It was certainly a great day at work for Daniel Gale at the Royal Queensland Golf Club in Brisbane. In the opening round of the BMW Australian PGA Championship, the professional golfer hit a perfect shot and won the hole-in-one prize. The 29-year-old local golfer grabbed the keys to an M5 Touring, a car big enough to carry all of his golf equipment.
A three-time winner on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, Gale has made a strong start to the DP World Tour season. Even before his perfect shot on the 11th hole, he was confident he would win the high-performance car. He remembers telling himself, “The baby is mine,” before hitting the 154-yard hole with the 8-iron.
BMW is the title partner of the PGA Australian Championship for the second time. This year’s grand prize is worth A$204,976, the base price of an M5 Touring. However, in order to actually be able to drive off with the “G99”, you need significantly more money. After accounting for luxury car tax, goods and services tax and other fees, the price rises to A$281,949.
This year’s prize car came in M Marina Bay Blue Metallic with black 951 M wheels and red brake calipers. This M5 Touring does not have the optional M carbon ceramic brakes, which would have added another A$14,231 to the total bill. There is a premium of AUD 8,846 for a custom color.
BMW has a history of offering cars as “hole-in-one” awards. Over the years we’ve seen everything from the i4 to the 7 Series. In 2014 there was even an i8 coupe, followed four years later by an i8 roadster. Another notable mention is the M760Li xDrive in 2016. Most recently, the iX M70 served as the top prize twice during the BMW Championship this year.
Back to Australia: it is one of the markets that also has the privilege of getting the M3 Touring. The smaller of the two M cars starts at AUD 148,441. However, when you add in all the pesky local taxes and fees, the price rises to A$210,445. Any optional extras increase the total even further.
