(Another!) Shot Heard ‘Round the World
For the second straight year, the Sandbelt Invitational had a wild finish, this time Daniel Gale’s winning ace at Royal Melbourne
MELBOURNE, Australia—Through 15 holes of the final round of the Sandbelt Invitational, Daniel Gale was living every golfer’s nightmare. The reigning Order of Merit champion on the Australasian Tour, Gale started the day with a 4-stroke lead, but he had spent all of that and more on the exacting East Course at Royal Melbourne. Loose shots, shaky putts, questionable decisions…Gale was on the ropes as he stepped to the tee of the 166-yard, par-3 16th (which, it should be noted, Ben Crenshaw once called the prettiest one-shotter he had ever seen). Earlier in the week Gale talked movingly about how much it would mean to win at Royal Melbourne, one of the citadels of the sport. Slowly, agonizingly, he had shrunk from the moment. But salvation was just one swing away.
Gale has one of the most distinctive actions in professional golf, dragging the club back waist-high, picking it up abruptly and then pausing for a few beats at the top. But at impact, it is pure poetry. Gale took a slash and damned if the ball didn’t disappear right into the hole. The stunning ace turned a one-stroke deficit into a one-stroke lead. Saids Gale, “I thought to myself, I’m back, baby!” He closed out the win with two gritty, stressful pars, including a do-or-die 6-footer on the 72nd hole.
This was only the third playing of the Sandbelt Invitational but second straight final round defined by crunch time heroics. Last year, on the 71st hole, Cam Davis hit a driver off the deck eight feet from the pin to set up the eagle that decided the outcome. At the second Masters, Gene Sarazen similarly produced an approach on a par-5 that put the tournament on the map. Tournament host Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champ, couldn’t help but see the parallels with Davis’s shot. “I don’t know if it’s the Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” Ogilvy said, citing the moniker given to the 4-wood Sarazen holed on Augusta National’s 15th hole, “but it’s the shot heard all around Melbourne.” And what did Ogilvy make of Gale’s instantly-classic ace? “Sometimes it takes great shots to win when your back is against the wall,” Ogilvy said, “and that is one we will be talking about at the Sandbelt Invitational for years to come.””
The wild finish put an exclamation point on another successful playing of a low-key, feel-good event that brings together pros and amateurs of both sexes on the same leaderboard while celebrating the virtues of the game on some of the world’s best golf courses. Among the top 10 finishers were amateur Jazy Roberts, 18, a charming young woman with a big future, and another amateur, Phoenix Campbell, who on Wednesday tied the course record at Yarra Yarra with a 63. (Three-time European Tour winner Nicolas Colsaerts finished 11th.) Across the four rounds, players pushed their own carts, fans meandered the fairways unbothered and the tournament’s easy charm was a welcome respite from the strife that has gripped professional golf.
But things got very serious for Gale down the stretch. After setting a course record at Peninsula Kingswood with a smooth 64 in the second round, he said the key to his explosive game is an attacking mindset: “At the end of the day, every course has 18 birdie holes.” Royal Melbourne, with its tricky contours and vexing greens, resists such new-school hubris. Gale’s struggles during much of the final round were understandable for a young player trying to prove he belonged in a field with major champions (Ogilvy), Ryder Cuppers (Colsaerts) and PGA Tour winners (Davis). Like Jim Furyk before him, Gale knows that his unorthodox swing leads to some side-eye, which gives him a little extra motivation. “I’ve proven it works,” he said ahead of the final round, with a little heat.
Indeed, Gale produced one of the shots of the year in golf on one of the game’s grandest stages at a tournament unlike any other. Here’s to doing it your way.