He’s adamant it won’t be his last but getting off on the right foot as a newly minted member of the DP World Tour needs to take precedence, with a start in the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open scheduled for the same week.

For as long as the Sandbelt Invitational is played however, the Sydneysider will be the proud owner of a significant piece of its history. Two significant pieces as it turns out.

In 2023, Gale mastered the field over four epic layouts that underline the incredibly unique format this tournament has swiftly become renown for. However, it was the manner in which he posted his final round 72 at Royal Melbourne’s East course that will ensure Gale’s victory won’t be swiftly forgotten.

With a round that had foundered in the early going, playing the golf course sight unseen, a hard-earned lead had been reduced to a one-stroke deficit to Victorian Matthew Griffin by the time Gale stood on the par-three 16th tee. He later cited a lost ball after taking driver off the tee at the par-four 5th as an example of his lack of course knowledge jumping up to bite him over the course of the round.

With the pin tucked left on one of course designer Alex Russell’s enduring masterpieces, and with gallery members streaming forward to watch Griffin play his closing holes, Gale flushed an 8-iron watched only by his playing partners and any foraging local fauna that had popped their heads up in the late afternoon gloaming.

Royal Melbourne.


Sadly, the expanses of the Royal Melbourne ‘home paddock’ prohibited too many on the property from hearing Gale’s blood curdling reaction after the ball hung momentarily on the edge before toppling into the hole. That was not from a lack of trying on Gale’s part however, as he remembered the surge of adrenalin that pulsed through his body after improbably regaining the lead with two to play.

“I went off. I knew exactly where I stood in the tournament at that moment.” Gale recalled almost twelve months on. “In all honesty, it didn’t really feel like a hole-in-one, I still don’t think it has really sunk in.”

“I’ve had a hole-in-one at Royal Melbourne, you know? It’s pretty surreal and I’ll always remember that.” 

Up behind the 18th green, the bush telegraph soon reached Mike Clayton and his co-tournament founder Geoff Ogilvy, both of whom quickly progressed from a state of astonishment to being somewhat cock-a-hoop that such a stupendous shot would go down in history as a highlight in this, just their third Sandbelt Invitational.

However, Gale still had work to do over two iconic closing holes at Royal Melbourne and needed to sufficiently compose himself to ensure he could get his restored lead to the house.

“The buzz that I was feeling (after the 16th) was like when I Monday qualified at the 3M tournament on the PGA TOUR. I had to quickly calm myself down and stick to my processes over the final two holes.”

A par at 17 set the scene but his flair for the dramatic made everyone, not the least himself, sweat by leaving himself an unenviable putt of around two metres on the tough 18th to claim the title.

“I’d left an 8-footer short on the 17th which would have given me a two-stroke buffer heading up the last. After a good drive on 18, I sort of flubbed my second shot short of the green, hit a pretty good chip and then rolled that baby in for the win.”

It was later put to Gale that his 70th hole heroics reeked of Gene Sarazen’s famous ‘Shot heard ‘round the world’ double eagle on the 15th at the 1935 Augusta National Invitational, now the Masters Tournament.

Long before television was a thing, Sarazen’s hole-out was also witnessed by next to nobody and enabled him to force a playoff with fellow American Craig Wood that he would win the next day. Masters Tournament founder Bobby Jones was among the few that saw the shot and Gale’s circumstances might have been even more comparable, had this tournament’s co-founder Clayton not been among those who left Gale’s group to watch Griffin.

The similarities between the two were not lost on the renowned golf history buff as he looked back to what had unfolded over the final hours of the 2023 event.

“He’d (Gale) made a flukey bogey on the 13th after hitting the flag and was something like four-over for the day,” Clayton said, “So, we thought ‘He’s not going to win’ and we went off to watch Matt.”

“And then he goes birdie-ace. What do you do!?”  

“The buzz that I was feeling (after the 16th) was like when I Monday qualified at the 3M tournament on the PGA TOUR. I had to quickly calm myself down and stick to my processes over the final two holes.”

It was suggested to the champion, tongue in cheek: “Perhaps you might have to start answering to the nickname ‘Gene’.”

“So long as they don’t call me ‘journeyman’, I’m ok with it”, he mused, citing a moniker that had frustratingly been associated with him despite being a multi-tournament winner at home and securing that DP World Tour card for 2025 in the process.

Although a three-putt on the final hole at Royal Queensland resulted in a missed cut in his first DP World Tour event, Gale was back out grinding away around the short game area and putting green the next day as the final round was being played out.

He took a moment’s pause from his work to reflect with fondness and pride on his experience in 2023, a win he said he will never forget. 

“Of the wins I’ve had, the Sandbelt has been the only one where I had a one-shot lead playing the final hole. The others, I’ve had several shots to play with.” he said.

“When I won at Hunter Valley a few months later, I drew on my experience at the Sandbelt over the last putt. I told myself ’You’ve done this before.’

“What Geoff and Clayts are doing together is so cool for the game of golf. Getting to play four world class courses back-to-back is so unique. You need to adapt every day to a new golf course and different conditions at each course.”

“And as a young junior, if I had had that opportunity to play with world class pros like we had last year with Cameron Davis, Geoff, Nicolas Colsaerts, it would have been so cool.“

“It’s a great event.”   

The Sandbelt Invitational will be played from December 16-19 over four courses: Commonwealth Golf Club, Woodlands Golf Club, Yarra Yarra Golf Club and will conclude at the West Course at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

Spectator entry is free on each day.