Q Golf - Official online magazine for Golf Queensland Spring 2015 | Page 32

DR PHIL NO LONGER
A SLEEPING GOLFER
By Tony Dukin
Using a vivid imagination and drawing a very long bow, PGA
Legends Tour member Phil Melksham could be likened
to Superman.
No, he doesn’t display superhuman qualities on the golf
course and he isn’t petrified by kryptonite. But when he
changes from his theatre cap and gown to his FootJoy attire,
he does take on a totally different persona.
Dr Phil Melksham is an anaesthetist, and has been for the
past 15 years. During that time he has continued to carry
his childhood dream of being a professional golfer, although
medicine and a young family curtailed his passion to just
one or two social rounds a year. That, however, changed
in January last year when, as a recently-turned 50 year-old,
Phil finished third at the Legends Q-School in Melbourne.
Suddenly he became a professional golfer and a legend, albeit
for ‘old blokes’.
Managed by the PGA of Australia, the E-Z-GO PGA Legends
Tour is the pro circuit for professional golfers aged 50 and
over. Around 70 tournaments are played annually throughout
Australia and New Zealand, with more than $1 million in prize
money.
Among those regularly playing on the Legends circuit are
Rodger Davis, Peter Fowler, Mike Harwood, Mike Clayton and
Peter Senior, while former major championship PGA winners
Wayne Grady and Ian Baker-Finch compete when time
permits.
But Phil, after winning just $3533 from the 28 tournaments
he played in 2014, obviously has to maintain his other
profession as an anaesthetist in Brisbane’s Spring Hill
medical precinct.
“My professional colleagues, my wife Deb and four sons
are very understanding and are happy for me to follow my
dream,” he said. “Last year I took eight weeks annual leave
- in various lots – and many weekends are golf occupied as
well. But it has been a dream since I was a teenager and to
realise that dream is really wonderful.”

He moved to Brisbane to finish his schooling, joined
Indooroopilly Golf Club and was offered a traineeship at
McLeod Golf Club in 1981, but university and a career in
another, more stable profession, beckoned. “And there were
more girls at uni,” he quipped.
From then love, life and his medical career blossomed, and
golf took a back seat. But at age 32 he joined Pacific Golf Club
and then The Brisbane Golf Club, soon reduced his handicap
to one and the long-held dream was re-ignited. During
this time he also met his beautiful wife Deb and her four
wonderful boys, and started mixing fatherhood and golf.
Now, finally as that professional golfer, success has been
limited. But he has enjoyed every minute and has absolutely
no regrets about what many may consider a rather bizarre
career move.
“I love golf for the game it is, and I can’t think of another
sport I’d like to play more,” he said. “I have had a fantastic
time playing on the Legends Tour. And it is not just the golf,
but the wonderful people we meet – the other pros, the
amateurs and the sponsors.
“You couldn’t get a friendlier bunch of guys than those on
the tour, and they are always willing to help the rookie.” This
year Phil has played only 18 tournaments and is 70th on the
money list, so he has work to do to keep his card. And he
wants desperately to do that, because he still has goals
to reach.
“My absolute dream is to
play in the same group as
guys like Roger Davis, who
has been a golfing idol of
mine,” he said. “But like
everything in life, we have to
earn the right and I can only
do that by playing good golf.”

From the sand greens of Charleville to the nine holes at
Biggenden, Phil plied his trade as a junior champion. His
parents lovingly drove him to tournaments throughout the
Wide Bay area and had him coached by Jimmy Bardon at
Maryborough who, as fate would have it, is now coaching him
again at Brisbane’s Victoria Park.

32 Q Golf Spring 2015

www.golfqueensland.org.au

A dream of Phil’s was to turn
Pro and at 50 he did just that.