $7, and I kind of laughed it off, like, ‘no one’s buying a cookie for $7’ … and they just fly off the shelf.”
Creating shelf-appeal is part of Munro’s second job, which might now be his number one.
His mission with Ornum clothing has proven to be something a little grander than just cashing in on golf’s participation boom.
“Started during COVID. Just sitting around, thought I should do something,” Munro said of his clothing business, which has product sold in an increasing number of pro shops around the country.
“I wasn’t sure if I’d be back playing, and then it was just like a perfect storm, really. I was trying to do some other stuff, that didn’t work out, and then it was probably a glass of red pondering going, ‘okay, maybe we can make this happen’.”
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“This” is a business built to support his fellow Tour players with clothing, and financial opportunities through commissions, and social media and YouTube content. The business’ athletes include the likes of Gibellini, last week’s WA PGA winner Justin Warren, and former Order of Merit winner Jake McLeod.
“I for some reason just don’t want to just get by … I’d like to think I’ve got a bit more to offer, or I want to do certain things,” Munro said of chasing multiple dreams at one time.
“I really hope that I can build this thing that I think I could have benefitted from and give guys more freedom to not have to think like that. Because I actually think it’s getting, well, it is getting harder and harder, financially, competitively.
“It wasn’t as expensive when I started, you could do it on shoestring and it was okay.
“But it’s not like that now.”
Spending time playing in Europe and Asia, Munro has at times worked as a cardiac technician and in sports betting, with the Queenslander one of the few who hedged his bets from the beginning of his career.
“Even probably since I started, really,” Munro said when asked the time he felt a second income might be needed.
“I wasn’t ever sure if it (golf) was going to be just the thing, so, I went to uni and then I went and did my MBA while I was playing Europe.”
Papadatos hopes the next generation on Tour can put their focus explicitly on golf and getting from their home Tour to bigger and better things.
“For the younger guys coming through, I don’t really think they should be looking at doing something else when they’re wanting to go overseas and get that experience,” he said.
“You’ve got to be chasing really hard all the time.
“But for me I’ve always been interested in business and curious.”
The same curiosity is clearly strong in Munro and Gibellini, who added: “It’s probably the worst part about exactly our level, and playing the Aussie Tour, that it is such a fun time to play with all your mates.
“You’re always just chasing that carrot that’s dangled in front of you, and I think I’ll do it for different reasons now. I do it because I love it.”
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