MARK Philippoussis, the ‘Skud’, is a name familiar to most Aussie sport fans. Who can forget his athleticism and tenacity at the Davis Cup in 1999 and again in 2003, with Philippoussis using his powerful serve and courage to help claim the coveted tennis title for his country.
Losing the final of the 1998 US Open to his good friend Pat Rafter was a bitter pill for then 21-year-old, who again was runner up in a major at Wimbledon in 2003 when a fledgling major champion named Roger Federer beat Philippoussis to win the first of his 20 major titles.
The mercurial Philippoussis is a patriotic Aussie, a dedicated family man, a keen surfer, and a frustrated golfer like the rest of us.
First picking up a golf club in his teenage years, he didn’t regularly play golf until injuries had curtailed his professional tennis career, a career that still sees him in high demand all over the world for exhibition matches, invitational tournaments, coaching and youth development.
Aussie tennis legend and 1987 Wimbledon champ Pat Cash connected Philippoussis to Inside Golf magazine in April, however with his hectic schedule taking him to various corners of the globe, including the USA for tour events, the UK for a five-week Wimbledon assignment, the US Open and back to Australia, in juggling his tennis roles and business commitments, it was almost six months later when this interview was ultimately conducted in the departure lounge at Melbourne airport before Philippoussis headed off to Scotland for a week of exhibition matches during the running of the Dunhill Links tournament.
When did you get into golf?
When we were on the tennis tour, at the players service area there was always the option for golf. A lot of the players would go and play on their days off. That is when I started.
There are some pretty good golfers in pro tennis, did you play with many of them?
For sure. A couple of really good players, like Tim Henman was playing off scratch. Aussie Scott Draper, I think he tried to turn pro? Scott Draper and his brother both have beautiful golf swings.
For me I would think to myself I run around chasing this yellow tennis ball for a living and sometimes it is moving at 200km/hr, how hard can it be to hit this little white ball that is just sitting there! But then you start playing and you can’t imagine how f’….ing difficult the thing is, when the ball is just sitting there in the same spot. It’s sitting there and I don’t have to run after it.
Touche, the great Peter Thomson used to say that of golf too. The ball is stationary. I guess at some point after your tennis career you got the golf bug proper.
Yeah, there were some guys on
the tour I was playing with around San Diego and they wanted to play for money, so I needed to get better, and fast! I started playing every week. Thankfully, Callaway in San Diego decked me out with a custom set, slightly longer shafts, fitted putter and the whole bit. I really had the bug for a while there.
Do you play many pro-ams?
I love The Jack. Jack Newton and his family are just wonderful people. I hope to get there again this year. I first played that when I was 18-years old. Jack was an amazing human being.
Official handicap?
I was on 5.2 when I was playing often.
How do the top players today compare to 20 years ago?
It is brutally tough at the top end of tennis with guys like Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz on another level. It is a highly physical game.
A bit like golf, a lot has changed with the technology in tennis with the rackets and the strings. A lot of guys can now hit a serve over 200km/hour. I see it in golf, how the technology changes how far the men and women can hit it and the courses are having to be lengthened. I mean they must, otherwise we will be watching them hitting pitching wedges into par fives.
We used to see you on billboards as a model for some of the biggest brands, but more recently you have started your own Made in Australia apparel?
Yeah, it’s called As We Create; and we focus on ‘luxury basics’.
I started a t-shirt line when I was living in San Diego and had always been interested in the creative side of design. We were in some great stores in New York and going well, but when my son was born in 2014, we stopped and since we relocated back to Australia, now I’m getting back into it. Right now, we are working on the active wear range, which is the sort of clothes I wear every day and great for the golf course, surfing, tennis, walking and being out and about.
People struggle to get their head around a $70 t-shirt when they can buy one for $20. But when they buy one for $70 and still have it in ten years’ time it starts to make sense. Long term it is good for the planet, and more affordable.
Courses you’ve played.
I played a lot around San Diego, Pebble Beach, Scotland, but I can’t really remember all the names of the courses. In Australia, 13th Beach. I play Torquay a bit and want to get to play Barwon Heads. Usually, these days when I am playing golf it is when I am away from home, on tour and working. When I am at home, I am with my family and relishing everything that being a dad involves.
You had your first hole in one recently?
Yeah, in Mexico at a private course where a friend of mine owns a villa, in Chileno Bay, Cabo. It is totally private and everyone has to have a shot of tequila on the first tee in a shot glass (that is made out of ice) and then you throw the shot glass at a bucket nailed to a cactus bush about 20 meters away by the first tee. If you get the glass in the bin, you must have another shot and so on. So here is me, fully relaxed, barefoot, in surf shorts, using hired clubs and I think by the time I had the hole-in-one I had several tequilas and ended up having my best round of golf ever – two-over 74.
Hole number 14, it was uphill, and 182 yards and I hit a 7-iron exactly at the spot I was seeing. We couldn’t see the bottom of the flag, but I knew it was good. When we got up to the green, I was thinking ‘oh no, maybe it has rolled off,’ but then I started thinking ‘what if it’s in the hole!’ Sure enough, it was. My friend has it on video. It is on my Instagram.
You have been training the Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2023. Have you played golf with him at all?
I was in Indian Wells, Palm Springs this year working with Tsitsipas and his agent and manager wanted a day off to go play golf. They were going on about this super exclusive course they wanted to play, but thought we were no chance. I happened to know the tournament director of Indian Wells and asked him if he could get us on a good course the following day. He rang back and said, ‘you are on at 10am at Porcupine Creek.’ Now this golf course is probably the most exclusive club in America, owned by Larry Ellison the billionaire founder of Oracle. They were like ‘are you kidding me’. I had no idea it was so exclusive. When we got to the course the following morning there was this huge timber gate, like huge, like something out of King Kong and security had my picture already and said they were not expecting us for another 30 minutes. When they escorted us in, it was mind blowing. There was not a piece of grass out of place, like a divot would be a unicorn, it was all so perfect it almost looked fake. We get to the small golf starters clubhouse and there is any food you could imagine, all laid out and they offered me any brand of golf clubs I wanted. Brand new ones. Brand new Titleist Pro V practice balls. I put them in my pocket. We had the whole 18-hole course to ourselves. It was like a Willy Wonker type moment in the chocolate factory. That was myself, his agent and his manager.
