He grew up using baked bean cans for holes and now little-known golfer Anthony Quayle is hoping to star in his own real-life version of Tin Cup after soaring into Australian Open contention in Sydney.
Quayle's four-under-par 67 on debut at The Australian Golf Club on Thursday left the 23-year-old sharing fifth place, one shot behind his childhood idol Jason Day, after the opening round.
A graduate of Hills International College, the same boarding school that Day graced before rising to world No.1, Quayle admits he never dreamed of playing the Open after such humble beginnings.
"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 north-east tip of the Northern Territory.
"The nearest town was a nine-hour drive on a corrugated dirt round. You needed to snorkel in a four-wheel drive to get through two rivers.
"It was in the middle of nowhere."
Nobody in his family played golf, but he used to ride his bike past the local 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 Loony Tune golf clubs for my seventh birthday," Quayle recalled.
"There were five golf clubs when I got started and they couldn't take me all the time and it was too heavy for me to ride and put them on my back.
"So I used some old baked bean tins and made a six-hole golf course around my house."
At 14, Quayle's parents sent him 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.
"To be able to walk inside the ropes here with Jason, or any of the big names here would be cool," Quayle said.
"I'd love the experience. Obviously he's got some pretty good crowds out there and that's what we practice for."
