‘This baby’s mine’: how Gale manifested $300k ace
Murray Wenzel |
An ace won Daniel Gale a new car worth nearly $300,000 and catapulted the ecstatic Australian into a position he’s confident he can make the most of at the Australian PGA Championship.
Gale told his pro-am playing partners “this baby’s mine” when he lined up next to the BMW M5 Touring on show at Royal Queensland’s par-three 11th on Wednesday.
He was handed the keys on Thursday after an eight-iron into the 154-metre par three disappeared into the cup.
“I played the pro-am yesterday and said, ‘this baby’s mine’,” he said.
“You always want to believe and you semi-joke, tell your girlfriend and your family it’ll be yours, and it actually happened.
“I checked the prizes earlier in the week and saw they’d changed it from just a weekend prize for the first to make it.
“I celebrated, then quickly thought, ‘hopefully no-one else has won it before me’.
“There’s always that guy, you know what I mean?
“It got confirmed about 30 seconds after it was all mine.”
Gale, who birdied the next hole, was outright second at five-under through 12 holes when storms arrived and play was suspended.
Spain’s Sebastian Garcia led at seven-under through 15 holes while Ryan Fox and Anthony Quayle are among seven a shot behind Gale.
Impressed with how he’d settled, the 29-year-old said the premature stoppage allowed him to refocus and aim at the $450,000 first prize and playing opportunities in Europe that come with it.
“Winning changes everything,” he said of his plans for next year.
“My form’s been trending … things are coming together, I was in the hunt at the NSW Open (tied 10) feeling pretty good.
“I like this golf course and the biggest thing was, I reset and made a nice birdie on 12.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet in all honesty, but it helps relax me a lot because it’s quite a nice prize.
“But I’ve got a job to do this week and the focus doesn’t change.”
AAP
