From tins to pins, Quayle on his way

HE grew up using baked bean cans for holes, and now littleknown golfer Anthony Quayle is hoping to star in his own real-life version of Tin Cup after soaring into Australian Open contention yesterday.

Quayle’s four-under-par 67 on debut at The Australian Golf Club left the 23-year-old sharing fifth place, one shot behind his idol Jason Day, after the opening round.

A graduate of Hills International College, the same boarding school Day graced before rising to world No.1, he admits he never dreamed of playing the Open after such humble start.

“I didn’t know places this good existed,” he said after reeling off seven birdies in his first holes.

And what humble beginnings they were.

Quayle grew up in Gove, a mining town on the northeast tip of the Northern Territory.

“The nearest town was a nine-hour drive on a corrugated dirt road. You needed to snorkel in a four-wheel drive to get through two rivers,” he said.

Nobody in his family played golf, but he used to ride his bike past the course on his way to school.

“When I was six, I wrote a wish list on my birthday and my parents got me a set of Looney Tune golf clubs for my seventh birthday,” Quayle said. “I used some old baked bean tins and made a six-hole golf course around my house.”

At 14, Quayle was sent to the Gold Coast for a better education. But he only cared about golf. “We were always told about Jason when we were growing up and we wanted to be like Jason,” he said.

Now the youngster dreams of a weekend pairing with Day and duelling for the Stonehaven Cup on Sunday.