Peter Williams: Hats off to Draper but he has a fair way to go

Scott Draper is going where many have tried but few have succeeded.

The tennis player, once ranked 42 in the world and winner of the Australian Open mixed doubles last weekend, makes his debut on the Australasian and European PGA Tours in the New Zealand Open on Thursday.

If history is any guide then the odds on him becoming a successful professional golfer are short. He placed 135th at the Victorian Open last week and missed the cut but he did have the distraction of trying to mix tennis and golf commitments. We'll get a better idea of what sort of a golfer he is at Gulf Harbour.

Many sporting achievers, having reached the top in one game, try to make it as a professional golfer. Only one ever achieved any degree of success and that was a generation ago.

John Brodie played 17 seasons in the NFL as quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. He was a genuine star and made two appearances in the Pro Bowl, the all-star game, before retiring in 1973. After 12 years as a TV commentator on football and golf, he quit in 1985 to join what was then the Seniors Tour.

Brodie always was a top amateur golfer and once qualified for the US Open. He won over $700,000 during a 10-year Senior Tour career and even had a tournament win in 1991 - the Security Pacific Senior Championship.

Brodie's success is an exception to the rule. Just ask Nigel Mansell, Ivan Lendl and Roy Wegerle or, closer to home, Arthur Parkin, Howard Broun, Simon Mannix and Alex Tait.

Mansell, the British Formula One legend, tried to qualify for the European Seniors Tour last November. He didn't get past stage one. Ivan Lendl, an all-time tennis great, never actually became a professional golfer but tried to qualify for the US Open 12 times and never made it. Roy Wegerle played in two World Cups for the USA in 1994 and 1998 and spent 10 years as a first division footballer in England. He became a golf pro in 2002 but stories from the time refer to him "missing the cut" or "failing to progress" to the next stage of qualifying."

Howard Broun was a New Zealand Davis Cup tennis player and national squash representative in the 1960s.

He's tried to qualify for both the US and European senior Tours and never made it. He's played a few events on the US Seniors Tour either through sponsor invitations or Monday qualifying but never had much success.

Simon Mannix, who played his only All Black test in Jonah Lomu's debut against France in 1994, has dabbled with life on the third level Europro Golf Tour. He's now back playing for Bridgend in the Welsh rugby premiership where it's presumably more lucrative.

Alex Tait, a Black Cap who won a Commonwealth Games bronze when cricket was played in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, also intends having a try at Europro level this year.

One of the renowned Olympic hockey gold medallists from 1976, Arthur Parkin, has been one of Auckland's top amateur golfers for the last decade and a half. But he's decided that, even after failing to obtain a European Seniors Tour card at two qualifying tournaments, he still wants to play as a professional. So he's left amateur golf and will play for money in senior events in Australia and New Zealand.

Scott Draper brings experience of big-time sport to his golfing career. But will that be enough to make a go of a professional game that is littered with failure even by those with the most stellar of pedigrees?

It's unfair to write him off before he's even started, but history has not been kind to those who've tried what Draper's about to start.