Where are they now: Tadd Fujikawa, who shot 62 at 2009 Sony Open, is now a pickle ball pro
The name Tadd Fujikawa sparks all sorts of memories for golfers.
The 5-foot, 1-inch Hawaiian-born golfer qualified for the 2006 U.S. Open at age 15, the youngest to do so. One year later, he qualified for the 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii. In 2009, he shot a third-round 62, which he describes on his PGA Tour profile as “the most thrilling moment of my golf career.”
He started the final round in serious contention for the trophy only to fade on Sunday and finish T-32. That year, he made four Tour starts thanks to sponsor exemptions but that turned out to be his peak. He made just 15 career Tour starts in all and won just $130,917.
In 2018, Fujikawa announced on Instagram that he is gay, becoming the first openly gay male professional golfer, but his efforts to make the PGA Tour fizzled on the mini tours. Standing on the practice range at Waialae Country Club earlier this week at the Sony Open, site of his greatest achievements, Fujikawa’s name entered the conversation among several equipment reps watching another 15-year-old curiosity, Mao Matsuyama, hit balls, as a where are they now? Danielle Tucker’s radio show, The Golf Club, provided the answer: he’s living in St. Simons Island, Georgia, as the head pickleball professional at Sea Island Resort.
“I just really love it, it’s super-fun,” he said of the fast-growing game that he described as table tennis on a bigger court. “I get to meet a lot of people and my life took a turn. It’s something completely different.”
Indeed, it is. And perhaps his biggest revelation during the radio interview? “I haven’t played a full round of golf in three years,” he said.
Fujikawa, 34, said that making it in pro golfer is “a grind,” and added, “it’s only getting more and more difficult” with more and more young talent sprouting up all the time around the world. He conceded that living up to expectations after his early success added extra pressure as he tried to navigate the world of professional golf.
“Did it ever wear you down?” Tucker asked. “For sure. I played professional golf for 15 years and over time it definitely takes a toll on you,” he said. “Life throws you curveballs every once in a while, so, it was definitely tough.”
He added: “The experiences I’ve had and the opportunities I’ve gotten through playing golf and being in the golf world are things I don’t regret at all.”
Fujikawa started playing tennis recreationally a few years before he picked up pickleball in 2021.
“I played pickleball one time and I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness! I’m so screwed. What’s going to happen to my tennis? I’m so addicted to pickleball.’ I love this. It’s so fun,’” he told Hawaii News Now in 2023.
Fujikawa still was concentrating on playing golf full time, but later that year in 2021, he went to Q-School and missed second stage by a stroke. That coincided with the Sea Island Retreat Tennis Center debuting eight dedicated pickleball courts, all of which are lighted for nighttime play. The resort needed a pickleball pro and offered the job to Fujikawa.
“Initially, I thought I’d try it out and play golf on the side,” Fujikawa told Tucker on the radio show.
He now gives private and group lessons and runs clinics and said of the sport, “Golfers pick up pickleball pretty fast. There’s something about pickleball that sucks you in. It’s definitely an addiction.”
A new passion for Fujikawa turned into a new career and he said he hopes to get back into playing golf at some point but he’s found a different type of happiness having a steady job with a regular paycheck.
“It’s no stress, which is something I’ve actually enjoyed,” he said.
“I don’t have the stress of having to make a 5-foot putt to make the cut.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Tadd Fujikawa once 62 at 2009 Sony Open. He's now a pickle ball pro
