| 20 Questions With Canada's Derek Gillespie |
Page 1 of 4  Derek Gillespie Represents Canada's Hopes On This Year's Version Of The Big Break Held On Beautiful Prince Edward Island - Image Courtesy Big Break PEI ed. note: Recently Gayle Moss, the newest regualr contributor to Inside Golf, had an interesting Q and A with Canada's Derek Gillespie about his thoughts regarding his appearance on the Big Break PEI, being a professional golfer, eating his favourite foods, drinking beer and chasing women. Not necessarily in that order.  Sign Up For iG's E-Newsletter HERE Are You Inside Golf? by Gayle Moss Every spring, golf addicts like me can’t wait for three things: 1. Our first game of the season 2. The Masters 3. The debut of the next Big Break on Golf Channel Well, the first one’s down - it’s officially golf season in my house, much to the children’s chagrin. The Masters is finally here, and the next Big Break is about to kick off eleven weeks of crazy stunts (glass breaking, wall shots, etc), fierce competition and, of course, Big Break drama. I can’t wait! And what’s even better is that this 11th series of the Big Break was filmed in Canada’s own, PEI. And if that wasn’t enough, there is a fellow Canuck in the mix, Derek Gillespie, from Oshawa, Ontario – Go Canada! I had the pleasure of chatting with the 30-year old Canadian Tour winner to learn more about his golf career and his experience on Big Break PEI. Gayle Moss - Inside Golf: So Derek, how did it all start for you? When did you start golfing and what made you choose golf as your career? Derek Gillespie: You know, I was like every Canadian growing up. I played hockey between the ages of 4 and 16/17, played summer hockey and lacrosse. But then I got injured when I was about 11 or 12 and had to quit summer hockey and lacrosse. So my dad took me to the driving range and he could see that I could hit the ball; I just kind of fell in love with golf. Being part of a team sport my whole life, then going to the golf course and battling just myself, it was kind of a treat. So my dad signed me up for this public golf course in Oshawa and it just escalated from there. I entered a couple of junior events and did well, and eventually won the Ontario juvenile/junior. And then I qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur, played well and got recruited by a few schools. I eventually went to the University of Arizona, went down there, and was beating all these guys. So after school, I made the decision to turn professional. I’ve done okay playing professionally, and obviously the goal for me is to get to the PGA Tour, but it’s been 8 or 9 years and that hasn’t happened. It gets a little irritating when you hear friends making all kinds of money and being successful and you’re still grinding it out on the mini tours. That’s tough to take, but it is what it is. I know I can get there; it’s just a matter of getting there <chuckle>.  Fellow Canadian Mike Weir Sees Great Things For Gillespie DG: I know Mike a little bit; whenever we see each other, we chat. I played a practice round with him in the Canadian Open in 2007. Yeah, right after school, I played amateur golf that summer and represented Canada in the World Amateur in Germany and then I got a sponsor’s invitation to play the Canadian Open. I believe I was the only Canadian to make the cut at Glen Abbey, the year that Tiger won. You get on TV when it’s your first professional event; yes, they made a big deal out of it. And then the next year was a bit of a struggle, but then the two years after that, I won on the Canadian Tour and came 3rd on the money list. But I just never really made it past Q-school. That’s always frustrating. GM-IG: Does Mike ever provide any advice? DG: If I ever called him I think he would help me, but he’s a busy guy and I don’t want to go there. I keep in contact with his caddie, Brendon quite a bit. He’s actually been pretty cool. I’ve played with Mike a couple of times and he obviously liked my game and liked what he saw, but at the same time, it’s a lot of hard work to get where he’s at, and we all realize that now after spending 8 or 9 years grinding it out. He did the same thing for a long time, too, on the Canadian Tour. So hopefully one of these years I can go out and prove myself and compete at the highest level. GM-IG: You’ve struggled moving beyond the mini-tours, but you had a great ending in 2008 – a 5th place finish at the Seaforth Country Classic with all four rounds under 70. That has to give you confidence going into 2009. Can you point to anything in particular that you did at the end of last year that helped you end so strongly? DG: At the end of the year last year I started assessing my game after I missed the 2nd stage at Q-school. You know, it seems like every good year I have on the Canadian Tour (coming third a couple of times and winning), it seems like the following year, it’s really tough. After missing Q-school it’s hard to get yourself back up to play another season knowing that you could have been playing the Nationwide or PGA Tour. I think midway into the summer it was kind of a mental game for me. I just said, “Okay, this is where you are at for now, so build up for the fall.” But, I went to register for the Tour Championship and then forgot to commit, so I missed that. It was totally my fault. But like you said, my year ended on a positive, so I wanted to take away some things from my last few events and Q-school. For the most part I played decent – maybe 2 rounds out of the 8 were a little shaky, but I got through the first stage, but then one mediocre day on second stage caused me not to get through. It’s disappointing after 8 or 9 tries at it, knowing you are pretty close. I think I was at 10th spot after 2 days and then I shot 2 over the 3rd day and that just killed me. But, you know, you’ve got to stay positive and keep trucking. |
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