Lucas Parsons Golf photos by Getty Images.

He turned pro aged 21 and for a decade was among the country’s best players, winning nine times around the world;

Orange-born golfer Lucas Parsons had a glittering amateur career, winning the Australian and New Zealand Amateur titles. He turned pro aged 21 and for a decade was among the country’s best players, winning nine times around the world, including the 2000 Greg Norman International. But from the age of 30, with the golf world seemingly a this feet, he didn’t win again. What happened? He shares a few beers with Inside Sport at the Coogee Bay Hotel and gives his version.

In your third start as a professional, in the 1992 Air New Zealand-Shell Open, you lost a play-off to Nick Price. Would’ve been a buzz?

Great buzz. We were both 10-under after four rounds. Third was 3-under. He was playing in the group in front and all I could see was his arse pickingthe ball out of the hole. It was an event that I walked away from thinking, “Well, I couldn’t play any better.” I wasn’t disappointed about running second; I did everything in my power to win, but he did something more special. He was world-class. He’d just won the US PGA.

Life on the Australasian Tour in the ‘90s must’ve been fun. Lot of tournaments, a bit of money. You were in your 20s. Any stories fit to print? Ever play with a skinful?

[Laughs] Mate, what goes on tour stays on tour! But yeah, I’ve done it a couple of times, nothing to be proud of. At the Australian Masters [in 1998], I’d split up with my first wife, so I was a bit emotionally ... loose, if that’s the term. And I shot 76 in the first round. Now, the Masters at Huntingdale, I considered it my event. It was very special. The previous year I’d shot 9-under, broken the course record. On this day, Bradley Hughes (who went on to win) shot 10-under. So I went out that Thursday night, had dinner with people, had a few too many. Woke up under the weather. I was off early. Preparation not ideal. I saw my physio and said, “I’m crook, I’ve got the flu.” So he put these glass things on my back, these hot, suction cup things. And I went out and after 17 holes was 10-under. Par the last and I’d equal Hughesy’s record.

What happened?

[Laughs] Oh mate, I hit it behind a tree, had to chip out, made bogey. A big night wasn’t a formula for playing well, but I got away with one.

The European Tour seemed to suit you. You’re a food person (Parsons was a finalist in the first season of Masterchef in 2009), a people person ...

It was fantastic. As an Aussie, the older guys, if they liked you, would look after you. Peter O’Malley, Peter Senior, Brett Ogle, Rodger Davis, Frank Nobilo. There were 28 or 30 Antipodeans on the Tour and each week you’d play golf, have a shower and meet up with ten guys asking, “Where are we going?” And you’d go and experience the south of France, and eat at a 300-year-old restaurant, drink vin rouge. You’d eat chateaubriand, which is a thick end of an eye-fillet. And it’s six feet high and comes out hot on a stone, with Bearnaise sauce. It was one of the most memorable things, and we’d do it every year. We’d talk footy, cricket. It was a great way of life outside golf.

Then you got a card on the US PGA Tour, but it didn’t work out. Why?

All I’d ever wanted to do was get on the US Tour and win in the States. But it was a learning curve. I didn’t like the place that much. And I did what a lot of the young guys do, which is take a lot of advice but forget to focus on what I did well, and what got me there.