The 34-year-old physiotherapist became the third person to snaffle a one-handed catch in the ''Tui Catch a Million'' competition during the Sri Lanka and Afghanistan cricket world cup match at Dunedin's University Oval yesterday.
Anyone wearing an orange Tui T shirt who makes a clean one handed catch during World Cup games in New Zealand goes into a prize pool, which could grow to $1 million if the Black Caps win the tournament.
If they make the quarterfinals, the pool will be $350,000. If they advance to the semifinals, it will grow to $500,000, and a finals appearance would see it hit $750,000.
The cash is then shared between everyone in the pool.
''It was a stupid chain of events that led to the catch,'' Gough told the Otago Daily Times, shortly after plucking a monster six from Afghanistan's Asghar Stanikzai out of the air with his right hand.
''We got given the tickets by my wife's friend, and then I was actually going to stay at home with our son and come down a bit later, because I got to go to the Scotland game alone when my wife couldn't get off work.
''I said, 'You go first and I will bring the wee guy down later'. She said, 'No, you go and try and catch the ball. If you catch it, we can have another wedding','' he said.
Gough, originally from Wellington but who ''settled down'' in Dunedin eight years ago, was sitting in an allocated seat, and did not expect a ball to reach him more than halfway up one of the temporary stands on the western side of the ground.
''I remember thinking, 'That's coming in our direction; actually that's coming right at me''.
''I was actually quite lucky because there was quite a lot of space around me.
''I moved to my left so I could use my right hand. When it was about 10m away, I was thinking, 'Oh my God, don't drop it'.''
After making the catch look easy, Gough said his cellphone started going ''crazy'' with phone calls and text messages.
''I've had more texts in two hours than I have had my whole life, and Facebook has gone insane,'' he said.
Gough was undecided on what he would spend any winnings, but said putting it towards the mortgage and ''maybe a wee holiday to celebrate'' were options.
Sri Lanka went on to win the match by four wickets.
