Quayle kicks monkey off his back for Queensland Open playoff win
A tense playoff settled the Isuzu Queensland Open at Pelican Waters and it became Anthony Quayle’s breakthrough tournament win as a professional golfer.
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A delighted Anthony Quayle is a first-time winner as a pro after a tense playoff for the Isuzu Queensland Open banished the monkey on his back for good.
The tall Gold Coast golfer was a serene three-shot leader 10 holes into the final round before needing to call on all his fighting qualities at Pelican Waters at Caloundra.
In the end, a sure two iron-nine iron combination into the tough par four play-off hole set up the par that beat impressive South Australian amateur Jack Thompson.
Minutes earlier, Quayle (67-69-67-70) had been staring at trouble on the same hole, the 18th.
In the greenside trap, he found himself on a downslope with a root behind the ball.
He blasted long and needed to scramble in a 3.5m putt for bogey just to make the play-off on 15-under-par.
“You’d rather it be more stress free but it’s an incredible feeling to get my first win as a pro and to have that fight for it,” Quayle, 25, said.
“I’d maybe been in a dozen situations where I hadn’t been able to close out tournaments when I had chances so I hope this can set a tone for the future.”
Quayle won three 72-hole events as an amateur in 2015 yet this was the breakthrough win he’s been craving since turning pro three years ago.
A sweet Thompson three wood to the green on the 240m par four 13th had put the pressure on with a birdie to give him a one-shot edge with five holes to play.
“The monkey was getting heavier and heavier about then,” Quayle said.
“I go bogey-double bogey on a three-stroke lead and Jack goes par-birdie to jump ahead by one.”
Quayle led late at The Crowns tournament in Japan last year before fading to fifth and Indian Ganganjeet Bhullar’s chip-in eagle denied him after a closing 63 at the 2018 Fiji International.
Quayle has won bigger cheques than $20,625 but he’s never got himself on a trophy with names like Greg Norman, Kel Nagle, David Graham and Ian Baker-Finch before.
As a youngster, Quayle’s toughest holes were the fierce doglegs around the corner of his house with a foam golf ball played to six baked beans tins he’d dug into the lawn.
He was a seven-year-old dreamer in remote Nhulunbuy in Arnhem Land.
“That’s where golf started for me and I still feel I have that same passion and love of shaping the ball because you really could with a foam ball,” Quayle said.
Originally published as Quayle kicks monkey off his back for Queensland Open playoff win
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