LIFE LESSONS

Golfer Tadd Fujikawa spills the tee

Tadd Fujikawa was lucky enough to grow up in Hawaii, but moved to the mainland of America to further his career as a professional golfer. After years of hiding his homosexuality and struggling with mental- health issues, he sought help for his anxiety and depression and started coming out to his closest friends and family.

In September, at the age of 27, he honoured World Suicide Awareness Day by coming out publically on Instagram — becoming the first openly gay professional golfer

I STARTED TAKING GOLF VERY SERIOUSLY AT THE AGE OF 12 AND WAS THE YOUNGEST PLAYER TO COMPETE IN THE US OPEN. IT WAS CRAZY, IT ALL HAPPENED SO FAST. IT WAS MY JUMP

START INTO THINGS

I still consider Hawaii my home, but left after high school in 2010 to pursue my career. It’s a great place but it is very expensive and too far from everything. I couldn’t give myself the best opportunity to make it as a professional golfer there

I did a really good job of hiding my anxiety and depression. I always put a smile on my face so it was difficult for people to know what I was going through

AROUND THE AGE OF 21, I CAME OUT TO MY BEST FRIEND. I SLOWLY TOLD MORE FRIENDS, THEN MY MOM ABOUT FOUR YEARS AGO. I HADN’T TOLD MY DAD OR MY GRANDPARENTS UNTIL RIGHT BEFORE MY COMING- OUT POST ON INSTAGRAM

Seeing other gay athletes and celebrities’ coming- out stories and living their lives gave me hope and made we want to do the same thing and to help empower others

I DON’T REALLY HAVE TIME OFF. I’M ON THE COURSE PRACTISING FOR AT LEAST

SIX HOURS EVERY DAY

The love and support of friends and family helped me push through and gave me the inspiration to keep reaching towards my goals and dreams

The end of 2012 was the start of a low point for me and I struggled with anxiety and depression for four years thereafter. I have never been clinically diagnosed, but it is one of those things you just know when you have all the symptoms. The secret I was carrying around was not good for [ meeting] men and wasn’t helping my career

I KNEW I WAS GAY WHEN I WAS 16, AS MUCH AS I TRIED TO FIGHT IT

No other golfer knew [ I was gay] and I’ve only met a few gay amateur players

I’VE WON A FEW COMPETITIONS, MOST RECENTLY THE HAWAII STATE OPEN LAST DECEMBER. I WISH I WOULD HAVE DONE A BIT BETTER SINCE TURNING PRO, BUT LOOKING AT WHERE I AM NOW I WOULDN’T CHANGE ANYTHING

My outlook on life has changed since going through all my struggles. My empathy towards others has grown. I want to inspire people to be their best selves, [ using] golf as a platform

When I felt alone, my faith felt like my only hope. At the same time, it was very difficult to come to terms with being gay and the whole God and Jesus thing. I came to terms with it a couple years ago. For me, it is about my relationship with God and my spirituality, more than just the religion itself

I HAVE RECEIVED THOUSANDS OF MESSAGES FROM PEOPLE I DON’T KNOW BECAUSE OF MY COMING- OUT POST AND THEY HAVE BEEN SO POSITIVE, EVEN THE ONES FROM OTHER GOLFERS. I HAVE NOT BEEN IN THE MEDIA SPOTLIGHT FOR QUITE A FEW YEARS SO I DIDN’T THINK IT WOULD BECOME

SUCH A BIG NEWS STORY

I live on an island in the state of Georgia called Saint Simons , which is great for golf, but being gay in the South is not as accepted as [ elsewhere] so there are not that many gay people around here. I just wish there were