With baby born, new dad Quigley returns to Augusta

Brett Quigley jetted back to Florida Tuesday, just in time to witness the birth of his daughter, and will tee off as scheduled Thursday. To mark the unique circumstances, the parents named their new baby girl Lillian Sage Augusta Quigley.

By Joe Chemycz, PGA TOUR staff

Brett and Amy Quigley welcomed their first child, Lillian Sage Augusta Quigley, to the world at 2:55 a.m. Wednesday morning. The baby weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces and measured 19 inches.

Quigley, who is playing in his first Masters, flew home from Augusta to Jupiter, Fla., Tuesday afternoon, arriving at Jupiter Medical Center around 5:30 p.m. Among those traveling with Quigley from Augusta was his mother, along with several other friends.

"By the time we took off yesterday, Amy's contractions were three minutes apart," Quigley said. "I thought there was no way I'd make it there in time. Luckily I made it in time, but then from 10 o'clock on we kept thinking we were going to have a baby any minute."

Around 2:30 a.m. doctors decided to perform a C-section when they discovered the baby's head was slightly turned. Quigley still hadn't slept when he answered a page around noon.

"I'm pretty tired right now and I was hoping to get a nap this afternoon, but I'm just too excited to sleep," he said.

Quigley plans to return to Augusta on a flight at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday. He will tee off at 2:03 p.m. ET on Thursday with 2000 Masters champion Vijay Singh and Japan's Hideto Tanihara. Quigley's father, Paul, is caddying for him.

"It's going to be hard to leave tonight but Amy wants me to go," Quigley said. "That's the only reason I'm going. She and the baby are healthy and she wants me to play."

Quigley said his wife will probably be in the hospital until Saturday. The baby was originally due on April 16.

"Amy's been great through the whole thing. She's amazing," said Quigley. "I was with her and then we hear this baby start wailing. They cleaned her up and she was crying and crying and crying. The nurses handed her to me and I held her for the first time and she stopped. And then I started crying.

"I've already changed two diapers, so I feel like a real veteran."

Quigley thinks the events of the last 24 hours may help calm him down as he contemplates playing in his first Masters.

"In any major you're going to be a little more excited than normal, but this may help me to mellow out a bit," Quigley said. "It might help take the edge of things for me. I think once I get to the course I'll be fine. Tiger (Woods) is in the group in front of me and playing with Vijay will be fantastic.

"There will be a lot of excitement around me."