WAYNE PARSKE

It's a long, tough uphill slog to go professional and work up a solid and respected position in the world of professional sports. Wayne Perske, an Australian golfer and family guy, tells us how he chose to follow the path of competitive sports on his own terms, unexpectedly finding sustained and fulfilling career success in Japan.

G’Day Japan! managed to track down the jetsetting Aussie golfer Wayne Perske, back home with his family for just a week before zooming off to tee it up again in Japan. Wayne has quite a reputation in the Asian golf scene as a solid player with an impressive record, and we chatted to Wayne about his busy career in professional sports as he recharged back at his home base in Brisbane.

“I started playing in Japan sort of as a segue into competitions in Europe and the U.S.” Wayne explains, “I found that the Japanese courses really suited my game, however, and I liked the culture.” The impetus for Wayne’s first trip to play competitive golf in Japan came from Wayne’s good friend Brendan Jones, who was having a very successful career in Japan, prompting Wayne to go out on a limb and give the Japanese courses a try. “I worked really hard to get my game ready before I went to Japan,” Wayne explains, “I really didn’t know what to expect, but I won my first tournament when I arrived.”

After five years of regular time spent in Japan, Wayne is a regular feature on the golf scene, and has a firm enough grasp of the language to get by. When Wayne is back in Brisbane he even sometimes finds himself longing for the rainy Japanese weather…! Wayne is a seemingly down to earth family guy who juggles the rigours and ups and downs of competitive golf with aplomb. Remarkably, the international career in sports seems to work well for the Perske family on a pragmatic level: “Japan suits me really well because I still like to live in Australia and travel to Japan is easy for me, with my young family.” Wayne is now a regular on the professional Japanese golf scene, and finds himself in Japan about 25 weeks a year, doing 3 or 4 weeks of golf at a time, before heading back home for one or two weeks.

Wayne and his wife Vanessa have two small kids, Lais, 5, and Billy, who is 3. Vanessa and the kids often manage to accompany Wayne to Japan, especially now that the kids are getting a bit older and can handle the train travel, “there’s less hassle with prams,” Wayne explains with his irrepressible good humour. The family managed to be in Japan together four times in 2009, and this year plan to be there together two or three times. At the time of the conversation the family had just returned from Nagoya, and it seems they cannot get enough of the place: “my daughter loves Japanese food more than Japanese kids do,” Wayne laughs, “and they’ve been to Disneyland a couple of times.”

“What appeals to me is that Japan is a very secure place, its an enjoyable place to live – nice and safe with no crime,” he tells us. “For a long time I played high level amateur golf, and this was a good idea – I really needed the experience before I turned pro when I was 25. I always recommend this to other guys, to not get ahead of themselves and turn pro too early. I was properly ready when I turned pro and went to Japan.”

“The level of golf in Japan is very high,” Wayne explains, “there are many excellent home players who don’t seem to travel much, so there is always a very good standard.” Whilst the suitability of the Japanese golf courses and the solid regular competition were what brought Wayne to Japan, it seems he’s also found a genuine mateship in perhaps the least likely of places.

Wayne stresses that he has met some wonderful people through golf. He is sponsored by Septem, a cosmetics company, and in Wayne’s words “they are just the nicest bunch of people.” “In Japan, they say that companies don’t last forever, but friends do. I’ve been welcomed as family by many of my Japanese friends and colleagues, and I know that we will be friends long after my career is over. This is something I appreciate and something that I do feel is lacking in Western societies, ”Wayne tells us. Wayne has no plans to go to the States anytime soon, and would like to see some more wins in the upcoming year in Japan. “I really feel my game is coming around,” Wayne says, “and I am looking forward to a big year ahead.”

Wayne and his wife are even considering buying a property over in Japan so that they can have a more solid base there, and in addition to getting stuck in to some superb golf, Wayne will work on consolidating and strengthening his Japanese fan base.