Five professional wins, two Open Championship starts and a career spanning the globe haven’t satisfied Dimi Papadatos. The New South Wales Central Coast pro reflects on the sacrifices of tour life and why he still believes his best golf is ahead.
My Dad and I actually started playing golf at the same time, literally by accident. I came home from school one day and our dryer had caught fire in the garage, so we had to clean everything out. While we were doing that, I found an old set of golf clubs Dad had won in a raffle years earlier and had never used. We had a chip around in the front yard, then went to the park, then the driving range and eventually played nine holes at my local course, Toukley Golf Club on the New South Wales Central Coast. John Lewis, the head pro, signed me up to the junior cadet program, I got a handicap and it literally all started from there.
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I still remember rocking up to Toukley after soccer one morning wearing my soccer boots because I had no idea. No one really introduced me to the game. Dad came with me nearly every day and Mum would drop me at the golf course until dark whenever Dad was working. They sacrificed a lot so I could chase it. I always loved sport, but golf was the one that grabbed me.
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I loved competing and travelling, had a pretty good amateur career and turned professional at 21 after earning my card at Australasian Q-School while I was still an amateur. I knew I wanted to be a professional golfer, but I had no real idea what life on tour actually looked like. I learned as I went.
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I’ve been lucky enough to play all over the world. I spent time on the Asian Tour, seven years between the European Tour and Challenge Tour, a couple of seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour and now I’m back playing in Australia. I’d still love to get back overseas because that passion has never left.
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Europe was always my favourite place to play. Asia was great because it was close to home and America was an unbelievable experience, but Europe was hard to beat. The golf was fantastic, but it was everything outside golf as well. If you had a week off, you could be in Greece or Spain enjoying the beaches, restaurants and culture. America is very golf-focused. Europe gave you a chance to separate yourself from the game, and I think that’s really important over a long season. I’d love to get back there. I played a couple of Challenge Tour events recently on invites after not being there for three years and it reminded me exactly why I enjoyed it so much.
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I’ve been fortunate to have some incredible moments. Winning the New Zealand Open at 22 with one of my best mates, “Fordy”, on the bag will always be special. But winning in Portugal was probably the craziest week. I flew from Australia with conditional status for what I thought would be one tournament. I packed for one week, travelled by myself, didn’t have a caddie and there weren’t any other Aussies there. I won the tournament, threw the novelty cheque in the back of the rental car and drove to Lisbon before heading to Belgium for the next event. Suddenly I’d gone from one start to spending the next six months in Europe.
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People often don’t realise what professional golf is really like.There’s this perception that it’s glamorous, but unless you’re on the PGA Tour or LIV Golf, there’s very little certainty. You’re constantly fighting to keep your card, travelling from one country to another, spending long periods away from family and mates and sacrificing a normal life. Sometimes you invest everything into one week and come home with nothing. I’ve flown all the way to Scotland for Q-School or the Dunhill Links, missed the cut and then had to turn around and fly home. During Covid, I was stuck in Scotland for two weeks and it would’ve cost about $30,000 just to get home. They’re tough moments, but I’ve honestly never stopped wanting to do it. Results can make you question yourself and long stretches of poor golf can test anyone, but I’ve always had the desire to keep going.
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If my career ended tomorrow, I’d be proud of what I’ve achieved, but I don’t feel like I’m finished yet. I still believe my best golf is ahead of me. I’d definitely like to achieve more in the game, but I also think I’ve not always given myself enough credit for some of the things that I have done and that’s probably to my detriment. If you’d told me when I was starting out that I’d have five wins on tour, a runner-up finish in the Australian Open, a second at a Korn Ferry event in Chile, two British Open starts and passport stamps from all around the world, I’d have taken it.But at the same time, I want a lot more and I’m not really that satisfied and that’s probably why I’ve still got that drive to continue on. I don’t feel like I’ve quite put it all together for a period of time. I’ve had moments of really good golf, but I haven’t really put it together for a stretch of three or four years. I’m hoping that’s still ahead of me.
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Away from the fairways, I’m an ambassador for Lexus Australia. After I finished second at the 2018 Australian Open, I was approached by Lexus and had a chat to the general manager at the time, Scott Thompson. They were looking for a golf ambassador, and my name came up. I was obviously pretty excited about that and came on board. I’ve been with them now for the best part of seven or eight years. It’s been a great relationship. They’ve been very supportive of me and my career and travelling, and also got me involved in some really cool golf events – Melbourne Cups, all sorts of things. It’s been amazing. I’ve also opened an indoor golf simulator business on the Central Coast that’s going really well. I’m enjoying dividing my time up between playing on the tour and running a business.
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People love hearing about the time I “played” with Tiger Woods at The Open. It was my first major start, at Royal Portrush in 2019, and I was having a practice round with Ryan Fox and fellow Aussie Jake McLeod. “Foxy” invited us out so we booked in with him, as you do with the majors for your practice rounds, and hit a few balls on the range before we walked through the tunnel and ended up on the first tee with an odd number. There were quite a few people starting to gather around the first tee at 7:30am for a Tuesday and I wasn’t sure what was going on. I said to my caddie at the time, Luke Reardon, “What’s happening here?” And he said, “Oh, the Big Cat’s over your shoulder there.” Tiger ended up teeing off and his caddie Joe LaCava said, “If you don’t mind, we’ll just cut through. We’re going to play the first and cut through to the back nine, if that’s all right?” And then Tiger butted in and said, “I’ll just get out of your way if you like or, if you want to, just hit now and play the first hole with me, then I’ll get out of your way.” We all looked at each other and jumped at the opportunity to play the first with Tiger. And, of course, after his perfect 3-wood, he hit a nice, high-cut 7-iron to a foot and scooped it up and went on his way. I think he was hoping that by saying, “I’ll get out of your way,” he meant, Leave me alone, but I was like, No, no, no. You’re not going anywhere, mate [laughs]. So we were pretty happy we didn’t say no.