By Rob Willis
ANTHONY Gilligan was the classic golfing quiet achiever – until he wasn’t.
With the Japanese Tour receiving little publicity in Australia, Gilligan plied his trade away from the media spotlight while earning a nice living and forging a successful career.
However, Gilligan’s profile and status would change abruptly following a career-defining week in December of 1994, in one of the biggest and most prestigious tournaments on the Australian golfing scene at the time, when a Sunday 67 around the Royal Melbourne composite course saw him win the Greg Norman Holden Classic.
“I’d been in Japan four years. “You’re playing 22-23 tournaments a year up there and half a dozen at home. I’d had a couple of seconds in Japan that year so I guess I was just ready,” Gilligan said of his memorable triumph.
In showing skill and composure down the stretch, Gilligan held off the challenge of the tournament host and American Mark Calcavecchia, to claim his most significant professional victory.
However, in downplaying not so much the win, but his achievements during a 30-year pro career, Gilligan joked he probably wasn’t the player the crowds had expected to be lifting the trophy at the end of that week.
“I played with Glenn Joyner and we were in the ‘hot dog’ group. Guys turn up to the first tee, they get the pairings sheet – it’s Norman and (Ian) Baker-Finch on the first tee, then Gilligan and someone else, then after that it’s Rodger Davis and Pete Senior,” Gilligan teased.
“They say ‘perfect, we’ll watch the Shark and Finchy hit off, go and get a hot dog and then come back and watch Senior and Davis’. We were the hot dog group because Norman and Calcavecchia were behind us, and it might have been (Wayne) Grady and (Brett) Ogle in the group ahead. But hey, it was a great day.”
Gilligan’s was a golfing journey that began with a traineeship at the Dunheved Golf Club in Sydney’s west way back in 1982 and included the lengthy stint in Japan.
Along the way he would win the Iberaki Open in his first season in Japan in 1990, while also adding a victory at the 1988 Atlantic Classic in Canada to his golfing resumé.
“When I went to Japan you had Graham Marsh, Terry Gale, Brian Jones and Roger Mackay but they were all there by invitation,” Gilligan said.
“In 1989 I was the first Aussie to ever go to a Tour School in Japan. It was an ordeal. Three trips, two weeks at a time. But if you could get through it was fantastic. I was there 20 years and absolutely loved it.”
A growing family and problems with his hands saw him step away from competitive golf. Then, after being in the right place at the right time, coaching found Gilligan – rather than the other way around.
“I was Mr Mum and we went to Twin Waters to play tennis. My daughter was five or six. The tennis court was full, so we wandered over to the golf course,” he recalled.
“There were two guys coaching there at the time, Daniel Morrison and Mark Harrison, and they asked if I’d like to do some coaching. Then nine months later they left, and I was the golf coach at Twin Waters.”
After discussions with long-time Twin Waters general manager Steve Hutchison, Gilligan used his own capital to construct the Academy building with Grant Field, mentor of Cameron Smith, at one-time utilising the facilities for his coaching business.
“We moved in in 2010. I’ve got a golfing gym in there, a trainer and a couple of coaches. I’ve got a TPI accredited guy and I’m TPI accredited,” Gilligan explained.
“I enjoy the coaching, but I’m not a career coach. I’ll do some individual lessons if they ask for me, otherwise I’ll put them onto the other coaches.”
Unfortunately, playing golf isn’t something Gilligan manages to do much of these days … at least not from a competitive standpoint as a result of hand issues following four seasons on the Japanese Senior circuit.
“I’d worn out cartilage in three or four of my fingers, plus I had a little bit of arthritis. Practicing too much and the wrong way, which was what we did back then. I couldn’t hit the ball, couldn’t hit the ground,” he said.
However, rather than bitter about his playing days coming to an end, Gilligan is grateful for where he is now and what he was able to achieve.
“I can still play, but I can’t really hang onto the club. I’ll let go of them at times,” he said.
“Wednesday afternoon is the only day I play, but I’ve got no complaints. I had a great run. It was a blessing. I had nearly 30 years playing and loved every minute of it.
“I’d be still going if I could, but that’s just not possible.”
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