Gale force warning

By PETER PUSAL
DEFENDING SP PNG Open champion Daniel Gale may be a quietly spoken man but feels he is the one to beat at the Royal Port Moresby Golf Club in the 2019 edition which tees off today.
The 22-year-old won his maiden ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia tournament in Papua New Guinea last year and the region has been a happy hunting ground for him. Gale’s path in last year’s PNG Open included qualifying and winning the 2018 Morobe Open on the Ladbrokes pro-am series.
“I’m actually feeling really good. Obviously, I’ve got great memories here. Won twice last year and the golf course (RPMGC) is in fantastic condition so I’m excited for the days ahead,” Gale said.
Gale, who breezed through the Open last year shooting a course record 61 in the third round and finishing nine shots clear of his nearest rival, said while replicating last year’s heroics would be a challenge he saw no reason why he couldn’t have a similar impact.
“Last year was pretty special, finishing 23 under. It’s still my lowest four-round tournament score and I shot that course record 11 under in the third round, so I guess when you’re hot, you’re hot,” Gale said before teeing up for the Badili Hardware chipping contest yesterday.
“There’s no reason why I can’t do that again this year.
“I just have to sort of reset, it’s a new year and the game plan is strong, I just have to execute the shots.”
Gale, who missed the Morobe Open last week, said despite not getting a chance to defend the Morobe title, he was confident he had enough form and momentum under his belt heading into the Open.
“I missed the Morobe last week because I did the US Open locals in Georgia.
“I spent two and bit months over in America and I travelled to a lot of states and did a lot of Monday qualifiers and was based out of Atlanta mostly.
“For the PNG Open, I just need to focus on myself.
“That’s how I approach every event.
“Brett Rankin is obviously coming in with a bit of form winning Morobe last week but I’m just focusing on what I have to do because if I focus on others than I’ll lose track of what I got to do.”
Last year’s PNG Open propelled Gale onto the world stage, earning the New South Welshman a two-year exemption on the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia and he made the most of it.
Recording a host of strong results including a ninth place finish at the Australian PGA Championship and a match-play start at the tri-sanctioned ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth tournament, Gale has proven himself to be a strong competitor.
The other tournaments Gale played at last year after his Open triumph include the Fiji International (made the cut), Northern Territory PGA (runner-up), NSW Open (tied 24th place), Australian Open (missed the cut) and this year Victorian Open (missed the cut), New Zealand Open and the Queensland PGA.
When asked if he felt any pressure from his fellow pros on the tour, particularly after the dominant manner of last year’s win, Gale quipped that he was sure his rivals thought that way but they would have to back it up on the course.
“I’m sure they’re thinking it, but I mean, I did win by nine shots last year so when you think about it, second place was on average 2.25 shots worse around, so when you look at it, that’s just the difference between me and second place,” he said.
“I’m feeling pretty confident and I’m talking the talk but I’ll let the clubs do the talking.”