He once went viral for his strange swing. It just won this Aussie golfer a $260,000 car

Western Sydney golfer Daniel Gale more than doubled his yearly earnings with a single stroke on Thursday, winning a $260,000 luxury car for a memorable hole in one at the Australian PGA Championship.

Gale, a 29-year-old professional known for his quirky swing and penchant for wearing bucket hats, produced the ace at the par-three 11th hole at Royal Queensland on day one of the tournament.

As part of BMW’s major sponsorship of the event, the hole had a BMW M5 Touring station wagon as a prize for a hole in one.

Wearing a bright yellow hat, and with the dark blue BMW behind him, Gale stepped up and struck a crisp eight iron, which landed just short of the hole and rolled in.

Gale, who grew up playing at Fox Hills Golf Club in Prospect in Sydney’s west, high-fived with his group and a small gallery before holding his arms aloft as he walked down to collect his ball.

And little wonder. The BMW M5 Touring, a high-performance station wagon, is listed as having a starting price of $263,900.

That’s more than Gale has won in his first season on the DP World Tour this year, where he’s pocketed $201,825 from 20 events. His best finish for the season was tied for 17th at the Austrian Open.

“I played the pro-am yesterday and said, ‘This baby’s mine’,” Gale 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 is ranked 887 in the world, but has long been regarded as a golfer with big potential. He earned his card on the DP World Tour with a superb run of wins on the Australian PGA Tour in 2023 and 2024.

The hole in one will no doubt attract some media attention, but Gale has plenty of experience in handling online fame. In 2023, he travelled to the US to try and earn starts in PGA Tour events via Monday qualifiers, and he did for the 3M Open in Minnesota by shooting a course record.

Footage of his unusual swing – which involves a homemade, unorthodox takeaway – was picked up by various outlets in the USA, including ESPN and the PGA Tour, and generated more than 20 million views.

“It’s always been a little unique, but I know what works for me,” Gale told Australian Golf Digest at the time.

“It’s all impact at the end of the day; ball-striking is [actually] one of my strengths. The swing does the talking for itself. Every time I’ve got driver in my hand, I absolutely send it.”

Gale was five under through 12 holes, while only Brisbane’s wild weather could stop Sebastian Garcia from storming further clear in Brisbane. The in-form Spaniard thrust his famous golfing surname to the top of the pack on Thursday, Garcia seven-under through 15 holes and two clear before officials blew the horn with electrical storms approaching.

Caddie who helped Tiger win 13 majors works his magic in Brisbane

Anthony Quayle put himself in the frame on day one of the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland on Thursday, and the addition of the game’s most famous caddie may be his ticket to a strong finish.

The 31-year-old has Steve Williams, who carried the bag of Tiger Woods in 13 of his 15 major wins, working with him in Brisbane this week.

The new partnership paid immediate dividends for the Australian, who was joined by New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, China’s Wenyi Deng and Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen in shooting opening rounds of four under at a tournament that has $2.5 million in prizemoney.

“Hopefully, that’s the standard every time Stevie’s on the bag. I met him at the New Zealand Open earlier this year, we did a caddie talk at an event … and we got on fairly well,” world No.665 Quayle said, while also confirming Williams would remain in his corner for the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne next week.

“I said, ‘Do you mind if we go grab a coffee afterwards; I’d love to pick your brain?’ He said, ‘Bugger that, I’ll give you my number, I’ll come caddie for you’.

“I think he’s probably the most positive and clear caddie I’ve ever worked with. I think he probably has a reputation for being quite intense, but my experience today wasn’t that, it was just very direct – this is what we need to do here.

“There was no room for any sort of doubt at any point; it just didn’t creep into my mind. Any time I did make a mistake, it wasn’t like he was jumping on me. ”

Also signing for an opening round 67 on the par-71 course on Thursday was Fox, the son of All Blacks legend Grant Fox.

The Kiwi, who won twice on the US PGA Tour in 2025 (Myrtle Beach Classic and Canadian Open), is back in action this week following a break from tournament play.

”It’s two months off, and it was by choice this time, which was nice,” said Fox, who missed a similar period last year to address a labrum tear in his hip.

“I had to kind of come out here and feel like I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m here to try to win a golf tournament rather than playing for a card or anything like that. It’s a nice place to be … it’d just be nice to be able to do that all the time.”

Quayle’s fellow Australians ensured it was a strong start for the home brigade, with Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott among those to start their weeks with rounds of 68.

Lee started with a pair of early birdies, but admitted to some mid-round putting woes before two late birdies kept him within sight of the leaders.

Scott, meanwhile, overcame a pair of bogeys to finish with five birdies for the day, hinting Brisbane’s overnight storms had made putting from range a daunting task.

“It was just very direct – this is what we need to do here.”

Anthony Quayle on working with Steve Williams

“It’s tricky around the greens,” Scott said. “If you’re just a little bit outside the circle, it can get hard to make putts, and you can’t really force it because then you can make mistakes.

“It wasn’t really a round where I gained a lot of momentum … It’s a tough course to make lots and lots of putts on, unless you’re hitting it close all the time.

“Once you start getting away from the hole, the grain changes ... there’s a lot of movement on these greens, so I think it’s important not to get frustrated if you’re not making everything.”

Hometown hero Cam Smith remains in a logjam just behind the leaders on two under.

That pack included New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori, who produced the highlight of the day with a hole in one on the 118-metre “Party Hole” on 17.

“It’s great. My round was getting off to a relatively slow start, and then that helped me boost it a little bit, so it was good timing for the ace,” Kobori said.

“I’ve hit three aces, but I reckon that’s my first one in tournament. It [two under] is pretty disappointing considering I had an ace on one hole.

“But I didn’t go backwards from the ace … so I’m relatively still in it.”

Leading up to the Brisbane showcase, Smith stressed his desire to revert to his “cruisy” former self, having missed the cut in all four majors this year. He has not won a title since the LIV Golf’s Bedminster event in August 2023.

The Queenslander, who has won in Brisbane three times, missed another cut last week in the Saudi International.